Field guide
Something looks wrong in the field? Match it here — acid soil, salt, iron lock, waterlog. Lab-sheet words live under Reading the soil test.
Can’t read the lab sheet? Open Reading the soil testProblem
13 guides
One guide can sit in more than one group, so the chip counts add up to more than 100.
Same crop againSoil-borne wilt: look at the vascular brown before you fertiliseOne plant wilts in the heat, recovers a little at night, neighbours still green. Cut the stem.
Same crop againThe soil isn’t ‘alive’: microbes out of balanceSoil smells sour or dead, residues don’t rot, plants stall. Feed carbon and air before you buy a miracle bottle.
OtherThe boundary of soil disinfection: after you kill, you have to feedDisinfect, then organic matter and a rotation. Another dose next year is a treadmill.
Same crop againGreenhouse decline: salt, disease and burn arriving togetherWhite crust, wilt, burn after a rich year. Flush, rotate, rest the bed. Don’t only change the soil.
Nutrient shortageCitrus yellowing: separate iron lock, root rot and huanglongbingLook at the root, the pattern, and whether a neighbour tree matches. Don’t only spray iron.
Same crop againRoot-knot nematodes: galls on the root, extra fertiliser won’t grow itStunted plants with galled roots. Rotation and resistant stock beat another NPK bag.
Same crop againRoot rot or a soil problem: look at the root before you fertiliseWash the root. Acid aluminium is brown and bald. Rot is soft and smells. Disease follows the stem.
Thin organic matterBio-organic fertiliser: how to use it so it isn’t a placeboA live inoculant on dead, salty, raw compost does nothing. Buy rotted material first.
Same crop againApple replant: the old pit is still the old soilNew trees in old holes stall. Move the row, replace the pit, don’t only add a microbe bag.
Same crop againStrawberry replant: salt, nematodes and wilt in the same bedClean stock, rotation, salt check. A disinfectant is not a full answer.
Same crop againSame-crop fatigue: the same field gets worse each yearSame crop, same bed, weaker plants, more wilt. Salt, disease and tired roots arrive together. Rotate, don’t only sterilise.
Same crop againBacterial wilt soil: a hot-tent is not a magic wandUse it in the window, then rest and rotate. Don’t tent and replant the same host.
Same crop againSolarisation: it can knock pathogens back and also hurt roots and structureUse it on a wet soil in the heat, then rest. Don’t plant into cooked, salty dust the next day.