Mark,
If you don't want to pull out all of the clay soil and replace I you
might try mixing in a fair bit of organic (fine shredded bark and/or
manure) and gypsum (calcium sulfate). The gypsum causes the clay to
agglomerate into clumps while the organic material improves the soil
further. Of course you will need to allow for drainage since this new
loser soil will be sitting on clay that prevents water flow. In
addition if you use all bark, you may want to add fertilizer with
nitrogen if you want to plant soon so the decomposing bark does not
sequester all of the available nitrogen. That is why a mix of bark +
manure is good. I have landscaped two houses with fine silt/clay soils
and the areas where I tilled in several inches of bark/manure + gypsum
have supported much better growth of plants and grass and also required
less water.
If you relate this to bonsai mixes we generally use a rather porous soil
that often contains either agglomerated clay (akadama and kanuma) or
something similar (turface or lava) plus an organic component (bark or
heavy organic fertilizer). We have a clay (or plastic) layer below our
bonsai soil mix, but provide large drainage holes to let the excess
water out. However, perching and soggy soils can still be a problem in
large shallow pots (your yard with a good layer of soil over clay).
Regards - Marty
-----Original Message-----
From: Internet Bonsai Club ] On Behalf
Of EESiFlo Ultrasonic Flow Meters
Sent: Sunday, January 26, 2003 12:54 PM
To:
Subject: [IBC] Please be gentle !!
Thanks for the helpful info Jim.
My ultimate goal is to dig these older plants up and replace them with
new ones.
From your comments, it appears I should dig a much wider/deeper hole and
fill it with good soil.
I have a major project planned for this summer. I'm planning on digging
up all the flower beds around our house and replacing the solid clay
with nice soil. Hopefully all the newer trees/plants will perform
better.
Mark
-----Original Message-----
From: Internet Bonsai Club [mailto:] On Behalf Of Jim Lewis
Sent: Sunday, January 26, 2003 3:31 PM
To:
Unfortunately, the ground is almost solid clay, hence the 6
inch growth
in 6 years !!
Azalea have a very tight, compact root system. In clay soils --
as we have here too, in the heart of azalealand -- the hole you
dig for the freshly unpotted plant often serves as another pot,
and the roots never leave it. Few people realize this when they
plant azalea and do not dig the holes wide enough (and dig them
much too deep and thus flood the roots), so the plants don't grow
well. This is undoubtedly what has happened in your case.
I'd still not fertilize them. Chances are you will find that the
root system is very little larger than the 1- or 5-gallon pot the
plants originally came in.
Jim Lewis - - Tallahassee, FL - Our life is
frittered away by detail . . . . Simplify! Simplify. -- Henry
David Thoreau - Walden
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--
+++++ Questions? Help? e-mail
+++++
************************************************** ******************************
++++Sponsored, in part, by Jerry Meislik++++
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