TOPIC: phosphorous

Since this is a slow season on the forum, I'll ask the group for their thoughts on Phosphorous. Calcium is obviously the #1 important element for ginseng, but phosphorous might be number two. As I understand it, phosphorous fertilization is very commonly used in agricultural crops to stimulate root production, and there are a few studies that show it works on ginseng too (1 pot study, 1 wild simulated that I know of). So, has anyone here tried adding it to their soils? I personally would like to get my levels from 4 ppa to about 10 ppa, which is the level Scott Person's book states is sufficient. Any suggestions on when to apply, or how to apply? Are any of you growing in soil with phosphorous less than 10 ppa? I think a few of you use bonemeal in your seed beds, any idea how much the P content of your soils increased?

vafiddler,
I am going to try the addition of Phosphorus on my woodlots this Spring to see if it makes a difference in growth. I had thrown out old fertilizer for two or three years on one woodlot in the winter and it seemed that the ginseng grew much better there. I had not thrown any on another lot and the growth was not as good. I had also used Bone Meal and Gypsum in the other lot and it did well. I will be adding a balanced fertilizer plus Potash this late Winter to see how it works. When I was planting new rootlets this Fall I added Gypsum and some balanced fertilizer into the soil and worked it in before planting the rootlets. I had always read that adding balanced fertilizer to a ginseng plot was not good, but I'm not sure that is actually true. I will take note of how well the plants grow this coming Summer and let everyone know what has worked. I hope to hear back from you as well. Good luck with yours.
Hugh

The main hollow that I am planting in test like this.. PH 5.8, P 11, K 120, Ca 1472, Mg 236.

The first year I planted (fall 2010) after I raked back the leaves and dropped seed, I put on a sprinkling of bonemeal and gypsum.

Since then, early each spring (in Feb)... I apply a little more gypsum on top.

Below is a pic of one of them that I dug up to check root development this past fall (was a 2 year old at that point).



If you do some research online on bonemeal, lots of folks praise it, others not so much.

See the info below..

==
Phosphorus is not very water soluble and takes time to break down enough for plants to use. Products containing rock phosphate take even longer, sometimes two to three years.

An overabundance of phosphorus can cause yellowing of leaves.

The effectiveness of bone meal phosphorus drops significantly if the pH of the soil is above 7. If you find that your soil has a pH higher than 7, correct your soil’s pH first before adding bone meal otherwise the bone meal will not work.
==

Also see the info in this document.. (one of the more negative ones I found on bonemeal).

www.puyallup.wsu.edu/~Linda%20Chalker-Sc...s/Myths/Bonemeal.pdf

If phosphorus levels are too high, however, the roots do not exude the organic acids and mycorrhizal
connections do not form. This forces the plant to put more resources into root growth to compensate for
the lack of mycorrhizae.

==

It is basically saying that adding P, can make the plant produce larger roots, but at the expense of something else the plant needs (like possibly top growth or berry production).

I have heard that when you do apply P it needs to be mixed into the soil. Top dressing with P may not be very beneficial at all.


TNhunter

Sure is a pretty 2 year old there!

I'll have to go over the preceding soil tests I have to see what I have got in my soil. I hope that the P isn't as big a deficiency as my Ca was!