“The sink in the Truckee Meadows is the Double Diamond Ranch area,” says Dr. Wayne Johnson, University of Nevada, Reno’s horticulture specialist for Washoe Valley. “The geology of the Truckee Meadows has high geothermal waters with salts, sulfur, and boron,” he adds.

“Boron is essential for plants to grow, develop roots, pollinate, ripen and become sweeter,” says Angela O'Callaghan, another University of Nevada Reno horticulture expert. “You have to have some boron. But, in excess, these minerals can damage or kill many plants.”

Soil needs between one to two parts per million, according to O'Callaghan. Anything over that is harmful to most plants. The Double Diamond area has forty or more parts per million. What we have to do in order to garden with non-indigenous plants is bring in the healthy, balanced soil (including 2 organic microbes) and water with clean water. We basically have to create our own little eco-system in the middle of one that does not support gardens, says O'Callaghan.

“Successful gardening is all about balance,” adds Craig Witt, owner and president of Full Circle Compost in Minden. “The most important thing regarding soil balance is to start with good topsoil and water with clean water,” he says. “You have to make sure that when you buy topsoil at your local nursery, it isn’t full of boron or other salts. Your topsoil should have a balance of all the nutrients needed. It’s very important that the soil has aerobic microbial activity. The microbe’s job is to convert organic matter into humus. This humus acts as a buffer, he explains.

What's a gardener to do?

1. Organic Compost

“Depending on what you are trying to grow, you may need to help your plants along with special soil amendment and fertilizing,” says Witt. He suggests seeking out compost developed specifically for the Double Diamond area’s needs, one with the right balance of organic matter to effectively handle the boron-rich soil found there.
O’Callaghan agrees: “The best thing to do is use good quality compost to bind up certain problem minerals.”

2. Deep Watering, Soil Aeration

“Deep watering is a very good practice,” says Witt. “The deeper you water, the deeper the roots of the plants go. However, it can be non-beneficial if there’s a hard pan that won’t allow the water to go down deeply or drain as it should,” he warns.

“Boron is completely soluble in water,” adds Johnson. “First mitigation is to put clean water (with no boron) into the soil. If you put enough into the soil, you will dissipate the boron level. But,” he stresses, “you have to have a place to channel the water to. It can’t just sit or boron will gather again.”

How can you tell if your drainage is good? “Do a ten-dollar hole for a one-dollar plant,” says O’ Callaghan. “Make sure your hole is much bigger than the plant and the soil is loose. The drainage should be good enough to drain within 24 hours. The number-one reason plants fail is poor drainage,” she says.

To keep the boron down year-round, Johnson suggests year-round watering. “In the autumn, when you stop irrigating, the boron and salts move to the soil surface,” he says. “Watering periodically during the winter when the ground isn’t frozen helps keep the water level down in the soil, which keeps the boron level down.”

3. Raised Beds and Mounding

“For your vegetable or flower garden, you should use a raised bed,” says Johnson. “Make sure that the water flow is good, that the water is boron-free and that the bed has good drainage. Use good organic soil,” he stresses.

“If you want to plant trees, you have to do mounding,” says Witt. “That will provide the beneficial soil environment. Foliar feed them. Use a good, balanced nutrition program and spray onto the leaves. Trees also take in nutrients through the atmosphere. Foliar fertilization based on an organic system increases the plant’s ability to produce buffering compounds in its route exodus,” he says.

Susan M. Botich is a Minden-based
freelance writer.