a concrete planter question
 

Good day to you out there....Madgardener here, I was wondering about what
would happily live in a rather HUGE concrete planter my son got me a couple
of years ago that drains slowly (it has a huge hole dead center). I just
found out that the bricko blocks we lined the new fountain/pond/garden/BBQ
with holes up (bricko= cinder blocks) are alkaline, so because of that I
think the Litodoro 'Grace Ward' I found at Lowes is happy as clams in their
alky holes of soil. But I was wondering if the cement planter (this puppy is
HUGE, it originally was outside of a restaurant for ornamental planting
potential on the foyer entrance, if I coulda gotten all four, believe me,
despite the weight, I would have g) could be alkaline as well? It's
deffinately a cement product, and as large as it is (it holds three 40 pound
bags of soil and there are happy wild violets in the soil since I removed
the very dead red dogwood. The dogwood had anthracnose. Among other
things. I need to know if there is a ph problem with this thing, and if I
have to, I will plant sedums and such in it and dolly it to a sunny spot.
Any suggestions once we figure out the ph? I hate to waste such a fine and
large planter.
madgardener in a bit of writers block lately

a concrete planter question
 

In article , "madgardener"
wrote:

Good day to you out there....Madgardener here, I was wondering about what
would happily live in a rather HUGE concrete planter my son got me a couple
of years ago that drains slowly (it has a huge hole dead center). I just
found out that the bricko blocks we lined the new fountain/pond/garden/BBQ
with holes up (bricko= cinder blocks) are alkaline, so because of that I
think the Litodoro 'Grace Ward' I found at Lowes is happy as clams in their
alky holes of soil. But I was wondering if the cement planter (this puppy is
HUGE, it originally was outside of a restaurant for ornamental planting
potential on the foyer entrance, if I coulda gotten all four, believe me,
despite the weight, I would have g) could be alkaline as well? It's
deffinately a cement product, and as large as it is (it holds three 40 pound
bags of soil and there are happy wild violets in the soil since I removed
the very dead red dogwood. The dogwood had anthracnose. Among other
things. I need to know if there is a ph problem with this thing, and if I
have to, I will plant sedums and such in it and dolly it to a sunny spot.
Any suggestions once we figure out the ph? I hate to waste such a fine and
large planter.
madgardener in a bit of writers block lately

Alkalinity doesn't leech all that greatly from well-cured concrete. When
laying fresh concrete the ground all around it gets alkalinized. A highly
acidic soil in direct contact with concrete will leech it somewhat, so
something seriously alkaline-hating might be effected (thought shouldn't
include dogwood, depending on species; some, like carnellian cherry
dogwood, even prefer a slightly alkaline soil).

Generally speaking the leeching will be so slight that acidic soil might
move a little closer to neutral which is still basically good soil. Even
the slight alkalinity at the contact-edge should wash through from normal
waterings. The reason some trees can get chloratic next to sidewalks &
foundations MOSTLY is because of the amount of run-off & leaching that
occurred before it was fully cured, or during the concrete-pouring moments
themselves.

Or when concrete is extremely old or poorly made, & really is breaking
down (which can happen from atmospheric & soil contaminants already
harmful to plants & people) its surface gets powdery, it loses strength,
brittles, crumbles, & cracks. At that point it may be doing some seriously
bad alkalinizing of soil. But if lime leaches out of concrete, it loses
strength & toughness; so as long as you can look at that planter & tell it
is an undecaying solid fully cured hunka concrete, it can't hurt any but
the most radically alkaline-intolerant plant such as couldn't even be
grown near a lawn.

If it worried you even so, you could paint the interior with a rubberized
paint or enamalizing paint. The only reason cement leeches even a tiny bit
is because it comes in contact with something acidic (so you can't put
buttermilk in a concrete container without leeching lots of lime). A paint
barrier keeps even the moderate acidity of loamy soil from interacting
with the concrete.

-paghat the ratgirl

--
"Of what are you afraid, my child?" inquired the kindly teacher.
"Oh, sir! The flowers, they are wild," replied the timid creature.
-from Peter Newell's "Wild Flowers"
See the Garden of Paghat the Ratgirl: http://www.paghat.com/

a concrete planter question
 

"paghat" wrote in message
...


Alkalinity doesn't leech all that greatly from well-cured concrete. When
laying fresh concrete the ground all around it gets alkalinized. A highly
acidic soil in direct contact with concrete will leech it somewhat, so
something seriously alkaline-hating might be effected (thought shouldn't
include dogwood, depending on species; some, like carnellian cherry
dogwood, even prefer a slightly alkaline soil).

Generally speaking the leeching will be so slight that acidic soil might
move a little closer to neutral which is still basically good soil. Even
the slight alkalinity at the contact-edge should wash through from normal
waterings. The reason some trees can get chloratic next to sidewalks &
foundations MOSTLY is because of the amount of run-off & leaching that
occurred before it was fully cured, or during the concrete-pouring moments
themselves.

Or when concrete is extremely old or poorly made, & really is breaking
down (which can happen from atmospheric & soil contaminants already
harmful to plants & people) its surface gets powdery, it loses strength,
brittles, crumbles, & cracks. At that point it may be doing some seriously
bad alkalinizing of soil. But if lime leaches out of concrete, it loses
strength & toughness; so as long as you can look at that planter & tell it
is an undecaying solid fully cured hunka concrete, it can't hurt any but
the most radically alkaline-intolerant plant such as couldn't even be
grown near a lawn.

If it worried you even so, you could paint the interior with a rubberized
paint or enamalizing paint. The only reason cement leeches even a tiny bit
is because it comes in contact with something acidic (so you can't put
buttermilk in a concrete container without leeching lots of lime). A paint
barrier keeps even the moderate acidity of loamy soil from interacting
with the concrete.

-paghat the ratgirl


ok, got that, but what would YOU plant (zone 6b) that would happily live in
this planter? I am about to get the dolly and PUT it somewhere and plant it
up............maddiie

a concrete planter question
 

In article , "madgardener"
wrote:



ok, got that, but what would YOU plant (zone 6b) that would happily live in
this planter? I am about to get the dolly and PUT it somewhere and plant it
up............maddiie

I'm zone 8, but what I would have to plant in ANY planter would be
something drought-tolerant, because I need as much help as possible from
nature to have the good luck I usually have, &when I tempt fate with
containers, more of the responsibility is mine, & a plant could well be
doomed because of it. Something like horehound or rabbit-ear lilac or
russian sage will thrive in a neglected container. I have a young
evergreen portugese cherry doing splendidly in a container, as completely
drying out between waterings doesn't phase it; whenever it's too big for
the giant crockery, I'll plop it out by the road. If you're better at
remembering to water containers than I've ever managed to be, there
shouldn't be many limitations.

-paghat the ratgirl

--
"Of what are you afraid, my child?" inquired the kindly teacher.
"Oh, sir! The flowers, they are wild," replied the timid creature.
-from Peter Newell's "Wild Flowers"
See the Garden of Paghat the Ratgirl: http://www.paghat.com/