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Soil improvment
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Author:  chancemo [ Sun Aug 30, 2009 8:14 pm ]
Post subject:  Soil improvment

I have approx. 15 acres of VERY sandy land that I am having problems growing any grass(quality). I had a soil analysis done and applied the recommended mixture resulting in with very marginal results. Any recommendations on how to build up this soil if possible.

Author:  user_48634 [ Mon Aug 31, 2009 8:15 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Soil improvment

Sure. This may be going off in a different direction for you but please read it through. It might change your idea of what you want to do with the property.

Fence off your land into 15 paddocks, one acre each, with electric fence. Then run one cow on it. Let the cow eat from one acre until that grass is gone. Then move her to another paddock that seems to have plenty of grass on it. When she has eaten that grass down, move her to the next. You'll have to have water and minerals to each paddock so get some hose and a portable trough out there. Move the minerals and water trough around to place her urine and dung in areas that seem to need more fertility.

What that does is fertilize and stimulate the soil to grow grass. Soil needs animal hoof action, urine, dung, and drool to grow good grass. Then the microbes and insects come in to clean up after the cow. If you have chickens, put a chicken out there, too. If the coyotes take the chicken, get another one...unless you want to go out and spread the dung pats around yourself. A chicken a day would be worth it. If you run out of grass before 10-14 days, you might consider haying to keep Flossie in one place so the other grass will grow. You should only have to do this for a couple cycles before the soil improves enough to support her without extra input. But try not to rely on haying. Hay will also bring in new seed so you can unroll the hay bale into a long strip to seed areas.

At the end of 15-30 weeks you will be returning Flossie to your first paddock. The grass there should have had ample time to regrow. Furthermore it will have more of a variety of plants that grow back. If you want certain grasses or plants to grow back in, you could throw that seed before you let the cow into the paddock. She will press the seed into the ground like she's supposed to. Hmmmm, but then the chicken will pick out all the seed, so maybe not if you have the chicken. If you do seed, you have to think 15-30 weeks in advance about what seed you want in there. Winter oats would go in July for the winter.

The more cycles you put the soil through the better the grass will grow. You might have to put 2 cows on it to keep up with the grass growth in a few years.

Does this work in the desert in sand? Yes it does. A grazier in Globe, AZ proved it starting with a mountain of sterilized strip mine tailings from a copper mine. He rolled out hay bales and put cows on it. In one season he had a pasture. That was 10 years or so ago and it is still a pasture with no more inputs.

Author:  ranchcop [ Tue Sep 08, 2009 8:28 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Soil improvment

You can find out more about Organic Fertilizer Programs at www.WatsonRanchOrganic.com
We recently had a customer that was trying to grow grass on a new housing development in Canton Tx. They had enlarged an existing lake and made it deeper. The developers then took the excess dirt and made housing pads, ect. Well a year later and $125,000.00 in landscaping and Chemical fertilizers, nothing was growing and everything was or had died! They tried our products on a test area 2 weeks ago and within 4 days the grass was green and growing! They even had the home owners asking what the heck they had done on the test area.
Organics do not have to take months or years to improve, it can be done quickly with the right program.
Let me know if you have any other questions that I may help with!
Bradley Watson

Author:  user_48634 [ Fri Sep 11, 2009 2:19 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Soil improvment

chancemo, if you don't want to run livestock, then who did your soil test? If it was TAMU I would suggest you send a sample to the Texas Plant and Soil Lab. Follow their directions to the letter.

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