Neutralizing Soil

[Maverickpro201]

There has to be a way to do this, anyone know how to get rid of to much fertilizer/rich in the soil?

 

 

Got the report back from the extension. Says everything is over fertilized, some high, some medium. Do not know how that can be as I used only a little bit of 5.-5.-5 when I tilled in the garden this year. I guess I needed none period. PH was high PHs 7.5, Phosphorus (P) 346.0 lbs/A - Excess, Potassium (K) 516 lbs/A - Excess, Calcium (Ca) 5253 lbs/A - High, Magnesium (Mg) 368 lbs/A - Medium. Organic matter - 11.7% 

I had the Garden soil brought in last year. Was suppose to be 50% compost and 50% bottom topsoil. 

Crap no wonder my garden is not doing well. They do not tell me how to neutralize it, just says do not fertilize, which I will not.  

If anyone here has any other good advise, would love to hear it. 

[Terrierman]

Sawdust tilled in will use those nutrients to decompose.

[tjm]

Over watering will leach some of the excess to deeper in the soil where your plant roots aren't reaching. Don't water to the point of standing puddles though or plants will drown. Adding sulfur will increase your acidity (lower pH) and the sulfur might/should  combine with the calcium, magnesium  and potassium making them more soluble. Elemental sulfur is slow though and I might use  Aluminum sulfate instead.

Seriously though with numbers that high on phosphorus which doesn't leach out, you probably should talk/correspond with a MU  Extension soil scientist. If I'm right it might take about five years of treatment to get that right. That is perhaps results of the compost, depending on what was composted.

And I think you will have an ongoing shortage of nitrogen caused by the excesses, but I'm not a chemist. Peas and beans both fix nitrogen in the soil though. 

[tjm]

1 hour ago, Terrierman said:

Sawdust tilled in will use those nutrients to decompose.

Does it matter what kind of sawdust? green from sawmill, seasoned from cabinet shop, hardwood or softwood? My past experience with saw mill waste showed a huge difference in pine and oak sawdust, and it was long enough ago that I can't recall details, just that I killed some plants.

[Dutch]

Oak sawdust that hasn’t “cured” is very likely to bind up your nitrogen.  Older is better.

[BLUEWATER]

Potassium and phosphorus will always be high around here and there is no way to remove it.  It's not much of a problem.  What is the Cation Exchange Capacity number (cec)?  It's and indicator of how easily your soil will change ph.  Google it and you'll learn a lot about how to try and change the ph.  It's long process and you don't want to add sulfur with plants in the ground because it may bur them.  Yes, compost will deny nitrogen to your plants.