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Little River, TX | There are too many different clay types with an infinate number of combinations.
I contend that Marvin is 100% correct THERE with his soil.
Brad has some very valid points for some other soils. It is true "Several reputable soil lavatories will endorse calcium sulfate as a means to amend clay soils &c", unfortunbatly to be a universal truth the use of gypsum would have to be replicated for all soil types. It is unfortunate but reputable soil testing labs do not necessarily tell us the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.
Not all tight clays are high in magnesium, for one.
For another sodium (Na) is the classic target for gypsum.
There is the very good possibility that gypsum will displace a whole lot more potassium than Magnesium or Sodium. THEN it all can still come to nothing if the displaced from the Cation sites on the clay has no place to go. Internal drainage of some form or another is still necessary.
Ed is a wise old Fellow & his "drainage is important to athletic fields to farm fields and there is no quick and easy method." definatly applies. Gypsum is a material that when a little does some good, a lot will solve all the problems of the world DOES NOT APPLY. Plan on using a moderate amount every year or two, and keep it up for decades.
So One Truth is, for Brad, Gypsum works for his soil, in his climate, using his management style.
I will now add and extend my comments on "reputable Laboritories". They all will insist their methods are the ultimate and their data is golden. They also lie through their teeth. Maybe not always intentionally, but the result is the same, they lie. They do because most of their soil pontification is based on the soil near their facility, not near our facilities. Unless they have results based data collection for our soil type, in our climate, using our management style, there is a potential for unreliable data. This is being charitable, because some have a party line that precludes an reliable soil test report.
Case in point. Very few if any consider the structure of the clay. A Vertic Clay has platelets of silicon that are have attachment points between the platelets. The actual CEC will be in the 40 to 50 meq/100g range. Cations will be attracted to ionic attachment locations between the plates. When the soil is moistened these platelets swell, physically trapping the essential elements between the plates. These labs dry the soil samples (which causes the clay to shrink opening the spaces between the platelets) then they crush the now dry sample into a powder. All the above frees the trapped essential elements. This presents to the Laboritories Favorite Chemistry an abundance of elements that they in turn report as available to the crop.
HERE, we must have the soil potassium reported to be between 400 & 500 ppm K for the crop to find sufficient potassium for a reasonable yield. A soil test report of 300 ppm will not provide enough potassium for the plant to survive our annual summer drought. Not with out irrigation.
Now HERE Gypsum is not worth the freight cost let alone the cost of the material. Even if the material is donated!
For one the clay here is a Vertisol type which is all about how the clay particles are constructed. PLUS the soil HERE is calcareous which means there is an abundance of calcium carbonate in the soil. Adding more calcium will accomplish nothing, zero, zilch, nada. If you like base saturation the soil here will be from 90% to 95% calcium. If you look at free calcium carbonate we have 10% free lime. At one time TAMU reported 42,000 ppm Ca. Now using Mehlich III they report 14,000 ppm Ca. A & L reports 7,000 to 9,000 ppm Ca. My current Laboritory of choice, Midwest Labs Inc, reports 3,500 ppm Ca. It matters not they all are excessivly high. | |
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baseball field farming, gypsum to help drainage?
