Re: OT-PLANTS: leaves and soil pH

>At 10:58 8/19/97 -0600, you wrote:
>>>I never tested the soil where mine grow, but
>>>it is under oak trees and I'm sure it is not alkaline.
>>
>>What's the story on oak leaves (and perhaps mulberry)? Acid soil or
>>alkaline soil?
>>
>>celia
>>storey@aristotle.net
>>Little Rock
>>
>Celia,
>        I've always heard that only evergreens and conifers were acidic. You
>know, for best bloom on an azaela or good growth on a hosta always plant
>under a pine, etc. None of mine are under evergreens and I have to feed
>MIRACID to keep them happy. A nurseryman also told me to plant my Redbud
>near pines for the acid, also dogwoods. My neighbor has a hydrangea under an
>oak and a holly and it's blue.
>
>Sharyn, Annapolis, Md.
>>

Obviously we need an agronomist to enlighten us more fully, but my
understanding has always been that aside from extreme situations (peat
bogs, etc.), the mineral substrate from which the soil was derived had more
to do with the pH than the nature of any organic material.

Do pine needles make it acidic under pine trees or do the pine trees grow
there because it is acidic soil to begin with?  What about the soil pH
under pine forest growing on limestone or chalk?  Is any acidifying effect
of litter taking place any deeper in the soil than the immediate surface?

Bill Shear
Department of Biology
Hampden-Sydney College
Hampden-Sydney VA 23943
(804)223-6172
FAX (804)223-6374
email<bills@tiger.hsc.edu>
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