Soil Analysis

[x3la]

I have my hops in 15 gallon fabric grow bags (Fuggles and Goldings). This is their second year and have already seen quite vigorous bull shoot growth. I have had the soil analysed:

The only instructions given were to apply 0-0-60 fertiliser since there is a Potassium (K) deficiency. I have read that applying K in spring doesn't help as much as during the fall.

Should I be concerned that The Phosphorus (P) level is "Very High"? and that the pH is higher than desired?

Any suggestions for a feeding routine given this analysis would be very much appreciated!

Thanks in advance.

 

[estricklin]

This phosphorus is going to come down over time anyway, as all the macronutrients will. If it were me, I probably wouldn't do anything until later this year, if at all. I'm not sure how hungry hops generally are, I actually never fertilized mine.

I might suggest a tablespoon or so of 0-0-15/30/60, or a more balanced fertilizer later on like 13-13-13 at small doses.

Hopefully someone with more experience in this area will chime in.

 

[Kent88]

Unfortunately I am not well experienced with this, but I would wait until immediately after harvest to apply something like potash.

Not sure what to say about the surplus of phosphorus.

 

[bracconiere]

can't go wrong with planting some beans around the base? (i'm actually not sure, but know plants growing around bean plants always do really good, you should see how big the weeds around my bean trees get! like night and day compared to the weeds that aren't so close.)

 

[Kent88]

can't go wrong with planting some beans around the base? (i'm actually not sure, but know plants growing around bean plants always do really good, you should see how big the weeds around my bean trees get! like night and day compared to the weeds that aren't so close.)

Legumes put nitrogen back in the soil.

 

[bracconiere]

Legumes put nitrogen back in the soil.

yep, why i thought i'd toss that out. thinking hops go straight up, so why not some ground cover at the base? might even help save on watering?

 

[Kent88]

yep, why i thought i'd toss that out. thinking hops go straight up, so why not some ground cover at the base? might even help save on watering?

Beans still need water.

I doubt beans would help, but I do know and agronomist who tried growing beans with hops to get a better yield. His soil was terrible, so he figured he could at least give it a shot.

 

[bracconiere]

Beans still need water.

would they require more or less then the atmospheric evaporation of uncovered soil?

(in around about way the lack of Nitrogen in that report is why i thought beans...)

 

[Kent88]

Valid questions/ideas.

 

[Chris H]

Your state extension service is waiting to assist you with advice, but in the mean time... If P is too high it can kill your plants. We had a field on our farm that had pastured hogs on it. It's been decades since, and I still haven't had to add P to that field. Don't add any more P to your soil. Plant things to use it up. Someone mentioned beans (legumes). That may be good advice since it will use P and fix N. When adding fertilizer, the three numbers, example 10-5-20, the 5 is P. If you feed fertilizer, the middle number should always be 0 for you so you don't add any P. K is the last number (20), so if you're low on K you can add fertilizer with a number in the last position. Don't add something organic like wood ash for K, it can raise the pH. According to your info, hops like the soil to be slightly acidic. You can lower the pH of your soil by adding sulphur or even mulching the soil with ground apples. It's difficult to change the soil pH by just top dressing the soil with sulphur. It should generally be worked into the soil prior to planting since sulphur is fairly immobile.

 

[Ruint]

You can top dress around your hops with fast acting lime to drop your ph. Hops are voracious nitrogen eaters, especially early in the season. Would not hurt to drop some straight up nitrogen fertilizer on them....like 28-0-0.

 

[Chris H]

You can top dress around your hops with fast acting lime to drop your ph. Hops are voracious nitrogen eaters, especially early in the season. Would not hurt to drop some straight up nitrogen fertilizer on them....like 28-0-0.

Lime makes soil less acidic or increases pH. It would move the pH up which is more alkaline, which is the opposite direction from the recommendation. Move from 7.2 -> 6.5 is making the soil more acidic.
https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/references/acids-bases-the-ph-scale
How Lime Application Reduces Soil Acidity = Ca++ and Mg++ from lime replaces two H+ ions on the cation exchange complex (reserve acidity)  The H+ ions combine with OH- (hydroxyl) ions to form water  pH increases because the acidity source (H+ ) has been reduced

 

[Ruint]

I stand corrected...on lime to drop pH in soil. It does raise it. Brain fart moment. Sulfur is best. No joke about the nitrogen though.