trachycarpus in lime soil

[Adam D]

The lower leaves on the new one were a very dark green and the new leaves were a lovely, healthy vibrant green. I was having a look at the two of them last night and the new leaves on the old one have greened up nicely and are now the same colour as the newer one. Just goes to show how they respond to feeding and good growing conditions.

eyup adam, what did you do to the old one?

Hello eyefi,

The old one has been regularly feed with palm feed every 10 days from the beginning of May and it has had a few treatments of palmbooster.

Although I have ran out of both now and for the next month or two I am going to feed it with Chempak low nitrogen feed to harden up the new growth in preparation for the winter (groan, I hate winter ).

Adam

[Dave Brown]

Mine are growing in chalky plastacine. The top 15 inches is just plastacine, then the is a layer of more yellowish clay with chalk and flint mixed in, finally getting to chalk bedrock about 8 or 9 feet. When I planted Trudi Trachycarpus(big one at the front) I had to break the clay sub soil up with a pickaxe and thought it would not grow well, but it did exceptionally well. Trachycarpus naturally yellow the older leaves as they reclaim the nutrients from them. Drought definately yellows them. The problem is that just about any inbalance will cause yellowing so just saying they don't like chalk isn't necessarily correct. Also it depends on how alkaline the soil is. A pH of 6.5 is Neutral, 7 is alkaline which most things will be happy with, while 8.5 will be a problem for most plants, same as a peat bog at the other end of the scale.

[jezza]

My soil is flinty chalk and all three of mine love it and are my fastest growing palms.

[bobbyd44]

ahaha i know no probs eyefi but all here to learn!!!

[Dave Brown]

Since my last comments I have found that I am on acidic clay over chalk, so that sort of changes things a bit. My plastacine is between pH6.5 and as low as pH4.3 which is almost peat bog acidity. and the lowest pH is between 2 trachies Fred and Barney. Both are growing fine On the whole I think we have to say Trachycarpus are pretty easy going when it comes to soil pH

[Alexander]

Dave,

Interresting about your acid soil. Maybe the same happens in the wild where some Rhododendrons grow on limestone rock in a fin layer of soil. If that fin layer of soil is leache out of any lime it explaines why some acid loving plants can grow in limestone areas.

Maybe in Kent the chalk has been covered by old dposits of clay and/or loam millions of years ago wich have been leached out. By erosion the underlaying chalk gets exposed little by littele again. Maybe the deforestations in the last millenia by man has excellerated that progress. In the south of Te Netherlands in South Limburg there is also a hilly chalk area origenally covered by loss. Due to intensive agriculture and large fields now and then when there is heavy rain lots of soil is wased into the vallys. So the layer of loss gets finner and finner year after year.

The same has happened in the Med in classic times when man cut down the forest for agriculture and cattlegrasing.

Alexander

[Dave Brown]

Hi Alexander, there are Rhododendrons growing in the old clay workings that is now Shorne Country Park about two miles from me. The County Council is now clearing the Rhodos as it has become an understory monoculture, and the clearing will allow other species. Acid clay seems to dominate the north slopes of the North Downs, but the south scarpe slope about 10 miles to the south is typical Downland.

But back to the topic although my trachies are growing in acid clay. I think they are pretty accommodating when it comes to soil pH. I have never heard anywhere that they need ericacious compost, or that the soil needs to be acified

[Jellybob]

In some parts of my garden, dig down 2 foot and you reach solid chalk. Time will tell how the plants cope with this. In other parts you can dig a lot further and not reach it, very undulating. Saying that though, there is a nice Trachycarpus that stands at least 13 feet tall down our street, and the soil has done this plant no harm.