Limeing Junipers

[Bob O]

All,
I was having a discussion with someone last week about useing chelated iron on my acid loving plants such as azaleas to increase the soil acidity.

During our conversation he said that he had heard that a well known bonsai artist uses lime on his Junipers because they like their soil slightly alkaline.

Have any of you heard of this? If so what kind of lime, how is it applied, and what time of year is right for application?

Thanks in advance for any information you can provide,

Bob O

 

[jk_lewis]

Many junipers do like a limy soil, but none of them will die when they can't get it. Any crushed rock that is mostly calcium carbonate will provide the lime the trees need. If you live in the southern USA, chicken grit is often made with crushed oyster shell. That would do it.

 

[Gene Deci]

The only evergreen I know of that actually likes alkaline soil is cedar (thuja occidentalis). I believe most junipers prefer acidic soil.

 

[jk_lewis]

Many of the desert junipers in the western USA grow on acid-poor soils.

The junipers-like-acid-soils tale is another import from Japanese tradition.

 

[jk_lewis]

Many of the desert junipers in the western USA grow on acid-poor soils.

The junipers-like-acid-soils tale is another import from Japanese tradition.

 

[Gene Deci]

Most of my references (gardening books and on the web) say that in general juniper is a species that thrives in acidic soil - for example this site http://njaes.edu/soiltestinglab/pdfs/ph-Lime-req.pdf is from Bob O's area.

If you look up pH preferences for junipers by variety, there are some like rocky mountain juniper which do fine in slightly alkaline soil, as jkl points out. But they all also do well in slightly acidic soil and there are some junipers that require acidic soil. So, clearly the best thing for Bob O to do is to look up the pH requirements for the type of juniper he has.

I totally support jkl’s effort to moderate our knee-jerk acceptance of all things Japanese when it comes to bonsai. I was only saying that there is a risk to "limeing" junipers that Bob O should be aware of.

 

[daygan]

I think this is the right address:

http://njaes.rutgers.edu/soiltestinglab/pdfs/ph-Lime-req.pdf

 

[Bob O]

Thanks for the replies, I have been off line sinse I posted this. My juniper collection is mostly procumbens nana, with a few that are just nursery plants. I think I will experiment with two of them by adding an iron supplement to one and a dolomitic lime supplement to the other when I fertilize.

Bob O