IPM for the Home Garden.

[KichigaiNeko]

Currently I do not have an IPM as I do not know enough about gardening on Sand here in WA (Western Australia)

At the moment we have issues with a creature known as a "sand groper"

Pesky little bugger that like to invade your house when it is finished with munching on your plants

Trying to establish a 'Lapin' Cherry
http://www.fruit-trees.org/pages/cherry-...cherry.php

which is NOT liking the weeks of 40 C heat

As I get to know more about this environment I can make a better IMP and am looking forward to battling (hand to hand combat) with new and exciting Pests and Diseases peculiar to WA

[The Grand Nudger]

That, is one mean looking little nasty. Gardening in sand is actually a pretty good place to be in. Sand is relatively sterile, it drains phenomenally well, and responds to fumigant and fertilizer more readily and more completely than almost any other soil type. Alot of veggies are native to sandy soils. The biggest problem with sand is PH. Looks like some sort of root treatment would be in order for that bastard!
(by "treatment", I mean poison the motherfucker, of course)

How do you guys water, drips, sprinklers, overhead, buried flood?

[KichigaiNeko]

Sand sterile?? Not on your nellie dear rhythm....you would not believe what grows in this shit called "Aussie sand". .

The rule of thumb here is ..."Got Clay?= Add organic matter" "Got Sandy loam? = Add organic matter" "got Western Australian Sand? = Add organic matter"

This country has not had the millennia of people shitting and dying on it, it is very poor soil. The pH is mostly alkaline and salinity is very high. Add phosphorus and you will KILL most if not ALL of the native vegetation. The rare places that the soil is of acid pH you will find Eucalypts that ONLY grow in that type of soil and NO WHERE ELSE IN THE FUCKING COUNTRY !!

Farming here is a nightmare... my heartfelt kudos to our farmers who can eck out a crop from this poor excuse for a soil and I understand why the "flooding" is so important to our inland rivers and ALL our rivers flow inland, very very few flow to the sea.

So...my task is (should I choose to not give in) is to improve the sand/soil that I have with a product called Vermiculture and SeaSol and adding as much in the way of "Organic Matter" in the form of unprocessed compost as I can. Maybe, just maybe in a year or two I may have something of a vege-patch worthy of the name.

So depressing for one who has lived her life on Wianamatta shale (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wianamatta_shale) clay ...otherwise known as "The Cow Pastures" of New South Wales Australia. Quite a lovely area of the Sydney Basin..I think you would like it, at least it would be a soil you could relate to.

The other thing that bothers me is the high level of limestone with no organic/colloidal structure for it to interact with ..it is like trying to plant in straight lime..... I had one conversation with a knowledgeable nursery person who said that he..." never had to sell a plant/ tree without having to sell a bag of soil to plant it in before he came to this side of the country". Remember we are on the other side of the "Wallace line" Whatever our mining exploits dig up has an impact on the atmospherics of our plantations and gardens. We are in a desert community far worse than 'Whateverist' has to deal with.... Arizona would be a picnic by comparison.

I did find a soil profile for the area and came to the conclusion that it is 'Sand all the way down' high aluminium content and very high salt table. Zen was out at a place called New Norcia where there is a wonderful 'Salt lake' (no doubt ready for harvest) on the weekend. For anything that you may find remotely resembling soil one has to go to a place called Harvey and the Margaret River and continue further south to Albany... there is the only 'soil' you would recognise as such.

So Google the sites I have mentioned and if you can find any soil surveys/profiles on these areas plase post them to this thread.

Cheers
Kichi

[The Grand Nudger]

It's the same in Florida Kichi, sand that hasn't had alot of people shitting living and dying on it. It sterile relative to soil with large amounts of organic material and acidic PH (because it isn't very conducive to life in and of itself). Try dialing down the phosphorous and dial up the nitrogen, calcium, and potassium? You have to be careful with unprocessed compost if you're planning on eating the food that grows from it (it's actually illegal to do so here). One of the problems of sand, as it relates to compost and organic matter, is that the organic matter has a tendency to float off, and the nutrients to leach down through the extremely well draining sand. The stuff essentially evaporates into nothing at a frightening rate. In Florida we got around this by burying tiles to hold the water up near the surface (and whatever else we add as well). Sub Surface flood and drain irrigation + sand ftw! Actually drowns alot of tunneling beasties as well.

[thesummerqueen]

I'm starting to love the fact that I live in the gently acidic clay of NC...

[The Grand Nudger]

And I the extremely acidic clay silt loam with massive concentrations of calcium called "The Bluegrass". On the other hand, it really is much easier to farm sand from the angle of fertilization, irrigation, and disease control. Easy, mind you, with the right tools, but not cheap.

[thesummerqueen]

The piedmont is fuckin' ace. The mountains are a bit more acidic, which is why we have those rhodes and laurels all over the place.

Dude, when they're blooming you and I should have a hike together - you still owe me some redneck wine.

[The Grand Nudger]

I know I know, I got bogged down with so much shit last year. I drank your wine..lol (my redneck neighbor helped). I'm a little bit worried about this years batch, sugar content was under the usual, and if it won't knock out a horse I call it a complete failure.

[thesummerqueen]

You bastard.

[KichigaiNeko]

Doesn't it just!!

"Unprocessed Organic matter" in the form of Pine/ Eucalypt mulch, and a soil mix from a local Landscaping supplier for the market gardens that do survive here. The Vermiculture is a soil inoculant...all statements to the attempt of increasing the soil biomass which is virtually non-existent here. Remember we are on a NEW (read stripped) site.

sorry I should have been more specific.

So Florida Everglades are only sand?? I am guilty of not GFGI -ing your soil structure! Will do so tomorrow. Feel free to have a look at ours. I would not presume to tell you what you can/ cannot do with your soil...I don't live there and until I do will never know. Here is pretty much the same..... "over East" (as the locals here call it) has very little or no relevance to practices on the West coast. As I said, until I has some more experience and knowledge of what I can and cannot do here I am just trying to improve what excuse for a soil I have... should have been a farmer eh??

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Sub-mulch irrigation FTW!! is the only way to go here...evaporation is just too high..hence why my poor 'Lapin cherry' is suffering sun scorch.

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There was a notice regarding the wine crops over here as being unusually late?? Are you finding that over there??