road salt worries

[slippery]

Also, i seem to recall an argument about whether to sprinkle a little chicken down before mulching

 

Don`t know if the chicken will like that

 

lol i originaly wrote a word after "chicken" but site mod took it off (sorry)

[Giles Hill]

cheers for the reply, i noticed today that the beech seems to have done better than the hawthorn, (three staggered hawthorn to each beech), some easily more than doubling in thickness,

 

do you think the same for the hawthorn, and what about the mulching and chicken fertiliser?

 

Strange, I'd normally expect the hawthorn to establish quicker than beech. Are you on a dry soil? Is the area shaded?

 

I would have thought the same for hawthorn, being as they're both deciduous. I guess the hawthorn might be flushing earlier, before the salt has been leached out?

 

I don't know that manure will reduce salt content. Irrigation certainly will. According to 'Tree Roots in the Built Environment', an application of gypsum will counter soil salinity.

[slippery]

thanks giles, thats a great help.

the soil is very dry, shaded, compacted and has a big conifer and a pair of rowan at one side. the land has been largely left since the build ( 30 yrs),just grass cut and removed so i'm trying to enrich it. have planted loads of trees and most doing very well.

do i get this gypsum from a farmers suppliers or break up some plaster board?

[Stephen Blair]

hawthorn was planted with beech hedges because it feeds the beech, i cant remember what it did but it was something to do with the hawthorns roots..i will ask my mate next time i see him

[Giles Hill]

hawthorn was planted with beech hedges because it feeds the beech, i cant remember what it did but it was something to do with the hawthorns roots..i will ask my mate next time i see him

 

Sounds interesting SWB.

 

Regarding gypsum, from what I can gather, it works as a soil conditioner and increases infiltration, therefore it hastens leaching. i.e. I don't know if it would make a lot of difference if a soil was free draining to start with.

 

Here's a gypsum based product:

Vitax Clay Breaker 2.5kg wychallhardware.com

 

And here's some technical stuff I googled and based the above comment on.

Salt-affected soils and their management - Google Books

 

From your description, I'd guess it's the dry shade, rather than road salt that's making the difference between the beech and the hawthorn.