Low soil pH is NOT the only factor that affects growth. Here is a picture from a few years back that is about 5' tall of brassica grown under 5.5 pH soils. Here is where people need to rewire their brains. It's cation exchange capacity that really matters. This is where people fail. You want to build up soil organic matter. You want to use liquid starters and foliar plant foods. Just about any seed will grow under lower ph.’s. The problem is the uptake of nutrients and the utilization of what you have in the soil as well as the fertilizers you put down.
This is where the wildlife industry completely fails people. Most wildlife companies don't even understand this basic concept. If someone asked me if I could have either 6.5 pH. but with low organic matter or 5.5 pH but with good organic matter, I’d always choose 5.5 and high organic matter. How many of you have sand ground and have limed to 6.5 pH? You still know the challenges of your plots.
For those of you who, would like more information, I'll be focusing my next few blogs on my website on tips and tricks to handle challenged soils. Side note, you could have 6.5 pH soil with 5% organic matter and still have challenged soils. Most food plotters have low biological activity because of excess herbicides, excess tillage, erosion, compaction and more.
The attached picture is of a 5 foot tall brassica plant grown on 5.5 pH soil with high organic matter.
