Does this exist ??
Qwerty7
Posts: 27
Hi there. Some advice please !
I have 2 rhodedendrons to plant in Spring and I need to add ericracious soil as our soil is not naturally acidic.
I wondered if there was such a thing as a biodegradeable grow bag that I could fill with ericracious soil, plant the rhodedendrons in, and then put all of this into a hole that I could dig in the flowerbed? And if this sort of thing does exist - what is it called?
The idea is that by keeping the ericracious soil around the roots of the rhods will help them grow (and slow the eventual mix in with our existing soil). The 'grow bag' I had in mind would be dug into the soil, so if you were in the garden looking at the flower bed, then you would not be able to see that there was a grow bag there - therefore this would have to be biodegradeable. Perhaps something like a strong brown paper vegetable sack would work?
Please let me know what you think of this idea. Is it better to just mix the ericracious soil in normally or would planting in a strong paper bag (or something along those lines) be worth doing.
Any advice much appreciated.
Posts
My first thought was these
https://www.kenmuir.co.uk/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=461
but the description says they're permeable and allow water through, so probably not what you need.
Maybe sinking a large pot would be a better idea.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Dove's suggestion is a good idea.
There are methods to increase the soil acidity, some info here- https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?PID=82
My essex clay is only very slightly acidic, but rhodo's, acers and the like thrive.
Do you know that your soil is alkaline? I always assumed mine was alkaline but according to this map, http://www.landis.org.uk/soilscapes/ it's slightly acidic, which makes sense as as I mentioned above acid lovers seem very happy here
Billericay - Essex
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
Hi there - many thanks for the replies. Pete8 - the map is very useful - apparently our area is slightly acidic after all (I never knew!).
Dove - thanks for your reply too. Unfortunately I can't open the link - although I can see it's something from the Kenmuir website - what is the product called? I'd like to look at that too as something porous would be OK.
Many thanks again
Maybe your soil won't need any adjustment - here's the blurb for the soil where I live. No problems with rhodo's acers etc in my garden
Billericay - Essex
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
To answer the original question though - yes - a sturdy cardboard box
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
Maybe Dove meant this URL https://www.kenmuir.co.uk/index.php?route=product/product&path=38_137&product_id=821
Or https://www.kenmuir.co.uk/index.php?route=product/product&path=38_137&product_id=461
Last edited: 15 January 2018 16:18:03
Thank you Papi Jo
... the second link to the Root Control bags were what I intended to link to ... but your first looks as if it might perform better as it would presumably not let hard water leach through.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Hi,
How did you get hold of that info? Looks quite detailed & interesting.
This is all very interesting, as I have a eucryphia that needs to go in the ground this year.
I did test my soil and it came out as neutral to alkaline sandy loam... however, according to that (very interesting) map I have either:
'Freely draining very acid sandy and loamy soil' or 'Slowly permeable seasonally wet slightly acid but base-rich loamy and clayey soil' - both acid, then. The two colours meet literally halfway along my road, and I'm about halfway along, but I can't be sure which house, exactly. I think I'm probably in the latter group as I do feel that it's more clayey than the soil texturing process said. Also years of cultivation must surely have an effect.
Not sure what to make of all that, really. I think I'll just take it that the eucryphia will probably be OK!
Papi jo, you can pit your postcode or coordinates into the soilscapes search box to get a profile.