On Fri, 02 Jun 2006 10:37:09 -0500, Scott L
wrote:

wrote:
I am in the southeast corner of South Dakota, near Sioux City Iowa, and
this is the first time I have experienced drought in Spring. Last month
was May and normally we get 3.5 inches or rainfall and this year only
0.8 and it looks like no rain until perhaps Monday. Normally drought
has hit us in summer or late summer, and this is the first time I have
seen it in Spring.

I suspect a drought in Spring could adversely affect my fruit crop,
especially raspberries.

Already I see my new planting of lilac wilting. Thank goodness I put
down asphalt roofing shingles as mulch for it has saved them their
life, as well as the new amur maples.

Question for the botanists in you. I want to try hazelnuts but I know
they only live in acid soils and mine are alkaline. Can someone tell me
if horsemanure and other manure such as dog manure can acidify the soil
if I liberally apply manure every year? I have heard of coffee grinds
but that is unavailable. I heard that oak leaves are a good acidifier,
but the trouble is that the wind is too fierce around here that leaves
do not stay in place. I suppose they end up in the Missouri river.

So does anyone have a suggestion as to how I can easily acidify the
soil around say 100 hazelnut bushes?

How about tar paper or the asphalt shingles, as it decomposes, would
that acidify the soil for hazelnuts to thrive?


Pine needles will work. I've never heard of oak leaves
acidifying anything -- they take forever to break down
anyway. When we acidified soil for our blueberry bushes,
we bought something from the garden supply store. And
for the life of me, I can't remember what we bought!
The only problem with acidifying alkaline soil is that
you need to periodically re-acidify it. And that means
testing its pH annually.

I've never heard of using asphalt shingles for mulch --
but I suppose they will last for quite a long time.

Here in WI, we've had a wet April/May, so I'm waiting to
see how much of a slug problem we'll have.

Scott


Probably just sulfur, I recently saw large piles of it in the central
California valley that were being spread on the fields and worked
into the soil.