Ply…
For all the “benefits” (i.e. minerals) or red clay or any color clay for that matter… it does have severe limitations…
1. Clay is totally devoid or organic matter… so use lots of compost… and I am trying out something new this season… compost tea which is a liquid…
2. Clay has the highest shrink/swell constants of any soil type… which means when it gets wet it swells and when it get dry it get tight… Plant roots need air.. so if your compost doesn’t solve this … use vermiculite or something equivalent…
I would shoot for a ratio of 30%-50% compost to clay….
3. Clay can have extreme PH values… I had some fields tested one time at 4.5 which is about the same as orange juice… not good for growing anything… I put 3 tons of dolomitic and 2 tons of high calcium lime (two totally different limes) on those fields over two years to get the PH to 6.0
You would like to a 6-6.5.
and you can buy high calcium line anywhere… just get the kind they use to mark the lines on ballfields (powdered hydrated lime).
It’s worth mentioning that… IMHO… most all the “books: are wrong about PH… they’re gonna tell you 7-7.5 most of the time, BUT… if you do that… your disease problems will be exponentially higher… and the cost of managing that (chemicals) is alot higher than the extra fertilizer you will need to offset the chemicals…
Try these three things and that should get you 90% of the results you’re looking for with minimum effort and expense… Getting the other 10% will be more complex…
