I cant believe what ive just done!!!

Ive just taken a load of azalea cuttings and potted them up. Then hell of hells i realised i hadnt used ericacious compost. I have potted them in a mix of john innes no1 and perlite. Are they likely to root in this or should i start all over again!!! Grrrrrr!! im off to kick myself
Any advice would be appreciated. Many thanks folks.
Seems like im always on here asking for advice but unable to give any, but I promise to make the tea

 

Making the tea might be the answer, I was thinking of pouring something with a low ph into the pots to bring it down. Cold tea might work. I know I killed a load of Potato plants by mulching with oak chippings, the tannic acid did for them I think.

 

I think they might root, but would need moving on fairly rapidly.
Would it be impossible to take them out and put them in a new compost.

Moss peat with sharp sand would do.

 

I dont have moss peat but have ericacious in the shed. Would i be best to fire them straight into that. Zigs I will make the tea, and one for you too Pete

 

Put some of the perlite with the ericaceous to open it up a bit.

 

Thankyou Pete, Im off now to rummel around and get the wee souls sorted straight away. Thats after I go and put up a thread about a brug problem lollll

 

Thats them sorted, and in the right compost. Fingers crossed
Thanks peeps, your help is always appreciated

 

I don't see the fuss ... John Innes is near to neutral in ph .... it won't kill your acid loving plants?

 

Hi Dim, Thanks for your reply. Im a novice at all this and different ph and soils are still a bit of a mystery to me, I just thought because they were acid lovers then they must go in ericacious

 

Not exactly fuss.
My thoughts are that the cuttings will need to stay in place until next spring at the earliest, once rooted, before potting on.
Most Azaleas like a ph lower than 7 to grow properly.

 

no probs Averil, I also am trying to learn ....

I 'think', a neutral ph compost is good for any plants when they are young .... when they are close to flowering, thats when you can fertilize with a fertilizer that is either acidic etc

I may be wrong though?

 

Hi Dim, I just started plonking them in the j innes without thinking , but as pete has said they are going to be in their pots a good while so it makes sense that i put them in the right soil. Oh I live and learn. I was thinking to myself " I thought this gardening lark was supposed to be relaxing". Personally I find it nerve wracking!

 

I'm on alkaline soil, and don't attempt to grow ericaceous plants as a consequence, so I'm no expert, but my understanding is that there can be issues with flowering (in the most extreme sense some Hydrangeas will flower Blue on acid soil and Pink on Alkaline soil), but in the main its an issue of chlorosis with acid-loving plants. They need acidity for the plant to take up specific nutrients/mineral, and they fail to do that if the pH is wrong.

There is perhaps also the possibility that if the compost is not labelled "ericaceous" that it might even be strongly alkaline?

Personally I would want cuttings to have ideal conditions to increase the chance that they will "take".

 

Hi Kristen, I did remove the cuttings and put them into ericacious. Hopefully, they will have a fighting chance.