Re: OT-PLANTS: leaves and soil pH


>A few years ago I took a general gardening class. The arboretum I took the=
> class from had done extensive studies on compost materials and pH. The end=
> result was that all the compost, regardless of materials, turned out to=
> have a pH of about 7.0. That included compost made entirely of pine needles=
> and oak leaves. So, the pine trees grow there because they handle lower pH=
> better than their competition.
>
>Kay Cangemi
>Cangemi@ulster.net
>New York, USDA zone 5

This is what I thought I had learned--buffering capacity of organic
molecules again.  However, it is possible that UNFINISHED compost which
still contains recognizable particles, could be somewhat acidic.  In any
case, I don't plan to worry about the source of my compost materials with
regard to the pH balance.

There is, however, one persistant concern.  I get loads of leaves from the
town, and have used these on raised beds in my vegetable garden.  Pepper
plants grown in one particular bed often show distorted tips and some are
dead by the end of the season.  Our local agent, and the experts at VPI,
have tagged this as herbicide damage, and tell me that peppers are
inordinately sensitive to herbicides.  Since I never use herbicides of any
kind, I suspect that some sort of persistant herbicide was present in the
leaves I used to mulch the bed, perhaps 5 years ago,and that there is still
enough of it to harm the peppers, but not other, more resistant plants
grown in that bed.  Of course, it could be a misdiagnosis and this is some
sort of disease (there's some evidence for this, too detailed to get into
now).  In any case, knowing the source of your compost materials is
probably a good idea.


Bill Shear
Department of Biology
Hampden-Sydney College
Hampden-Sydney VA 23943
(804)223-6172
FAX (804)223-6374
email<bills@tiger.hsc.edu>
Other Mailing lists | Author Index | Date Index | Subject Index | Thread Index