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Whitehall Montana

I understand synthetic fertilizers are hard on the soil microbes and are heavy in salts but how many people are using them to push for size?If used,what Is the best time to start using them and what amounts would be best?

10/25/2015 11:21:17 PM

Germany

Add what you need to add. Heavy in salts?...only if you are using fertilizers which contain additional salts. For example epsom salts is a fertilizer I wouldn´t call heavy in salts, because the only salts are magnesium and sulphate, things you actually want to add (if you need to add them...if you don´t need to, then why would you add this particular fertilizer?).
Urea...also a synthetic fertilizer and pretty mild, because you could also add urea by a hell of a pee on the plant, and in addition to urea this would kill your plant with the large shot of additional salts contained in your organic way of fertilizing. You see, every fertilizer needs to be seen through individual glasses.

One thing is for sure, you shouldn´t add things you don´t need to add.
Another thing, almost 100% for sure, synthestic fertilizers are readily available to the roots, whereas organic matter needs to decompose in order to release THE SAME MINERALS (the same salts) as the available form of fertilizer. Hence, there´s a difference in using the synthetic ones in smaller amounts (but perhaps a bit more often) and adding them as the plants grow (whereas some of the organic stuff needs to be added in fall or early spring, because it isn´t available to the roots asap).

10/26/2015 3:54:37 AM

Germany

Therefore the general strategy:
- Add organic matter and slow release minerals (lime stone, dolomite) in fall.
- Get a soil test done in spring.
- Add the missing parts (as soon as you know what you need for a balanced soil) as synthetic fertilizers in spring.

10/26/2015 3:58:00 AM

Germany

...forgot to add this: some slow-release N-fertilizers (because N-availability will depend alot on soil temperature and a spring soil test doesn´t tell you too much about the nitrogen which will be available as soon as the soil will have warmed up) can, of course, be added in spring patch prep. Further addition of N-fertilizers (urea, calcium nitrate etc.) should then be done as the plant asks for nitrogen, because then (when the plants asks for N) it needs to be available instantly (you can´t wait for the organic matter of the organic fertilizer to decompose). Once again: also in case of N-fertilizers it is always a good idea to add small amounts only and see what happens before you decide to add some more.

10/26/2015 6:12:12 AM

Whitehall Montana

Thank you Pumpking,If my soil is where it needs to be organically ,and my pumpkin is already set,would you try to push synthetic fertilizer after you were sure to not abort the pumpkin to push for size or chance that there is enough organic matter to suffice through the growth stage of the pumpkin?I know slow and easy wins the race,but also if your not blowin them yer not growin them also comes to mind.I am switching to Growth Products and trying to get past the 600lb mark so want to push the pumpkins harder.I will be taking next season off to work on my soil and start again in 2017 after more research

10/26/2015 12:49:39 PM

Germany

If everything you need is in your soil, I wouldn´t add too much fertilizer after fruit set. You can find literature on how many minerals are contained in the pumpkin juice and then you can calculate the minerals uptake by the plant which actually goes into the fruit. Assuming a 1 ft deep root system and an area of maybe 500 sqft covered by the plant and completely filled by the root system, you will see that crop uptake probably doesn´t bring your soil too much out of balance. Irrigation (rain or any artificial kind of rainfall), however, also removes minerals out of your soil, for example there´s significant loss of nitrogen after excessive rain, whereas the loss of nutrients will be much smaller in dry years. Therefore, better check what the plant looks like. At least I prefer to stay on the low side after fruit set and after the plant is established.

If you can afford it, you could do the following experiment next year (although you didn´t want to grow a pumpkin). Grow a pumpkin and take soil tests every 6 weeks...start with some nicely balanced soil (as balanced as you can get it in April 2016) and simply grow your plant with a pumpkin and monitor the behavior of your soil composition between April and October.

10/26/2015 1:35:23 PM

Whitehall Montana

Thank you so much for the great answers sir,quite interesting answers that make me think.Can a pumpkin reach its full size potential if the soil is perfect or can you push it a little larger with the synthetic after the growth starts to subside.Thank you again,I appreciate you

10/26/2015 2:23:20 PM

Germany

The problem is that the soil conditions will change every day, the soil won´t stay perfect through a whole season. Starting from a soil as good as you can get it is something essential, keeping the soil perfect is the tricky part...and I wouldn´t want to burn roots by feeding too much of a fertilizer as long as I don´t know whether there´s still plenty of this mineral left or not. Throwing some granular fertilizers under the canopy won´t help very much, you need to apply fertilizer solutions in order to get the minerals to the roots soon. If you have to water every day, then you can use some very dilute solutions which contain almost everything, this will keep you on the safe side, but if you don´t need to water so often, because of using rain as a very convenient source of irrigation, you would have to apply some stronger fertilizer solution in between...and that´s where my thoughts start, I would still try to use only small amounts of fertilizer.

10/26/2015 2:41:43 PM

Whitehall Montana

I appreciate you Pumpking

10/26/2015 6:52:41 PM