Sulphate of Iron Vs Sequestered Iron

HOW TO CARE FOR A SKIMMIA

All Skimmias require the same care and luckily enough that is very minimal. These are plants which can stand a good degree of neglect although of course they do of the very best when treated correctly.
Skimmias can be grown equally well in pots or in the open ground.

Skimmia do best on a slightly acid soil. Before adding anything to the ground you need to know if your soil is acidic, neutral or alkaline. The best way to do this is to buy a soil testing kit online or from your local garden centre.

Alkaline or neutral ground can changed to be more acidic by adding sulphur. The finer the sulphur the quicker it will act, Flowers of Sulphur is a common name for very fine sulphur and is avaialable online or from most garden centres.

If your soil is alkaline I would recommend digging the soil to 30cm / 1 foot deep and adding half the recommended dose to the dug soil. Dig it in well, plant your skimmia and scatter the remaining half around the plant.


If your soil is neutral, just add the recommended dose to the soil surface and work it in gently with a trowel. Don't go overboard with the sulphur, it's easy to make the ground too acidic. Leave it a year and then add more next year if the skimmia shows signs of leaves yellowing.

You can add ericaceous compost instead although it's now believed that sulphur is best when planting skimmia in open ground.

Choose a position which is in semi-shade for all of the year, full shade is also fine as long as natural light reaches the plant. North facing garden situations are ideal for Skimmias, and not many other shrubs do well in these conditions.


If planted in reasonably good garden soil then that's it for your Skimmia, it will be more than happy to look after itself without any pruning, feeding or other care - truly a delightful shrub for the lazy gardener! They will last for around 20 years.

GROWING SKIMMIAS IN CONTAINERS

When planting a Skimmia in a container it's best to remember that the plant can easily last for twelve years and twenty years is a real possibility. With that in mind choose a good container which will look good for all that time and also frost hardy.
Our choice would be a plain terracotta pot because the colour contrasts with the foliage well. After a couple of years the pot will age with lichen and other green / brown marks and that looks fantastic, a real cottage garden appearance.

Plant in pots full of ericaceous compost for the correct soil acidity. Feed in March and August with an ericaceous plant food and water when conditions are dry. This will be more frequently needed from June to early September.

Rainwater is preferable over tap water as far as Skimmias are concerned. Tap water is often too alkaline and slightly acid water is preferable. Water from a water butt is the ideal solution for almost all container grown plants. Prune lightly after flowering to maintain shape and size.

Skimmia are fully frost hardy and survive harsh winters even when grown in containers. For safety though we move our container grown Skimmia next to the house from November to the end of February. This provides some protection from harsh winds and the house protects your plant from the worst of the deep frosts. Our plant has been growing for eight years in the Midlands very successfully with no more attention than that described above.


Skimmia leaf yellowing

If you click the above picture it will enlarge and you can see that the middle leaf looks healthy whereas the two other leaves have yellow marks on them. In most cases this is caused by the plant not being able to absorb nutrients because the soil is too alkaline. The solution is to top up with ericaceous compost and feed with plant food for acid loving plants. The odd used tea bag worked onto the soil surface also does wonders to turn soil slightly more acidic.

If you know your Skimmia is growing in acidic soil but the leaves are still yellow the next possibility is a magnesium deficiency. This can affect a wide variety of plants and Skimmias are no exception. The solution is simple, add the correct amount of Epsom Salts to the ground surrounding the plant. You should notice a difference after a couple of months especially on new foliage.

A quick search on your favourite search engine ("Epsom salts and plants") will come up with several products for gardeners to counter a magnesium deficiency. Just make sure you buy one for plants because it is also used for horses and the dosage rate will be very different! Follow the instructions on the pack and don't over apply Epsom salts, too much can also cause problems.

The final cause of yellowing Skimmia leaves is too much sun. Skimmias prefer part shade conditions, full sun all day especially in warmer areas is not their preferred situation. With container grown Skimmias, the solution is easy, move the container to a more shaded position.

If the plant is growing in a border the only solution is to dig it up and move it. Skimmias are tough plants and can be moved with a high chance of success. The best time to move it is in late autumn but before the frosts arrive. If the plant is too big to move, prune it in spring and then move it in autumn, don't prune it in autumn.

Snails often enjoy munching on the leaves of Skimmia and after a wet spring they can do significant damage. They prefer the older leaves for some reason and the picture below shows this clearly.


Significant damage caused by snails

The easiest solution to snail damage is either to regularly pick them off or scatter slug pellets around the area."