grain beds

[Mapleroots]

I threw the mashed grain from a few of my batch's last year on to my hop garden thinking this would be a good way to compost the grain. I started talking to someone else who grows locally and he told me that doing this adds a lot of acid to the soil, and that it would need to be balanced out with lime. any thoughts or experience with growing with grain?

 

[JonK331]

I put a bunch into a pot containing a citrus tree last year and it killed the tree. I will not do that again. I think it should be thoroughly composted separately first and then it is fine. Might have adjust pH though yes.

 

[Randar]

uncomposted organic material is not a suitable soil amendment on its own in most cases. The microorganisms that aid in decomposition use nitrogen at a high rate. It may also change pH if sufficient quantity of grain is added in a given area.

In general, the best amendment is already-composted material.

 

[Mapleroots]

that sounds good, but I already added that grain to the hop garden, so now I need to correct the Acidic balace to get things right. I'll get a reading and then report on how the plants are doing.