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What are Soil Amendments
Sulfur, Aluminum Sulfate, and Iron Sulfate are used to lower PH and make your soil more acidic. They can all ruin your soil, so be sure to monitor the Ph carefully. In order to raise the Ph, and make your soil more alkaline, agricultural lime is often used and is best applied in the fall or winter. Overuse can also cause serious soil problems. If you need to slightly raise your soil PH, well-composted horse manure, bone meal, or rock dust will usually do the trick without being too harsh. Other popular amendments are: Texas Green Sand, which is an iron potassium silicate that is naturally deposited in the sea. It contains potash, iron and trace minerals. It is best used with other fertilizers and will show immediate results. Application rates are from 20-40lbs per 1000 square feet. Contains approximately 20% iron. Don't overuse it. Lava Sand however, cannot be overused and helps hold moisture in the soil and increases plant growth. It's a must for any organic gardening program. Decomposed Granite contains clay, to improve sandy soil structure, and potassium, and is used in addition to the other sands I just mentioned. Molasses granules and refined sugar can help control root-knot nematodes by increasing the natural microbes in the soil. Earthworm castings, although expensive, are rated highly as a soil conditioner and fertilizer. Cottonseed meal (look for organic) is a great source for nitrogen and is often used around acid loving plants like gardenias or azaleas. Other organic sources of nitrogen are blood meal, fishmeal, and fish emulsion. Follow directions carefully. If you use lots of manure, especially cow and horse manure, watch the level of phosphorous, calcium, magnesium, and soluble salts as an imbalance can occur over a long period of time. Dried manures are less apt to burn plants and the nutrients are more concentrated. The manure with the highest nitrogen content is bat guano, because it's been sitting in a cave and the rain hasn't washed out the nutrients. Dried chicken manure has lots of phosphorus and rates next along with rabbit manure. Dried cow manure is an excellent soil amendment and will contain fewer weed seeds than horse manure. Sheep and goat manure contain more organic matter than other manures. Always use a respirator when handling large quantities of manure because organisms that live in dried manure dust can cause damage to your lungs.
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Now is the time to begin amending your soil for spring. Leaves and manures will have a chance to break down, and other amendments will have time to alter the soil structure. When doing research, you often see a recommendation to add a soil amendment you may know little about. Here is a list of the most commonly used soil amendments and what they do. Always remember before adding any amendment to your soil, get your soil tested to establish the Ph of your soil. Ph is a measure of the acidity or alkalinity of your soil. A high Ph soil (above 7.0) is considered alkaline and a low Ph (below) 7.0 is considered acidic. Most amendments will alter your Ph level, for example, horse and cow manure can raise Ph, so monitor carefully. Some plants, like blueberries, need a soil Ph as low as 5.5, and other plants like Pine Trees, need a much higher Ph. Generally Black land clay is alkaline while sand, red clay and the gumbo clays on the Texas coast are more acidic, but I've seen exceptions to this rule. Knowing your soil Ph will save you lots of money and frustration. The soil test will tell you exactly what you need for what you are trying to grow. When you send off your test, you will write on the package what you are trying to grow and the when the report come back, it will tell you what you need to be successful. 
