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Post by grano on Jun 12, 2014 15:29:09 GMT -5
It seems I can't give enough water for my maize, even though some is from Tucson. My soil is a very gravelly loam. On an average day the maize wilts. In a heat wave it scorches. Thinking of incorporating the clay kitty litter.
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Post by steev on Jun 12, 2014 18:56:38 GMT -5
While that wouldn't hurt, unless you buy it just for this use, organic matter would be more to the point.
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Post by grano on Jun 12, 2014 20:41:33 GMT -5
Currently the kitty litter is going to the landfill.
Are you saying that organic matter holds more water than clay? I hadn't thought of that.
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Post by steev on Jun 12, 2014 21:35:43 GMT -5
So you're using "pre-owned" kitty litter; there are health concerns, if you put it in the part of the garden where you grow root-crops or you have kiddies "helping" you garden; Toxoplasmosis being the main one. Mixing it into the soil with some judgement is fine.
Nevertheless, OM acts like a nutrient-bearing sponge: spreading and holding water; lightening soil; feeding plants and the soil biota that you want to encourage. There's nothing plants like to grow on better than the rotted remains of other plants (and animals).
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Post by nathanp on Jun 13, 2014 19:22:56 GMT -5
I have used some types of kitty litter (not 'used' kitty litter) in planted aquariums. It has a very high CAC capacity, holding a great deal of nutrients, as well as maintaining soil moisture. Hartz pH5 is one of the better ones, as it does not have a high pH. Oil-dry is another good substitute that could be used and is cheaper in bulk than kitty litter. www.uline.com/BL_7012/Oil-Dri?pricode=WK691&AdKeyword=oil%20dry&AdMatchtype=e&gclid=CI-e85yM-L4CFQqDfgod5a0A-A&gclsrc=aw.dsWhen I emptied out several of my fish tanks last year to sell them, the leftover substrate went into my soil mix for my potato bins for this year. Lots of fish 'manure' left mixed in with it. |
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Post by raymondo on Jun 14, 2014 17:29:11 GMT -5
... Are you saying that organic matter holds more water than clay? ... According to one of the (Australian) state ag department web sites: " Humus has some of the useful qualities of clay in that it adsorbs nutrients, adsorbs much higher quantities of water than clay can, and improves soil structure due to its low plasticity and good cohesion." |
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Post by grano on Jun 14, 2014 19:54:48 GMT -5
Thanks very much. In this dry year, lack of humus may also explain poor germination in certain areas of my field. Sorry for the tangent.
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Post by cornhusker007 on Jun 14, 2014 20:41:13 GMT -5
Raymondo I must agree that organic matter can absorb more water. However that is gravitational water and soon leaves. Soil solution is held in cohesion, water is attracted to water. A clay particle holds water hydoscopicaly to itself, that water in turn holds soil solution in its pore space. Soil solution is much more stable for plants too use.
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Post by petitvilaincanard on Jun 15, 2014 14:14:19 GMT -5
Let's not forget the clay-humus complexes.
Incorporate the cat-litter in compost heaps and you'l have the best of the two worlds.
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Aug 31, 2014 22:11:09 GMT -5
I haven't picked much Astronomy Domine corn this year because I turned the patch over to the mercies of the local skunk horde. They have been voracious predators. Much of the crop got eaten, but some cobs on strong stalks that were high enough off the ground have survived. Here's what a few cobs looked like that were within the reach of skunks so I picked them preemptively. The cob on the far left is Ambrosia, the most popular corn in my valley. It is my intention this year to select a skunk-resistant strain of A.D. I am also making a cross to some flour/flint corns that carry the cobs 5 to 6 feet from the ground. Hoily: If I stay out of prison for another two or three years perhaps I'll send you another tree corn to try... How high can you grasp without a ladder? I'll try to aim for taller than a skunk can reach, but still within Holly-grasp.  |
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Post by raymondo on Sept 1, 2014 1:16:47 GMT -5
Are these at eating stage Joseph, or are they for seed?
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Sept 1, 2014 1:41:35 GMT -5
Are these at eating stage Joseph, or are they for seed? We ate those cobs a few minutes after the photo was taken. They were at the fresh eating stage. I have devoted a lot of effort to getting bright colors very early in the lifecycle. For the past few years I have been growing separate patches for each color and selecting for the brightest early colors. [The photo is missing one of my favorites, but I picked what was available.] This spring's planting was intended to jumble those colors up again. Instead the skunks took most of the patch. They took the entire patches of LISP Ashworth and Frosty which are smaller plants. |
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Post by raymondo on Sept 1, 2014 1:45:22 GMT -5
Joseph Lofthouse, the colours are great. Is this the process you used to get the Cherry Red - continued selection for early colour development?
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Sept 1, 2014 2:03:47 GMT -5
Joseph Lofthouse, the colours are great. Is this the process you used to get the Cherry Red - continued selection for early colour development? The cherry red is a bit different because the color is due to what I think of as "sap color". The mother plant develops the red color before the cob starts forming, and it seems to me that the color seeps into the cob which is thus red the whole time. But because it is a maternal trait only it might not be heritable. So with that color it was more about selecting for offspring that had the trait and year by year increasing the frequency. With the other colors it was more about selecting for intensity of color in young plants. |
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Post by starry on Oct 3, 2014 8:17:53 GMT -5
Found an interesting looking kernel on one of my Astronomy Domine cobs. Do you think this is an inheritable characteristic?  |
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