Stone chippings - will they hurt my acid loving plants
 

I have a border in my garden with lots of rhodedendrons and azaleas. I have ill health now so i need to make the garden easier to maintain. There are lots of weeds at the moment, which i plan to have removed. Then some weed control fabric and stone chippings.
Cotswold stone chippings would be great, but probably would affect the ph too much. Is that right?

If it is, then what alternatives do i have? Are there most neutral or acid stones out there?

I dont really want to use bark or wood chippings because i dont like the look really.

thanks
joel

Stone chippings - will they hurt my acid loving plants
 

snowathlete wrote:
I have a border in my garden with lots of rhodedendrons and azaleas. I
have ill health now so i need to make the garden easier to maintain.
There are lots of weeds at the moment, which i plan to have removed.
Then some weed control fabric and stone chippings.
Cotswold stone chippings would be great, but probably would affect the
ph too much. Is that right?

If it is, then what alternatives do i have? Are there most neutral or
acid stones out there?

I dont really want to use bark or wood chippings because i dont like
the look really.

thanks
joel

It would take a *very* long time as limestone is only slightly soluble and
in the form of chips there is little surface area so the process will be
slowed down. For agricultural use it is ground very fine, that is the
surface area is millions of times more per kilo, and even then it takes
months to start to work. I am not in a position to work the numbers but my
guess is that if you lived to 100 the pH wouldn't change much if at all.
The breakdown of organics that produce acids might be enough to counteract
the effect and so there would be even less change or none.

Most stone is neutral for gardening purposes, limestone being an exception,
ask your landscape supplier what they have.

David

Stone chippings - will they hurt my acid loving plants
 

snowathlete writes:

I have a border in my garden with lots of rhodedendrons and azaleas. I
have ill health now so i need to make the garden easier to maintain.
There are lots of weeds at the moment, which i plan to have removed.
Then some weed control fabric and stone chippings.
Cotswold stone chippings would be great, but probably would affect the
ph too much. Is that right?

If it is, then what alternatives do i have? Are there most neutral or
acid stones out there?

I dont really want to use bark or wood chippings because i dont like the
look really.

I don't know what happens to the chemistry but I put white marble 3/8" chips
down around rhodedendrons and azaleas more than 20 years ago.

The plants are still doing fine.

--
Dan Espen

Stone chippings - will they hurt my acid loving plants
 

David Hare-Scott wrote:
....
It would take a *very* long time as limestone is only slightly soluble and
in the form of chips there is little surface area so the process will be
slowed down. For agricultural use it is ground very fine, that is the
surface area is millions of times more per kilo, and even then it takes
months to start to work. I am not in a position to work the numbers but my
guess is that if you lived to 100 the pH wouldn't change much if at all.
The breakdown of organics that produce acids might be enough to counteract
the effect and so there would be even less change or none.

Most stone is neutral for gardening purposes, limestone being an exception,
ask your landscape supplier what they have.

and don't skimp on putting it down over the fabric.
the deeper the layer the less weeds will sprout
seeds in it. keep it clear of leaves/debris so
that they do not rot and create organic matter in
the rocks to sprout weeds. when mowing or weed
whacking, edging, etc. make sure the mower is
not blowing grass clippings all over the rocks.
make your edge high enough to keep the mower from
spraying pieces into the rocks. be careful when
moving plants/pots/wheelbarrows to not dump them
in the rocks.

that all said there will still be weeds from
time to time, get them early and it saves a lot
of work later.


songbird

Stone chippings - will they hurt my acid loving plants
 

On 16/05/2012 17:39, snowathlete wrote:
I have a border in my garden with lots of rhodedendrons and azaleas. I
have ill health now so i need to make the garden easier to maintain.
There are lots of weeds at the moment, which i plan to have removed.
Then some weed control fabric and stone chippings.
Cotswold stone chippings would be great, but probably would affect the
ph too much. Is that right?

If it is, then what alternatives do i have? Are there most neutral or
acid stones out there?

I dont really want to use bark or wood chippings because i dont like the
look really.

I don't know if they come in exactly the colour you want, but have a
look at granite chippings. They are a neutral stone.

--

Jeff

Stone chippings - will they hurt my acid loving plants
 

On Thu, 17 May 2012 12:43:10 +0100, Jeff Layman
wrote:

On 16/05/2012 17:39, snowathlete wrote:
I have a border in my garden with lots of rhodedendrons and azaleas. I
have ill health now so i need to make the garden easier to maintain.
There are lots of weeds at the moment, which i plan to have removed.
Then some weed control fabric and stone chippings.


Only a moron would choose to fill a garden area with pebbles... normal
folks spend much of their gardening efforts getting rid of stones and
this dummy wants to add more stones... if you think you have work now
just wait until you go chasing all those stones that no matter what
will constantly migrate far and wide. Rhodies and azaleas are acid
loving, they don't want alkaline stones... use a pine bark nugget
mulch over the cloth.

Stone chippings - will they hurt my acid loving plants
 

Brooklyn1 Gravesend1 writes:

On Thu, 17 May 2012 12:43:10 +0100, Jeff Layman
wrote:

On 16/05/2012 17:39, snowathlete wrote:
I have a border in my garden with lots of rhodedendrons and azaleas. I
have ill health now so i need to make the garden easier to maintain.
There are lots of weeds at the moment, which i plan to have removed.
Then some weed control fabric and stone chippings.

Only a moron would choose to fill a garden area with pebbles... normal
folks spend much of their gardening efforts getting rid of stones and
this dummy wants to add more stones... if you think you have work now
just wait until you go chasing all those stones that no matter what
will constantly migrate far and wide. Rhodies and azaleas are acid
loving, they don't want alkaline stones... use a pine bark nugget
mulch over the cloth.

Thanks Brooklyn, I can always count on you.

I put marble down over 20 years ago.
I use lawn edging to keep the stones in place.

How many bags of pine bark do you think I would have used by now?

Plus this is right against the house. It looks good and I don't
have anything splashing up on the foundation.

--
Dan Espen

Thank you everyone for your replies so far; very helpful.
Cotswold stone would be best for two reasons, 1. my local garden centre have BOGOF on £5 a back, which is a pretty good price. 2. my house is made of cotswold stone, so it would match up nicely.

But im still unsure. David's reply gives me hope, and if i washed it all before putting it down (to get rid of the dust that it comes with initially) then maybe it would be ok. But then other places ive seen online say to avoid it, so im still not sure. It would be dreadful if i lost all my favourite plants...

Granite is a nice idea, i could get some nice red granite perhaps, would cost abit more about £100 as apposed to £60 for the cotswold stone.

Dan, its reasuring that you used white marble and havent had any problems. I am leaning toward cotswold stone, but im still not sure...

Stone chippings - will they hurt my acid loving plants
 

snowathlete writes:

'David Hare-Scott[_2_ Wrote:
;958901']snowathlete wrote:-
I have a border in my garden with lots of rhodedendrons and azaleas. I
have ill health now so i need to make the garden easier to maintain.
There are lots of weeds at the moment, which i plan to have removed.
Then some weed control fabric and stone chippings.
Cotswold stone chippings would be great, but probably would affect the
ph too much. Is that right?

If it is, then what alternatives do i have? Are there most neutral or
acid stones out there?

I dont really want to use bark or wood chippings because i dont like
the look really.

thanks
joel-

It would take a *very* long time as limestone is only slightly soluble
and
in the form of chips there is little surface area so the process will be

slowed down. For agricultural use it is ground very fine, that is the
surface area is millions of times more per kilo, and even then it takes

months to start to work. I am not in a position to work the numbers but
my
guess is that if you lived to 100 the pH wouldn't change much if at all.

The breakdown of organics that produce acids might be enough to
counteract
the effect and so there would be even less change or none.

Most stone is neutral for gardening purposes, limestone being an
exception,
ask your landscape supplier what they have.

David


Thank you everyone for your replies so far; very helpful.
Cotswold stone would be best for two reasons, 1. my local garden centre
have BOGOF on £5 a back, which is a pretty good price. 2. my house is
made of cotswold stone, so it would match up nicely.

But im still unsure. David's reply gives me hope, and if i washed it all
before putting it down (to get rid of the dust that it comes with
initially) then maybe it would be ok. But then other places ive seen
online say to avoid it, so im still not sure. It would be dreadful if i
lost all my favourite plants...

Granite is a nice idea, i could get some nice red granite perhaps, would
cost abit more about £100 as apposed to £60 for the cotswold stone.

Dan, its reasuring that you used white marble and havent had any
problems. I am leaning toward cotswold stone, but im still not sure...

Costwald Stone is Calcium Carbonate.
Same material as Marble.

My Rhodedendron is blooming right now.
Looks great.

I wouldn't worry about the dust.
White Marble comes with a lot of dust.
It doesn't seem to matter.

If your house is Cotswold Stone then you've had
water running off your house onto the ground for
years.

--
Dan Espen

Thanks Dan. The water from the house doesnt run onto the garden because the garden slopes toward the house, but regardless, i think i'll take the chance seen as though it worked out ok for you.

by the way, Brooklyn, I found your earlier post offensive - maybe its because I stated that I have poor health that you decided you'd take a pop at me - well, whatever, I reported your post anyway.
Regarding the part of your post that was ok, stones arent hard to maintain at all, i have slate out the front of the house and its been great. a little light weeding a few times a year and it looks great. Put them down right and they dont go walkabouts either - they're stones not walking iris.

Stone chippings - will they hurt my acid loving plants
 

by the way, Brooklyn, I found your earlier post offensive - maybe its
because I stated that I have poor health that you decided you'd take a
pop at me - well, whatever, I reported your post anyway.

That is a waste of time, I doubt anybody can stop him posting his slime, all
you can do is block his posts so that you don't see them. Don't take it
personally he will insult anybody at all and for no apparent reason. Most
of his insults are framed about the supposed incompetence and foolishness of
the poster he attacks yet he is a long way from reasonable competence
himself. And yes he does tend to attack those he perceives as weak. A sad
case of social pathology. Just add him to your killfile.

D