christmas trees on chalky soil
Discussion
we recenty bought some woods, and at the corner of a clearing we'd like (if possible) to plant a small number of christmas trees (basically enough for us to eventually take one-per-year for our own house - so maybe a dozen?)
The woods are on the south downs, near the bottom of the hills themselves so a bit of a layer of loam on a chalky base. I measured the soil PH in the clearing using a cheapish soil meter, and it was showing a PH of around 7.2 (not sure how accurate the gauge is).
judging by here -> https://www.canr.msu.edu/christmas_trees/horticult... christmas trees prefer slightly acidic soil, we're about 0.7 not acidic enough.
Is growing christmas trees a non-starter? or will they just grow a little slower than we might expect? We want them to look nice a the end (ie not yellow and manky) but aren't too bothered if they take a year more than they should to get going. Any alternative plants that we could look at, or is it worth "improving" the soil?
ta from a novice
The woods are on the south downs, near the bottom of the hills themselves so a bit of a layer of loam on a chalky base. I measured the soil PH in the clearing using a cheapish soil meter, and it was showing a PH of around 7.2 (not sure how accurate the gauge is).
judging by here -> https://www.canr.msu.edu/christmas_trees/horticult... christmas trees prefer slightly acidic soil, we're about 0.7 not acidic enough.
Is growing christmas trees a non-starter? or will they just grow a little slower than we might expect? We want them to look nice a the end (ie not yellow and manky) but aren't too bothered if they take a year more than they should to get going. Any alternative plants that we could look at, or is it worth "improving" the soil?
ta from a novice
V unlikely you’d be able to permanently modify the soil enough for something the size of a tree - roots will go down too far for any amendment I suspect, or it’ll get washed out. You could try spreading wood ash around and the like, it may work when they’re younger / smaller.
Would look for something which is known to cope in neutral soil eg Norway Spruce - whips are not expensive so I’d be tempted to just try it and see.
Would look for something which is known to cope in neutral soil eg Norway Spruce - whips are not expensive so I’d be tempted to just try it and see.
We have a bunch of "christmas trees" growing - both the splky and non-spiky variants, in chalky soil. They seem to grow ok without any attention. Sorry, not sure of the scientific names for them.
Takes a few to find one which is "good enough" for the house, and they are never as perfect all-around as what you might get in a shop. But that's part of the magic.
You may need to plant a few more in say 3 years, ready for when the first ones become too tall.
Takes a few to find one which is "good enough" for the house, and they are never as perfect all-around as what you might get in a shop. But that's part of the magic.
You may need to plant a few more in say 3 years, ready for when the first ones become too tall.
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