EXCESSIVE ACIDITY OR ALKALINITY

Articles In This Section:

· WHY ROSES FAIL

· AIR POCKETS

· DEEP PLANTING

· MANURING AT PLANTING TIME

· DRY ROOTS

· EXCESSIVE ACIDITY OR ALKALINITY

· INADEQUATE DRAINAGE

· ROSE-SICK SOIL

· EXCESSIVE MANURING

· FROSTS

· SHADE

· PROXIMITY OF LARGE PLANTS

· HEAVY PRUNING

· ARTESIAN WATER

Excessive acidity or alkalinity of garden soil may seem a highly technical consideration, but is a very real problem. It rarely occurs in virgin soil. Over-acidity usually results from continued use of organic manures for a number of years. These were the only manures used by our forefathers, and so came the practice of heavily liming rose beds each third or fourth year in May or early June, two or three months before the spring manuring was due. (For more details, see Chapter XVII). Excessive alkalinity results from overliming or, occasionally, the use of too little acid-forming organic manure. These two conditions are most harmful to newly planted roses, but can also kill established plants. Experience is a wonderful guide in manuring, but small soil-testing outfits are now available. They are inexpensive, easy to use, and well worth while if you want to cultivate intensively. Never put on your rose garden water containing chemical preparations used in washing clothes, and, in unsewered areas, beware of soakage of it from your own drains or from your neighbours', for all these compounds are very alkaline, and roses will not do well in their presence.