So I thought I had a problem with the garden this year and my soil sample confirmed there was a problem. But it was a problem I was unfamiliar with.

Two of my gardens have a high pH. 7.3 (4k sq ft) and 7.7 (800 sq ft). This came from too much lime. All I have read says use elemental sulfur. Anybody had this problem?

Two of my garden had high phosphorous. This came from too much high phosphorous fertilizer and using chicken manure. Not seeing too much on how to fix this except time or legumes or corn. Anybody had this problem?

Thank you ahead of time for your help.

Here high ph is rarely a problem but using sulphur is about the best way to lower it, high phosphate usually doesn’t affect things that much unless excessively high and I mean excessive to lower it usage is about the only way to do this, one question I have is where the phosphate is high is the ph good or is it low? If the ph is low there say around 5.5 the phosphate isn’t available to the plants but will show excessive on a test.

My wife is the compost queen and I have to say our garden does well. Also, we shovel in saw dust from the huge pile decomposing behind my shop every fall, as well as throw a few dozen salmon carcasses in every Sept/Oct during the salmon run.

look at clover as a cover crop -- might benefit you.

I used elemental sulphur over a three year period to lower the ph in my yard. My soil samples showed good levels of iron but with high ph the soil wont allow it to be released into the grass. After a few years the yard is green as ever.

When you say high phosphorus, what levels are you seeing on your soil tests? P is tough to get rid of, but doesn’t generally hurt things. Our levels are high in our ag fields, from years of chicken manure use. PH , cation exchange capacity, and organic matter are important on soil tests.

In a word, Gypsum............

I am not a great crop guy -- but that is what all the dairies in my area are using to combat the phosphorus -- followed by silage corn. They also like to green chop the clover early season so that may be the reason. peas should also feed heavily on it

Just remember, if you use any of the cover crops to combat the phosphorus you will need to cut it and remove it from the area or it will not accomplish anything. All that phosphorus that the crop pulls out of the ground doesn't actually go anywhere. It is locked up within the plant, if that plant is left on the soil the phosphorus will be released back into the soil as the plant rots down.

We run 7.9-8.2 on Ph and raise good crops and gardens. What are the P numbers? It will probably be in PPM

That's what I was thinking. I have read of some bioremediation projects were they use crops to pull heavy metals out the soil that the plants themselves become toxic and must be removed and dealt with as toxic waste.

I'm sure that's not the case with phosphorus but it does make sense that the plant would need to be removed to remove the phosphorus.

pH in the 7 range is just fine, or near perfect, for the vast majority of garden plants. It shouldn’t be causing any issues and I wouldn’t bother trying to lower it.

I remember as a kid when my dad put a lot of chicken manure on the garden. The potato plants were very healthy looking and green, but when we went to dig the potatoes there were hardly any there. I always had a hunch it was from the chicken manure, is that a correct assumption?

Use AMS (ammonium sulfate) to lower your PH. Local nurseries or fertilizer plant should have it.

Which test did they use to measure P? Total P and available P are two very different things. Most P is locked up in unavailable form for plant use and is really inert as far as causing trouble.

I think your ideal pH for most garden stuff will be around 6.5-6.9 You can add elemental sulfur and it will take a year or two to achieve your ideal number. Remember that sulfur is also an element that is necessary for good crop yields and is often lacking.

And finally, if you're having poor garden results consider taking a nematode soil test. You may be having troubles unrelated to soil nutrition.

Bowhunter2864558924856308....save yourself the trouble and just drive down here and pick whatever you want. My dad and grandmother have a gardening sickness. Grandmother canned almost 500 quarts of things from the garden this summer. Green beans, vegetable soup, pickles, okra, you name it.

We always wind up giving it away. Let me know what you want next year