"paghat" wrote in message
news

Alkalinity doesn't leech all that greatly from well-cured concrete. When
laying fresh concrete the ground all around it gets alkalinized. A highly
acidic soil in direct contact with concrete will leech it somewhat, so
something seriously alkaline-hating might be effected (thought shouldn't
include dogwood, depending on species; some, like carnellian cherry
dogwood, even prefer a slightly alkaline soil).

Generally speaking the leeching will be so slight that acidic soil might
move a little closer to neutral which is still basically good soil. Even
the slight alkalinity at the contact-edge should wash through from normal
waterings. The reason some trees can get chloratic next to sidewalks &
foundations MOSTLY is because of the amount of run-off & leaching that
occurred before it was fully cured, or during the concrete-pouring moments
themselves.

Or when concrete is extremely old or poorly made, & really is breaking
down (which can happen from atmospheric & soil contaminants already
harmful to plants & people) its surface gets powdery, it loses strength,
brittles, crumbles, & cracks. At that point it may be doing some seriously
bad alkalinizing of soil. But if lime leaches out of concrete, it loses
strength & toughness; so as long as you can look at that planter & tell it
is an undecaying solid fully cured hunka concrete, it can't hurt any but
the most radically alkaline-intolerant plant such as couldn't even be
grown near a lawn.

If it worried you even so, you could paint the interior with a rubberized
paint or enamalizing paint. The only reason cement leeches even a tiny bit
is because it comes in contact with something acidic (so you can't put
buttermilk in a concrete container without leeching lots of lime). A paint
barrier keeps even the moderate acidity of loamy soil from interacting
with the concrete.

-paghat the ratgirl


ok, got that, but what would YOU plant (zone 6b) that would happily live in
this planter? I am about to get the dolly and PUT it somewhere and plant it
up............maddiie