Gypsum

Step 2: Prepare blog posts in advance to encourage that Frenchie' laziness. So, from Ed's own words this time:

Think of the word gypsum.  Some farmers act like that word means you are going to jip someone or you will become a band of gypsies!  When you hear gypsum, think of oxygenate your soil.  That is what it means to me.  I was looking over our field to SR 28 at dusk last night.  I wish I had done what Ben Franklin did and wrote out This Land Has Been Plastered In Gypsum, spelled out with calcium sulfate on that ground.  The greener letters would stick out!

I get a lot of questions not because I ask for them but because I say things on the Internet, email and talks I give that raises questions.

"I have seen you mention several times on AT about adding calcium on your beans and having a yield response. If this is not a trade secret, would you mind sharing how much you apply, and in what form i.e. pelletized, granular etc. 

We soil test regularly and apply lime VRT as needed.

No trade secrets here, folks, just a few hundred years of experience I have read over my 6 decades.  Think oxygenated soils.  Ca is the weaker cation of it and magnesium but it moves to gravity when applied to soil, bringing oxygen with it and taking H2O deeper into the soil profile.  That is exactly what I want to do.

A triangle of calcium, sulfur and ammonium (nitrate) is a powerful force for good for soil health to feed crops. This is what I think of when I hear gypsum, calcium and sulfate.

This Land Has Been Plastered

My goal is to get all of our land "plastered."  I need more oxygen in all of my soil so my crops can grow more efficiently.  I want to put that simple triangle to work.

While that is going on under the soil, I can cause more of it to happen right beside the germinating crop by adding a furrow applied side dress of 2 gallons of calcium nitrate mixed with 8 gallons of reverse osmosis structured water.  On the other side of the row I can apply my nitrogen and sulfur and voila, we have our triangle of power in the root zone until the crop roots get big enough to reach more we already applied.

I also looked at where I had applied drywall and planted tillage radish over the top.  The soil was all black and granulated and looked like it had been tilled from underneath!  That is one beautiful looking soil and the earthworm activity was very evident!

When you hear radish, thing of radish ripper or radish tillage, a great biological ripper with so many more benefits.  When you hear gypsum, think of calcium sulfate that will oxygenate your soil.

Ed