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UF/IFAS Citrus Research

UF/IFAS Citrus Research

Soil Health

Overview

  • Healthy soils can provide increased water-holding capacity, increased nutrient availability, and greater microbial activity, which can help reduce disease pressure and improve root growth.
  • Soil pH, soil fertility, and organic matter are considered as the important aspects of soil health.

 

Soil pH

  • Soil pH should be tested at least annually and maintained between 5.8 - 6.5.
  • It can take 6 to 24 months to adjust the soil pH to optimum depending on the soil buffer capacity, moisture, temperature, and aeration.
  • Irrigation water in Florida is high in bicarbonates and increases soil pH over time.
  • Irrigation water acidification, elemental sulfur application, or use of acidifying fertilizers are recommended to reduce soil pH.
  • Soil pH reduction with acid injection into irrigation is faster compared to elemental sulfur soil application, but the effect of acid injection is short term versus elemental sulfur.
  • Long-term use of ammoniacal fertilizers will also result in lowering the pH by nitrification.
  • Low soil pH exacerbates nutrient leaching problems especially for calcium, magnesium, and potassium.
  • High soil pH makes micronutrients unavailable while pH below 5 makes most micronutrients reach toxic levels for plants.

 

Organic matter

  • Provides resources for soil microorganisms.
  • Soil microorganisms assist in making nutrients available to the trees.
  • Can increase water and nutrient holding capacity.
  • Can reduce erosion and limit weed growth.
  • Composting and cover crops add organic matter to the soil.
  • Composting can be done by broad cast application within the rows.

 

Cover crop management 

  • Current vegetation should be mowed before planting cover crops.
  • Herbicide may be applied to reduce germination competition.
  • Annual cover crops should be planted at the beginning of the rainy season (June/July) and then again at the end of the rainy season (October/November).
  • Mixing legumes with non-legumes in a cover crop mix can help increase microorganisms associated with nitrogen cycling. 
  • Planting can be done with a no-till seed drill to reduce impact to the citrus roots in the row middle, or by broadcasting the seeds.
  • Standard mowing practices will keep the biomass within the row middles.
  • To build a seed bank, mowing and termination of the cover crops can wait until after they have flowered and formed seeds.

 

Resources