Rhododendron/PH

Hello chums
As one or two of you know, I've recently moved house. I brought with me a few Rhododendrons that were sunk in the ground in large pots. I've just done a PH test which came out as neutral (7.0). What do you reckon?
Cheers...Freddy

 

I reckon that in neutral they will have pink flowers. Hopefully they are already pink but if not they very likely will be in neutral soil.

Val

 

Hiya Val

I think you're thinking of Hydrangeas?

 

Yes, you're right, I am always getting these mixed up!!!

Val

 

Hello Freddy, Hope you are settling into your new home. I wouldn't be too hopeful that the Rhododendrons will be happy with a PH of 7. They like between about 4.5 and 6. It doesn't seem such a big difference numbers wise but think I'm right that with every increase in PH number the alkali level is up 10 times. Best to maybe plant a couple with loads of added peat (afraid I'm not very PC about peat altho personally have mountains of leaf mould so no need to buy peat myself) and also add flowers of sulphur. Until you see how they do them perhaps pot on into bigger pots the other Rhododendrons. If however there are quite a few Rhododendrons/Azaleas/Camellias etc growing happily in your neighbourhood you may be ok. I'm lucky and have acid soil so grow loads of Rhododendrons and Meconopsis which are my favourites, I'd be very sad not to be able to grow them but then Roses don't like here much so there is always an upside to the different soil types. Hope you new "babies" do well for you.

 

You could always dress the soil with Iron Sulphate.
I have found this really helps my acid loving plants.

 

Me too I'm afraid.

If you want Rhoddies in your new pad have a look at the Inkarho grafted varieties. They apparently grow well on Salisbury plain

 

Hiya folks, thanks for the replies
I thought this might be the case How about, I dig out some of the earth, lay in something like pond liner and fill with ericaceous compost? I reckon that would work, but the only reservation I have is that water could sit and stagnate at the bottom. Maybe the solution to that would be to cut some holes in it, but then ground water could seep in? Any thoughts?

 

Don't grow plants that don't like your soil. Sorry, but that's the stance I have come to after growing up with a Mother who bought the ones she liked and then tried to keep them alive.

Containers are fine, but for a large plant its a large commitment - watering, feeding, etc. My Mother's plants, with no lack of love heaped on them, never looked that special - to my eye. Camellias in big containers, mainly, but also Pieris. She never did try Rhododendrons, but pretty sure there were Azaleas. My local garden centre is chock full of them ... and no acid soil around here within a 30 minute drive :(

Next question: Are they big enough to fetch a tidy sum on eBay? if so I would be inclined to "trade" them for something else.

Inkarho Rhododendrons 100-150cm tall are available for £100-ish, or buy smaller and wait of course.

If you want to try a "bed" for them I think that "raised" is better than "lined". Scoop out the soil to make a shallow-ish dip, fill with ericaceous topsoil, built it up to a dome (edge it if the bed is not big enough to retain it on its own). I would also put a land drain in the bottom so that alkaline ground water doesn't seep up when the ground is waterlogged. Then you need an irrigation method using only rain water. Maybe divert one/several downpipes on the house to outlets in the bed, or to a tank that has controlled release onto the bed (e.g. with drippers).

 

In case of interest link to Inkarho Rhododendrons:

http://www.rhododendrons.co.uk/Category/41/lime-tolerant-rhododendrons.aspx

 

Hiya Kristen, thanks for the input. Dunno what I'm gonna do now They were doing fine as I had them (sunk in the ground in large pots). I always knew that in the long term, it would be problematic. There is actually a Camellia in the back garden, that looks pretty healthy, but I suppose they are more tolerant.

 

Have to agree with Kristen, Freddy. I too have tried cheating Mother Nature with regard to hardiness rather than in your case PH and lost eventually. Best unfortunately to concentrate on all the lovely plants which will flourish with the conditions you have.
So many plants don't do well in containers despite what the garden centres will tell you....vested interest!
I bought 3 fairly young Ceanothus last season. Planted 1 and thought I'd over winter the other 2 in the greenhouse in big tubs to mature further before tackling the rigors of a Scottish winter. WRONG the 1 planted out is looking great (ok it was a mild winter), the 2 I had in big tubs are awful despite being looked after, have lost about 1/2 their leaves (evergreen plants!) and only now recovering after having been planted out.
My favourite shrubs are Rhododendrons and honestly I don't think I have ever seen a really healthy and happy 1 grown in a pot for any length of time.
Not too hopeful re your idea of a pond liner, Rhododendrons like/must have good drainage, think they might drown with your pond liner idea.
As an aside, we are having a massive thunder plummet atm with vast quantities of rain falling. Where the majority of my Rhododendrons are, no standing water will be evident within 5 minutes of this weather passing, as surface rooters they don't cope with lying water for any length of time.

 

I've only had Rhodos in planters for a few years but they are mostly lovely and healthy, despite all being root pruned and re-potted last year.

They do require more tlc but well worth it in my opinion.

This is what I'm aiming for:

 

As you already have them, and assuming you don;t want to sell them (or they wouldn't fetch enough to make that worthwhile) I would go with whatever plan you think will work best.

And then put a backup plan in place too - in case, or "when", they start to go into decline.