Why is this happening?

ramblinjerry 10/30/2012, 1:08 pm

Why is the water in my beds only penetrating down about two inches? I water my beds about 6:30 a.m. and the soil is dry. Do I have my mix wrong? I didn't have very good success this year, I believe, because of the heat and beginners inexperience. I'm thinking that maybe I don't have enough peat moss in it and that is why the water seems to stay at the top and by noon it has already evaporated. Thanks for any suggestions. I live in Holiday, Florida and about three miles from the shore of the gulf. I think I'm in zone 10 if this helps.

**camprn** 10/30/2012, 1:20 pm

To me it's obvious you need to water more and consider placing a mulch of some kind to retain the moisture. If you do these two things, you should see an obvious difference quite quickly.

quiltbea 10/30/2012, 1:27 pm

Could it be too much peat moss? If it wasn't fluffed up when it was mixed before filling the boxes, there could be twice as much peat than needed.

But then, I'm not an expert. I opted to use lesser amounts of peat myself since I believe peat makes the soil more acidic which was just fine for my potatoes but would not be appreciated by the rest of the garden crops, IMHO.

**camprn** 10/30/2012, 1:33 pm

Good thinking QB. Jerry, what did you put into your Mel's Mix? How many and what kinds of compost did you end up using?

ramblinjerry 10/30/2012, 1:57 pm

Thanks to camprn and quiltbea for the speedy replies. In my mix I have the Lambert's Peat Moss that I bought from Home Depot. I have the coarse grade of vermiculite. The five type of compost is my own homemade compost from grassclippings and kitchen scraps also I included hay and straw that I bought from a local feed and farm supply store. I also have worm castings, composted cow manure "Black Kow", Mushroom compost "Black Velvet" and finally I bought a from a commercial compost company near Tampa some of their compost. What I can't remember is how much of Lambert's Peat Moss I added. I did use some of the straw I bought from the feed store as mulch but it was probably a case of "too little too Late". I'm looking forward to next year and giving it another go, I'm not going to quit. I just need to resolve the problems so I can succeed. Thanks agian for your help.

Lindacol 10/30/2012, 2:33 pm

How are you watering? I am in so CA, zone 9B I think. When it is hot I usually have to water twice a day for about 15 minutes with a drip watering system. Also if your bed completely dries out you will need to really soak it first.

I would think that if you have higher humidity in Florida than we have here you need to be careful to water the soil & not the leaves to help prevent mildew.

plantoid 11/1/2012, 4:13 am

ramblinjerry wrote:Why is the water in my beds only penetrating down about two inches? I water my beds about 6:30 a.m. and the soil is dry. Do I have my mix wrong? I didn't have very good success this year, I believe, because of the heat and beginners inexperience. I'm thinking that maybe I don't have enough peat moss in it and that is why the water seems to stay at the top and by noon it has already evaporated. Thanks for any suggestions. I live in Holiday, Florida and about three miles from the shore of the gulf. I think I'm in zone 10 if this helps.

Try watering just as the suns shadows arrive at sun down that way you might have the whole night to let the water soak deeper .

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