On reading Jerel’s Potassium : Sodium problems it sits very closely with what we were seeing a couple of years ago. We went through 4 or 5 years of drought and using bore water that just got saltier and saltier. We had Sodium levels as high as 12.9% while Potassium sat at 3.6%. We spread gypsum 3 years ago at 1tonne/ha but did not get rain until this year to take it in.

We went in very hard with the biology and in 12 months the Sodium came back to low 5’s and the Potassium 5.5-7. This change could virtually all be put down to the biology. We got rain this year and we are back at about 6.5% Potassium and 3.3% Sodium. We have kept the biology going.

We have used a lot of native microbes, lactobacillus, paunch biology, and compost. I am quite sure that this tied up the Sodium. We were not seeing the Sodium in the tissue tests.

It was a different story for Chloride though. It just kept climbing and did a lot of damage. The rain has leached it now. We have also changed the water source, and all the water is treated, so hopefully those days are behind us.

The biology has also opened up the soil, and it looks brilliant. Chromatography is also telling us the soil has changed dramatically.

I would suggest that Colin should keep working on his biology. It can achieve great results. Soil mineral readings can move around and improve a lot without actually applying a lot of mineral.