On Wed, 26 Sep 2007 09:59:37 +0100, "Oxymel of Squill"
wrote:

OP says......

thanks all for the input. The pond is getting filled in because it has a
puncture and I'm fed up with trying to mend it / fill it up. Ithas a plastic
liner which holds water most of the time but I think it has a hole which has
coontrived some sort of flap that sometimes decides to open up and dump the
water. Sometimes the effect is that a passing elephant has popped its trunk
over the garden fence.
Flowerdew said blueberries like almost boggy conditions
I was thinking of bunging the branches unshredded into the hole to bring it
up to a foot or so and then topping with ericaceous compost.
Keep losing myself here, does ericaceousness dislike lime and like acid?


Ericaceae are a family of plants that are unable to take up certain
elements from the soil when the pH is high, i.e. when it is alkaline.
They are often described as 'ericaceous'. Plants include
rhododendrons, azaleas, camellias, some types of heather, blueberries
etc.

An alkaline soil is short of soluble iron and manganese, as these
elements are not soluble at high pH, so are not available to
ericaceous plants in the amounts they need for healthy growth. Other
types of plant will grow perfectly well as they need less of these two
elements.

The commonest symptom of trying to grow ericaceous plants in an
alkaline soil is a yellowing of the leaves, called chlorosis. It can
be corrected temporarily by watering with particular compounds of iron
and manganese that are soluble in alkaline conditions. Sequestrine is
the trade name of one such product. But the effect is not permanent,
and has to be repeated every few months.


--
Chris

E-mail: christopher[dot]hogg[at]virgin[dot]net