The Intelligent Gardener by Steve Solomon

Author:Steve Solomon [Solomon, Steve; Reinheimer, Erica]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781550925135
Publisher: New Society Publishers
Published: 2012-11-05T16:00:00+00:00

Boron (B)

Two pounds of boron in the furrowslice acre (1 ppm) is the minimum concentration at which no obvious deficiencies appear in most soils. Three pounds per acre is considered sufficient by most agronomists. More than four pounds of boron (2 ppm) in the same volume of soil can be toxic to a few crop species, but is comfortable for most. My main goal regarding boron levels is for everyone to have a good result — and be safe at the same time. At worst, mild excesses will leach out in a few years. I can tell you this: If there is boron toxicity, the first crop to show it will be green beans. Celery, potato, tomato, radish, corn, pumpkin, peppers (and chilies), sweet potato and lima beans are in the “semitolerant,” group, meaning they can take only so much boron, and then they get in trouble.

Because fertilizers can so easily be double applied (or more than that), this book specifies boron applications be limited to two pounds per acre. If the soil called for that much it would be possible to put in another two pounds of boron one month after the first amendment, but generally, two pounds of boron in one year is more than sufficient to feed soil and hopefully increase the boron level next year. Even though boron is applied in minute quantities, it is easy enough to uniformly spread boron all by itself because borax is readily soluble. If you dissolved 20 grams (roughly one heaping tablespoon) of laundry borax into one quart of hot water, and sprayed that water fairly uniformly on the soil of a 100-square-foot bed, you’d be applying 2 pounds per acre actual boron. That concentration will not damage leaves, but to be effective, boron must go into the soil. It is poorly used by plants when sprayed as foliar fertilizer.

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