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#1
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making soil more acidic
Some small azaleas we have, have not done well in their garden pots,
presumably because we didn't use ericaceous compost. To save them we now want to put them directly in the garden soil. Is there anything we can add to our garden soil to make it more acidic where we are planting them to make them happy? Thanks for advice. |
#2
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making soil more acidic
On 16 Jul, 13:55, "john westmore_______"
wrote: Some small azaleas we have, have not done well in their garden pots, presumably because we didn't use ericaceous compost. To save them we now want to put them directly in the garden soil. * Is there anything we can add to our garden soil to make it more acidic where we are planting them to make them happy? * Thanks for advice. First you must determine your garden soil ph before you put your azaleas in it. If you don't have a soil tester, you can determine the soil ph by the plants growing there already, especially the weeds. Cinquefoil, dandelions, buttercups, centaurea show signs of an acidic soil. Shrubs like acer and amelanchier, rhodos and camelias, skimmias and magnolia all grow on acid soil. You can change the soil ph by adding lime or sulphur - but this is only temporary as it leaches out. You also need a well drained soil. I grow blueberries in a raised bed in pots of ericaeous compost sunk in the ground. I couldn't change the ph of the whole bed. To encourage the acidity on that part of my bed, I mulch every year with cuttings from our xmas tree up to spring. In the autumn I apply a mix of leaf mould and sand. |
#3
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making soil more acidic
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#5
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Quote:
In my humble experience, I don't think the presence of buttercups and dandelions is a decisive indicator of a non-alkaline soil. I weeded plenty of them out of my previous property which was on alkaline clay with flints. Though overall the weed population was rather different. The other thing you need to be aware of is that some varieties of azalea need much more acid soil than others. If bilberries and heather aren't ubiquitous wild plants in your area, then you need to avoid the super-acid types. A common reason for the failure of azaleas is that people buy the ones that are grown in greenhouses for the flower trade, and then think that they can grow them on in pots or their garden. Those ones are not easily grown outside carefully horticulturally controlled conditions. |
#6
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making soil more acidic
In article ,
lid says... Some small azaleas we have, have not done well in their garden pots, presumably because we didn't use ericaceous compost. To save them we now want to put them directly in the garden soil. Is there anything we can add to our garden soil to make it more acidic where we are planting them to make them happy? Thanks for advice. There is a product called sequestral (spelling?) which can help but basically it is only of limited benifit and unless your soil is already neutral to acid they will never thrive although you may be able to keep them alive. Soils close to acid can perhaps be made slightly acidic by the application of a lot of manure or shredded conifer but none of this will work for alkaline soils with a high PH (and you can make things worse by using tap water in many parts of the UK) -- Charlie Pridham, Gardening in Cornwall www.roselandhouse.co.uk Holders of national collections of Clematis viticella cultivars and Lapageria rosea |
#7
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making soil more acidic
On 16/07/08 13:55, john westmore_______ wrote:
Some small azaleas we have, have not done well in their garden pots, presumably because we didn't use ericaceous compost. To save them we now want to put them directly in the garden soil. Is there anything we can add to our garden soil to make it more acidic where we are planting them to make them happy? Thanks for advice. Why not save them by repotting them using ericaceous compost and using rainwater (NOT tap water) to water them? What is the problem with that? As regards garden soil, it is virtually impossible to make it more acidic so that is it suitable for acid-loving plants. |
#8
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making soil more acidic
On 16/7/08 16:00, in article
net, "Ed" ex@directory wrote: On 16/07/08 13:55, john westmore_______ wrote: Some small azaleas we have, have not done well in their garden pots, presumably because we didn't use ericaceous compost. To save them we now want to put them directly in the garden soil. Is there anything we can add to our garden soil to make it more acidic where we are planting them to make them happy? Thanks for advice. Why not save them by repotting them using ericaceous compost and using rainwater (NOT tap water) to water them? What is the problem with that? As regards garden soil, it is virtually impossible to make it more acidic so that is it suitable for acid-loving plants. Some people dig a large hole and line it with ericaceous compost to a good depth. Then they put in their plant and fill up the hole with more of the same. The theory is that the plants get going in the right medium and slowly adapt to the 'wrong' one as they grow. I say 'theory' because I haven't tried this myself, I've only read about it. -- Sacha http://www.hillhousenursery.com South Devon |
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