Introduction
If you love growing acid-loving plants, you may have heard about ericaceous soil. Ericaceous soil is any soil that is highly acidic and it’s actually ericaceous compost that needs to be amended to make the soil that way. To buy topsoil for new plants and garden beds, you can search for “topsoil near me” and buy some from the nearest store. Let’s check out if ericaceous soil is okay to use for all plants.
The Details
1. Ericaceous compost – This type of compost is highly acidic and is used to amend the soil and change its pH balance. Ericaceous soil is used for growing acid-loving plants like blueberries and azaleas. If you try to grow plants that don’t like acidic soil, you may burn the roots and leaves, or deliver the plant to a quick death. The acidic content of the soil changes the availability of certain nutrients. Acid-loving plants can easily absorb the nutrients they need through their roots from acidic soil. Other plants can’t do that and would die off eventually.
As the pH of the soil drops below 7.0 and the soil becomes more acidic, nutrients like boron, zinc, and iron become more readily available for plants. It’s important to note that a small difference in pH value leads to large changes. Soil with a pH value of 6.0 means that it’s 10 times more acidic than soil with a pH value of 7.0. On the other hand, soil with Ph 5.0 is 100 times more acidic than soil with pH 7.0. If the soil pH is too high or too low, it isn’t ideal for growing any plants.
2. Test the soil – While ericaceous compost can be used to make neutral soil ericaceous or alkaline soil neutral, you need to test the soil to figure out its current pH value. For that, you can buy a soil testing kit from a local garden center. If the pH value is 7.0 or more, you can add a proportional amount of compost to make it more acidic and hence ericaceous. If you want more in-depth information like soil structure and nutrient content, you need to order a laboratory soil test.
3. Lifespan of ericaceous compost – Now that you know how ericaceous soil is made, it’s time to figure out how long you can leave out the ericaceous compost before it loses its acidic content and becomes unusable for making acidic soil. Depending on the materials used to make ericaceous compost, it can last for years. For instance, peat moss can resist compaction and last for several years inside the soil.
Be careful about adding anything to the soil. You don’t want to spike up the acidity of the soil so much that it harms your acid-loving plants. If things go wrong, you may need to add lime or other amendments to the soil to bring up the pH value of the soil. Test the soil and research the amendments before adding them.
4. Plants that love ericaceous soil – Acid-loving plants are usually grown in ericaceous soil. Moreover, the acidity depends from one plant to another. For instance, plants like blueberries, azaleas, and rhododendrons love to grow in ericaceous soil with a pH range of 4.5 to 5.5. On the other hand, cranberries like to grow in soil with a pH range of 4.0 to 5.0, while grapes like a soil pH of 5.5 to 6.5.
Veggie gardens are also grown in ericaceous soil with a pH range of 6.0 to 7.0. When you grow plants like cranberries, you need soil with a pH of 4.0. That means that ericaceous soil is 1000 times more acidic than ordinary garden soil. That’s why it’s best to keep a separate section for acid-loving plants in your garden. This way, you can keep adding ericaceous compost to that part of the garden without harming the other plants.
5. Growing regular plants in ericaceous soil – As mentioned above, growing regular plants in ericaceous soil is going to cause a lot of problems, including the death of the plant. Regular plants that like soil with a pH above 7.0 would suffer from nutrient deficiency when planted in ericaceous soil.
Soil with a pH above 7.0 is referred to as “sweet soil” and allows alkaline-loving plants to draw more sodium, calcium, and other such nutrients. In ericaceous soil, those plants can’t access those nutrients even if they are present in the soil. This would lead to yellowing leaves, leaning, infection, disease, and eventually the death of the plant.
6. Making ericaceous compost – While the market is full of chemical fertilizers and other synthetic additives that can change the acidity of the soil, ericaceous compost is an organic and more environmentally conscious solution. You can make it at home and add it to the soil to make ericaceous soil for your acid-loving plants.
The process is very similar to making ordinary compost. Start by adding kitchen scraps and yard waste to make an ordinary compost pile. Next, you need to acidify the mixture as it breaks down. One way to do this is to add elemental sulfur. Elemental sulfur occurs naturally in volcanic emissions and from hydrothermal vents. However, you need to make sure that the elemental sulfur you buy is sourced naturally. Industrially it is also obtained from natural gas and petroleum.
To change the acidity of the compost, add one pound of sulfur to your ericaceous compost and wait for at least a week before testing its pH value. If the pH value is higher than the desired result, you can add more sulfur and retest the compost again. To acidify the soil directly, you can add 2 pounds of sulfur for every 100 square feet of soil.
Conclusion
Ericaceous soil or compost has high acidity and can burn or severely injure plants that don’t grow on acidic soil. You should only grow acid-loving plants in ericaceous soil. For other plants, you can search for “topsoil near me” and buy some from the nearest store.