Re: CULT: Soil additive for pinks?
- Subject: Re: CULT: Soil additive for pinks?
- From: n*@charter.net
- Date: Sat, 19 May 2001 08:19:08 -0000
--- In iris-talk@y..., patriciabrooks@c... wrote:
> My new TBs are now blooming, and I'm finding all the pinks (though
I haven't seen them before, so don't know what shades they should be)
> are looking pretty washed out (Goddess of Pink, Royal Pink, Pink
> Fawn, Chanted...) I'm wondering whether there is something in the
> soil I've prepared that might be fading them. And whether there is
> something I might add (or subtract) to the soil to strengthen
> their 'pinkness'. All suggestions most welcome.
There seems to be some factor or series of factors controlling the
expression of pink color that varies from Whidby Island to central
Utah. The farther uphill, inland, hotter, and into calcium-rich
soils you go, the deeper the pink. In some cases, it's a LOT deeper.
The first time I saw Tell Muhlestein's deep pinks in western Oregon
in a cool, wet year I was shocked. They were pale peach, not deep
pink. For us in western Idaho (very calcium rich, half the elevation
of Utah but just as hot in the summer) they were deep colored, but
not as "red" as Utah--Pink Formal, the first time I ever saw it, was
an outrageously deep SALMON color. The color intensity about knocked
me over.
I suspect that micronutrients and temperature (or even diurnal
differences) may be the factors most strongly affecting the color.
Are you adding lime?
If you ever run across any pink varieties (or any other t-beardeds)
that DO have good color for you, I'd like to hear about it.
Neil Mogensen, used to be western Idaho, now western NC near
Asheville, zone 6b/7a
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