When To Add Calcium To Your Garden Soil

Calcium is one of the secondary macronutrients in the soil. Although it is not needed in the amounts of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, calcium is crucial for the growth of plants and makes them less susceptible to diseases and pests.

But when it comes to calcium, more is not always better. Excess calcium in garden soil can be associated with high pH, ​​which means that the soil is too alkaline, which affects the absorption of the macronutrients contained in other fertilizers.

The way to determine if you need to add calcium to your soil is a professional soil test. It is different from a simple pH test that you can do at home.

A professional soil test looks at the calcium level and pH of the soil. Professional soil tests, such as those offered by a cooperative extension across the state, will also tell you exactly what to add to the soil and in what quantities.

Remember that in a living plant, calcium moves from the root tips up through the entire plant with the water through perspiration.

That is why it is always important to water enough. Once the calcium reaches its destination, as young, new tissue or spikes, it remains in place.

When to add calcium to soil

The level of calcium in the soil says nothing about how much plants can actually absorb.

A key term for the absorption of calcium from the soil is the cation exchange capacity (CEC). Imagine the soil as a storage tank for plant nutrients for calcium and magnesium.

CCEC is the relative ability of the soil to absorb and retain a particular nutrient in the form of positively charged cations or ions. Knowing this, the questions about whether your plants are getting enough calcium, and what you can do if they aren't, are directly related to the CEC level.

It is also related to the pH of your soil; Soils with a higher pH level generally contain more available calcium.

A professional soil test will determine the CEC of your soil. The higher the CEC, the more organic matter and clay there will be in your soil, which is good because it is a soil that retains water and nutrients like calcium better than a sandy soil.

A low CEC indicates a sandy soil that is more likely to lack nutrients because it seeps out of the soil more quickly.

According to the CEC, soil testing can tell you to add organic matter to the soil. It also indicates whether you need to make the soil less acidic by adding lime or more acid by adding sulfur.

The combination of increasing the CEC and adjusting the pH will increase the availability of calcium for your garden crops.

Signs of calcium deficiency

While soil testing is the surest way to determine if you need to correct the soil, there are also some tell-tale signs of calcium deficiency in plants.

Weak or stunted growth, curling of new leaves or shoots, burns or spots on young leaves, inhibited shoot growth, stunted or dead roots, burrows of mature leaves, chlorosis (yellowing of leaves), burnt leaf tips and damage to fruits, such as Flower tip rot in tomatoes and seeds in apples can be signs of calcium deficiency.

Enjoy This Video Tutorial About When To Add Calcium To Your Garden Soil

Source: Simpler Garden

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