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Changing soil pH - rhodos.
My apologies if this has been covered before - I've done a brief
search and not found anything. I've an area of some 3m x 6m that I want to plant with rhodos and azalias. It's currently reading around 7.0 across the plot - ie neutral. Do I attempt to adjust the whole bed soil and with what, or should I just dig big planting holes and mix in a lot of peat ? Many thanks Rob |
#2
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Changing soil pH - rhodos.
Rob G wrote:
My apologies if this has been covered before - I've done a brief search and not found anything. I've an area of some 3m x 6m that I want to plant with rhodos and azalias. It's currently reading around 7.0 across the plot - ie neutral. Do I attempt to adjust the whole bed soil and with what, or should I just dig big planting holes and mix in a lot of peat ? Measure the pH of the soil with a teat kit. If over 7 buy some flowers of sulphur and dig in about 4oz/aq yd and leavw for about 6 months. Then do another pH test. If less than 7 plant out rhodos. Remember that watering from rhe tap in a hard water area will raise the soil pH eventually. |
#3
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Changing soil pH - rhodos.
Chris Hogg wrote:
On Sat, 16 Jun 2012 06:23:56 -0700 (PDT), Rob G wrote: My apologies if this has been covered before - I've done a brief search and not found anything. I've an area of some 3m x 6m that I want to plant with rhodos and azalias. It's currently reading around 7.0 across the plot - ie neutral. Do I attempt to adjust the whole bed soil and with what, or should I just dig big planting holes and mix in a lot of peat ? Many thanks Rob Attempting to change the pH of soil is like trying to push water uphill, IMO, although with a pH of about 7 you may have a chance to move it a bit, but it will tend to drift back over time. You need to dig in lots of acid compost and/or peat, and water with sulphate of iron. As this can require quite a lot of stuff for a whole plot, I would go for just treating the planting holes; make them about 1 meter across and say 30 cm deep. After-care should include giving the rhodos a generous watering with Sequestrine a couple of times a year. The problem that ericaceous plants have when growing in alkaline soil is that certain trace elements, notably iron and to a lesser extent manganese, are not soluble at alkaline pH and are not available in sufficient quantity to supply the needs of the plant. Sequestrine, or any other brew of sequestered trace elements, supplies those trace elements in a form that is soluble at high pH and they are then available to the plants. An indication of iron deficiency in rhodos etc. is yellowing of the leaves, although it can be caused by other things. |
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