One Thousand Questions in California Agriculture Answered Part 50

Prunings as Fertilizer.

Is orchard and vineyard brush worth enough as a fertilizer to pay for cutting or breaking and putting back on the land?

We should say not. It takes too much labor to put it in any form to promote decay, and is even then too indestructible. It is also possible that its decay may induce root rot of trees. We should burn the stuff and spread the ashes. Vineyard prunings are more promising because more easily and quickly reduced by decay. Vinecane-hashers have been proposed from time to time, but we do not know anyone who long used them.

Gypsum on Grain Land.

Is there any profit in sowing gypsum on grain land, say on wheat or oat crop? At what stage should it be applied and in what quant.i.ty?

It would have a tendency to make the surface more friable and therefore better for moisture retention, and it could be used at the rate of 1000 pounds to the acre, broadcasted before plowing for grain. As our soils are, however, usually well supplied with lime, there is a question whether there would be any profit in the use of gypsum, for, aside from lime, it contains no plant food, although it does act rather energetically upon other coil contents. Gypsum is a tonic and not a fertilizer from that point of view. The best way to satisfy yourself of its effect would be to try a small area, marked so as you could note its behavior as compared with the rest of the field.

Gypsum and Alfalfa.

What is gypsum composed of? Is it detrimental to land in future years?

Have the lands of California any black alkali in them? I notice my neighbors who sow gypsum on their alfalfa get a very much better yield of hay than those who do not.

Gypsum is sulphate of lime. It is not detrimental to the land in after years except that its action is to render immediately available other plant foods and this may render the land poorer - not by the addition of anything that is injurious but by the quicker using up of plant food which it already contains. Black alkali is very common in California in alkali lands. In lands which show their quality by good cropping, there is no reason to apprehend black alkali nor to use gypsum to prevent its occurrence. The use of gypsum does stimulate the growth of alfalfa and makes its product greater just as you observe in the experience of your neighbors, but the more they use up the land now the less they will have later, unless they resort to regular fertilization to restore what has been exhausted. But even that may be a good business proposition.

What Gypsum Does.

I intend to fertilize alfalfa and should like to know about gypsum. I have heard it stimulates the growth temporarily but in three or four years hurts the land. I have heavy land.

The functions of gypsum are: (a) to supply lime when the soil lacks it; (b) to make a heavy soil more mellow, and (c) to act upon other soil substances to render them more available for plant food. These are some of the soil aspects of gypsum; it may have plant aspects also. It is too much to say that gypsum hurts the land; it does, however, help the plant to more quickly exhaust its fertility, and in this respect is not like the direct plant foods which comprise the true fertilizers - one of which gypsum is not. It might be best for your pocketbook and for the mechanical condition of the soil to use it, but do not think that it is maintaining the fertility of the land (a service which we expect from the true fertilizers) except as it may supply a possible deficiency of lime.

How Much Gypsum?

How much per acre, how frequently and what seasons of the year are the best time to apply gypsum?

Of gypsum on alkali, we should begin at the rate of one ton to the acre and repeat the application as frequently as necessary to achieve the desired result. If the alkali was quite strong we would use twice as much. Without reference to an alkaline condition in the soil, and to give heavy soil a more friable character, which promotes cultivation, aeration, etc., and, therefore, ministers to more successful production, half a ton to the acre can be used, applications to be repeated as conditions seem to warrant it.

Wood Ashes in the Garden.

There is available in my neighborhood a free supply of wood ashes. Can you tell me how best to distribute the same in a garden (flowers and garden truck), and what, if any, treatment is to be given the ashes for the best results.

Wood ashes long exposed to rain lose most of their valuable contents, and leached ashes are only of small value. If they are fresh ashes or ashes which have been kept dry, they are chiefly valuable for potash, which is good in its way, but not all that a plant needs. If, however, your soil is shy of potash, the use of ashes will notably improve growth if not applied in excess in the caustic form in which it occurs in the ashes. They require no treatment. Spread, say, a quarter of an inch thickness all over the ground and dig in deeply. It may also help you by destruction of wire worms and other ground pests.

Coal Ashes in the Garden.

What is the effect of coal ashes on the red clay soil of Redlands or wood and coal ashes combined?

Coal ashes are exceedingly desirable upon clay land because their mechanical mixture with the fine particles of the clay renders the soil more friable, permeable and better adapted to the growth of most plants.

Coal ashes, however, possess no fertilizing value - their action is merely mechanical. The wood ashes which may be combined with them are desirable as a source of potash which most plants require.

Liming a Chicken Yard.

I have a small family orchard of half an acre, fenced in as a chicken yard, the soil of which has become very foul. When would be the best time to apply lime and how much?

Put on 500 pounds of lime and plow under as soon as you can - that is, spread the lime just before the plowing, with a shower or two on the lime before plowing, if the weather runs that way.

Poultry Manure.

Give directions for using chicken manure. For use of young trees, is there any difference in treatment of deciduous and citrus trees? For use in the vegetable garden and the flower garden, what should be mixed with it and in what proportions? So many people say poultry manure is so strong, I am afraid to use it.

It is a fact that poultry manure, free from earth, contains even as high as four times as much plant food as ordinary stable manure. It is, therefore, to be used with proportional care, so that the plants shall not receive too much, and particularly so that there may not be too much collected in one place. Probably the best way to guard against this is to thoroughly mix the manure with three or four times its bulk of ordinary garden soil and then use this mixture at about the same rate you would stable manure. If you do not desire to go to all this trouble, make an even scattering of the manure and work it into the soil. There is no reason to fear the material; simply guard against the unwise use of it. It is good for all the plants which you mention; in fact, for any plant grown, provided it is sparingly and evenly distributed.

It should be pulverized so that there shall not be lumps and ma.s.ses in the same place for fear of root injury. Of course, the strength depends upon how much earth is gathered up with the manure. Sometimes there is so much waste material that it can be handled just as ordinary farm manure is.

We should not use over 20 pounds of clean droppings to a young tree and should mix it with the soil for a considerable distance around the tree.

Old bearing trees might stand two or three tons to the acre if distributed all over the ground. The material contains everything that is necessary for the growth of the tree and formation of the fruit.

Ashes and Poultry Manure.