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10-May-2005
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#1 |
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Enthusiast
 
Join Date: Feb-2005
Location: Carlsbad, California..coastal desert
Country: United States
USDA Zone: 11
Posts: 5,412
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Raised bed and mulching
I planted some trees into a raised bed that formerly held vegetables. First I mixed various bagged soil mixes into our sandy (and rock-hard when dry) soil and added a LOT of Perlite to make a nice fluffy mixture that will hold water well in our hot dry days, but also drains quickly. (When you step into it you sink almost ankle deep!) But the neighborhood cats delighted in such fluffy goodness, and the dog quickly discovered the hidden treats that the cats donated. So I put some landscape fabric over the bed, with good sized holes cut out for the trees. The fabric is water permeable but not cat permeable. To keep the fabric down and in place, and to keep the soil moist and cool over the summer, I then mulched with bagged wood chips. They look and smell rather like redwood but aren't, and they are supposedly natural.
Question is, will the water draining through these chips hurt my trees? If they are used for landscaping and around flowering plants and don't harm them, and we use bark chips in our soil mixes sometimes, is there any reason to be concerned? Acidity or whatnot? Please, if anyone has a concern, let me know. I don't want to lose the trees that are now stretching their roots and branches in these nice raised beds! Joanie |
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Raised bed and mulching |
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10-May-2005
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#2 |
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Professional Amateur
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Nope sounds like a strategy. We put out between 3 and 4k plants last year for field growing, we are currently contmeplating when we will mulch- we have about 100yds of chips sitting in wait. if you have trees that like a more basic soil, you can add a soil sweetener such as agricultural lime, or one of the pelleted products from your neighborhood box store. Good luck, John
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11-May-2005
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#3 |
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Enthusiast
Join Date: Feb-2005
Location: Carlsbad, California..coastal desert
Country: United States
USDA Zone: 11
Posts: 5,412
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Thank you, I will sleep better at night! I have planted two scrub oaks (quercus), one Japanese Snowbell (styrax japonica), one olive (olea), and one Peruvian Myrtle (Luma Apiculata) and next week plan to put in one Western Hackberry (Celtis Occidentalis), two or three Chinese Elms (ulmus parvifloria) and maybe one flowering quince (chaenomeles).
All of these seem to be pretty broadly tolerant of both the soil and the sun situation, but checking again wouldn't be a bad idea.  Thanks again, John! Joanie |
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11-May-2005
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#4 |
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Carrier of Bonsai Fever
 Join Date: Oct-2001
Location: So-Cal, US of A
Country: America The Beautiful
USDA Zone: Zone 9-10
Posts: 1,833
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Joanie,
You are doing great. The raised bed sounds like plant heaven. Good advice from John the tree grower. But don't use lime, I'm sure you know that. For all other lurkers we fight the problem of alkalinity in So-Cal. G'luck ps. no Conifers in the box? need some?
__________________
Keep growing,---'Nut Lethal Use of Farce |
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11-May-2005
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#5 |
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bonsaiTALK Journeyman
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They do make a sprinkler head that has a battery operated motion detector on it. Sprinkler senses the approaching kitty--kitty gets wet...kitty poops elsewhere.
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11-May-2005
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#6 |
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Dances With Trees
Join Date: Jul-2004
Location: Lake County California
Country: USA
USDA Zone: 8-9
AHS Heat Zone: 7-8
Posts: 573
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You may have a problem with water drainage.
Essentially you have 4 different layers now. The wood chips, the fabric, then your soil, then the ground under the soil in your bed. That gives you 3 interfaces between different layers. Anytime you have an interface between different types of particles, you get a decrease in your ability to drain water - at least in pots. I imagine this would also hold true in a raised bed, but can't say for certain. Basically - what I'm saying is watch your watering. Make sure the water is actually getting down to your tree's roots. And make sure it isn't pooling between layers, leading to increased mositure, fungal problems, root rot, etc. Let us know how it works for you. - bob
__________________
"As a twig is bent the tree inclines" - Virgil (70BC-19BC) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Check out my blog: bonsaiapprentice |
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11-May-2005
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#7 |
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Professional Amateur
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Well, don't know what the pH of your bed is. You can check or take a subsample of your soil and have your county/regional cooperative extension folks check the pH and nutrient composition- usually free or low cost. If the pH is too acidic that is too many H+ions you can use a basic buffering agent- such as an agricultural lime product (some are pelleted and come in small bags) or another additive as reccomended by your Extension folks. Don't add agricultural lime? Interesting
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11-May-2005
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#8 | |
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fugu...mmmm
 
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Quote:
id like to second bob's post. in my experience working with japanese flower quince, they seem to be a little intolerant when the soil does not drain well. i had one quince. when i first bought about 2 or 3 years ago, i watered it a regular amount (once a day, every day until i saw water come out the bottom of the pot). later that summer, because it was super hot in tokyo last year, i watered it twice a day, once in the morning and later in the early afternoon. it was not doing well after about 3 weeks of this treatment (leaf fall-off, weird white stuff on the top of the soil, increased insects, etc...). i then changed back to my old watering habits in early september, and the tree recovered beautifully. it's thriving now. quinces are beautiful trees. jeff |
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11-May-2005
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#9 |
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Wood chips will actually break down and add nutrients over time to the soil. As far as drainage goes, you can always just stick some wooden dowels into the ground next to the tree trunks. Think of these like giant chop sticks and pull them out now and then to check for moisture at root depth. After a few weeks you'll know from observation how much to water to assure penetration.
Will Last edited by Will_Heath : 12-May-2005 at 12:27 AM. |
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12-May-2005
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#10 |
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Enthusiast
Join Date: Feb-2005
Location: Carlsbad, California..coastal desert
Country: United States
USDA Zone: 11
Posts: 5,412
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Thank you everyone for your input! I will keep an eye on the drainage, that's a wonderful point that I had not at all considered...Will, thanks for a super idea, I use little dowels in my pots but wouldn't have thought to do it next to a tree in a raised bed!! And I will take a sample to be tested for pH, that's easy enough. Nut is very knowledgable about local conditions, and is most likely correct about not adding the lime....others in the local club have made similar statements.
The actual ground soil here is ancient seabed, and is very, very sandy and porous. No clay at all! Drainage is less a problem than the opposite...keeping water in the soil long enough to do any good. It does seem that the discussion about "water tables" makes sense...I have noticed that in watering into the regular black plastic one and five gallon pots, that if you wait even half an hour and then tip them sideways, more water comes out. It would seem in that case to be some sort of suction holding the water in the very bottom of the container. Does anyone drill holes into these containers? At some point gravity no longer pulls the water, when it is only the layer on the bottom, and so it sits. (One of my earliest posts was about using pretty training pots....now I can answer my own question. No Drainage. Almost killed a pomegranate and did kill a maple because, despite the fair sized drain hole, the shape of the pot tended to keep in the water. Holes in both the sides and bottoms of a training pot, or even better a colander, dresser drawer, grow box, etc. would seem to be the most effective. See how discussions read earlier by a newbie can finally make sense in light of further personal experience?? Your efforts are not in vain!  Now a desire for display has been displaced by pragmatism)Joanie |
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