Composted wood chip as planting medium?

[TuscanPhil]

5 minutes ago, renewablejohn said:

Its gold dust for converting acidic soil into useable soil.

Ha Ha - any one want to buy any gold dust...... no? ah well...

I've just put a '25Kg' sack full out to the bin man.  (the sack was a 25Kg compost bag or something).  We are on heavy clay here so lots of woodchip goes down as a top dressing and slowly but surely the soil is getting improved.

[renewablejohn]

15 hours ago, shillo said:

so if the ash is alkaline I dont really want to add it to the composted wood chip for the rhodos?

 

No if you read my post your rhodos need ericaecous compost so your composted woodchip  is ideal. The ash is as others have said is a method of increasing ph to the right amount. I check all my deep beds with an electronic ph tester before planting and if low add more wood ash to correct.

Edited March 31, 2021 by renewablejohn

[renewablejohn]

4 minutes ago, TuscanPhil said:

Ha Ha - any one want to buy any gold dust...... no? ah well...

I've just put a '25Kg' sack full out to the bin man.  (the sack was a 25Kg compost bag or something).  We are on heavy clay here so lots of woodchip goes down as a top dressing and slowly but surely the soil is getting improved.

Will be using that amount this week and will cover approx 10m2

[agg221]

9 hours ago, peds said:

No, you absolutely don't. 

Most vegetables don't prefer alkaline soil, the tolerate it, and some better than others.  They generally perform best between 6 and 7. Don't be too trigger happy with the ash if you're already around 6.5.

You are quite right on the pH for vegetables - my mistake. We used to lime every year on clay to get a slightly alkaline pH, on the advice of Geoffrey Smith - just shows how much he knew!

 

Alec

[nepia]

Don't Brassicas do best in slightly alkaline soil?

[Paul in the woods]

I know if you have clubroot infecting your soil and brassicas then it is suggested you keep it alkaline (pH 7.5).

 

I also thought adding lime helps reduce fungal canker in apples and pears.

[nepia]

I think the answer to a clubroot problem is not to grow Brassicas there!