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#1
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[IBC] pH value for bonsai.
Hi,
Anyone have a list with the different PH values preferred pro species? How important is it for bonsai to keep the correct PH value? Here in Innsbruck we have a high lime content in our water, does this affect the PH value after a long period? Thanks for any help Jo Trojer - RCI President/Coach Innsbruck - Austria www.rugby-innsbruck.at ************************************************** ****************************** ++++Sponsored, in part, by Kevin Bailey++++ ************************************************** ****************************** -- The IBC HOME PAGE & FAQ: http://www.internetbonsaiclub.org/ -- +++++ Questions? Help? e-mail +++++ |
#2
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Jo Trojer wrote:
Hi, Anyone have a list with the different PH values preferred pro species? How important is it for bonsai to keep the correct PH value? Here in Innsbruck we have a high lime content in our water, does this affect the PH value after a long period? Thanks for any help Jo Trojer - RCI President/Coach Innsbruck - Austria www.rugby-innsbruck.at *** Much ado is often made abut pH and bonsai, but except for ericaceous plants -- Rhododendron, Vaccinium and a few other flowering, largely evergreen, genera -- the ado is about nothing much. Ninety percent of all plants will do fine in a range that extends a bit on either side of neutral (7 pH). Even water with a high lime content won't affect that range in the soil in a well-maintained bonsai -- one whose soil is changed every 2-3 years and that is fertilized with any regularity with a balanced fertilizer. And, if you have organic material in your soil, that will maintain it on the acid side, or at least neutral. Even azaleas will grow in neutral soil. I would not, however, use bonsai soil with a high calcium carbonate composition or supplement it with lime. If you know that, for some reason, your soil has a pH of more than 8, adding varying amounts of peat or chopped sphagnum to your soil should solve the problem. Constant chlorosis is an _indication_ of pH of 8 or more (7.5 or more in the case of ericaceous plants). Someone here has supplied a list of plants' pH requirements (culled from some bonsai publication) from time to time, but in MY opinion the list has very little validity for bonsai since it was developed with field-grown plants in mind. You should be able to find the list by searching for pH in the archives. Jim Lewis - - Tallahassee, FL - Nature encourages no looseness, pardons no errors. Ralph Waldo Emerson ************************************************** ****************************** ++++Sponsored, in part, by Kevin Bailey++++ ************************************************** ****************************** -- The IBC HOME PAGE & FAQ: http://www.internetbonsaiclub.org/ -- +++++ Questions? Help? e-mail +++++ |
#3
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Per pg. 75 of The Beginner's Guide to American Bonsai by Jerald P.
Stowell (Kodansha, 1978), "Briefly, the pH requirements of natural vegetation are as follows: pH less than 3.7: heath or bog thickets pH 3.7-4.5: tamarack, black spruce, hemlock, aspen, birch pH 4.5-5.5: the majority of conifers pH 5.5-6.9: the bulk of deciduous forests pH 6.9-8.0: neutral to alkaline grasslands All plants have a pH tolerance within which they will still survive: for instance, the optimum pH range for the genus Malus (the apple) is 5.5-6.5. However, they have been found growing in soil that tests as low, or acidic, as 4.0 and as high, or alkaline, as 8.0." In my notes I also have a list of the "optimal pH ranges for common flowers, vegetables, trees, shrubs and grasses commonly planted around our homes and gardens." This is per the Sunbelt Nursery Group, Inc. If you have a specific species I might be able to give you a more specific figure. Cordially, Robert J. Baran Sunset Zone 10 Jo Trojer wrote: Hi, Anyone have a list with the different PH values preferred pro species? How important is it for bonsai to keep the correct PH value? Here in Innsbruck we have a high lime content in our water, does this affect the PH value after a long period? Thanks for any help Jo Trojer - RCI President/Coach Innsbruck - Austria www.rugby-innsbruck.at ************************************************** ****************************** ++++Sponsored, in part, by Kevin Bailey++++ ************************************************** ****************************** -- The IBC HOME PAGE & FAQ: http://www.internetbonsaiclub.org/ -- +++++ Questions? Help? e-mail +++++ ************************************************** ****************************** ++++Sponsored, in part, by Kevin Bailey++++ ************************************************** ****************************** -- The IBC HOME PAGE & FAQ: http://www.internetbonsaiclub.org/ -- +++++ Questions? Help? e-mail +++++ |
#4
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Thanks, Robert, for the Ph story. Actually, most plants will tolerate
fertilizer with Phs far from their optimum tolerance, so I don't worry too much about too high or low on the acidity scale. I think the wide variety of fertilizers on the market is for the benefit of the manufacturers - not the growers. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Robert J. Baran" To: Sent: Tuesday, May 31, 2005 10:31 PM Subject: [IBC] pH value for bonsai. Per pg. 75 of The Beginner's Guide to American Bonsai by Jerald P. Stowell (Kodansha, 1978), "Briefly, the pH requirements of natural vegetation are as follows: pH less than 3.7: heath or bog thickets pH 3.7-4.5: tamarack, black spruce, hemlock, aspen, birch pH 4.5-5.5: the majority of conifers pH 5.5-6.9: the bulk of deciduous forests pH 6.9-8.0: neutral to alkaline grasslands All plants have a pH tolerance within which they will still survive: for instance, the optimum pH range for the genus Malus (the apple) is 5.5-6.5. However, they have been found growing in soil that tests as low, or acidic, as 4.0 and as high, or alkaline, as 8.0." In my notes I also have a list of the "optimal pH ranges for common flowers, vegetables, trees, shrubs and grasses commonly planted around our homes and gardens." This is per the Sunbelt Nursery Group, Inc. If you have a specific species I might be able to give you a more specific figure. Cordially, Robert J. Baran Sunset Zone 10 Jo Trojer wrote: Hi, Anyone have a list with the different PH values preferred pro species? How important is it for bonsai to keep the correct PH value? Here in Innsbruck we have a high lime content in our water, does this affect the PH value after a long period? Thanks for any help Jo Trojer - RCI President/Coach Innsbruck - Austria www.rugby-innsbruck.at ************************************************** ****************************** ++++Sponsored, in part, by Kevin Bailey++++ ************************************************** ****************************** -- The IBC HOME PAGE & FAQ: http://www.internetbonsaiclub.org/ -- +++++ Questions? Help? e-mail +++++ ************************************************** ****************************** ++++Sponsored, in part, by Kevin Bailey++++ ************************************************** ****************************** -- The IBC HOME PAGE & FAQ: http://www.internetbonsaiclub.org/ -- +++++ Questions? Help? e-mail +++++ ************************************************** ****************************** ++++Sponsored, in part, by Kevin Bailey++++ ************************************************** ****************************** -- The IBC HOME PAGE & FAQ: http://www.internetbonsaiclub.org/ -- +++++ Questions? Help? e-mail +++++ |
#5
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Marty said:
Actually, most plants will tolerate fertilizer with Phs far from their optimum tolerance, pH problems are mostly *nutrient* problems, and since bonsai growers frequently fertilize, usually with a full-spectrum chelated fertilizer, there's not much to worry about. Nina |
#6
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Hi all,
I don't write often but thought I should this time. Marty said: Actually, most plants will tolerate fertilizer with Phs far from their optimum tolerance, pH problems are mostly *nutrient* problems, and since bonsai growers frequently fertilize, usually with a full-spectrum chelated fertilizer, there's not much to worry about. I used to pot my bougies with a mix in which I used white lava rock (it is not pumice, but something like red lava rock except for the white colour and with smaller pores). Using this I had too many problems with chlorosis. Once somebody told me that the problem was the pH due to this white lava rock and that this had to do with the nutrients uptake. The chlorosis persisted even when I used chelated iron and/or epsom salts, or when I let the soil dry out a little bit more. Last year I replaced the white lava rock and started using the coarse sand that is commonly used for swimming pool filters and chlorosis stopped suddenly. Since then I have had no problems with chlorosis again (except during heavy rains and/or overwatering) and my bougies seem to like this kind of sand which as far as I know has a neutral pH. I am not very good at chemistry and I might be wrong regarding the pH-nutrients uptake stuff, but it worked for me. All the best to you all ************************************************** ****************************** ++++Sponsored, in part, by Kevin Bailey++++ ************************************************** ****************************** -- The IBC HOME PAGE & FAQ: http://www.internetbonsaiclub.org/ -- +++++ Questions? Help? e-mail +++++ |
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