Making acid raised bed

Hertfordshire, United Kingdom

I understand how I can test and acidify my alkaline soil, and intend to make a raised bed for my lime-hating blueberry bushes (they're in pots at the moment).

But what happens if the roots of the bushes grow deeper than the acidified layer of soil? Do I need to put a liner at the bottom of my bed to prevent this, or will the roots just naturally turn back into the soil they like?

1 Jul, 2008

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Answers

Spritzhenry

If you make the raised bed quite deep, you shouldn't have any problems. If you needed to, you could always give them a feed with Sequestrene in it, which helps acid-lovers. After all, they are bushes, not trees, so their roots are not all that deep.

2 Jul, 2008

Abenn

Thanks, Spritzhenry. I was thinking to dig out 8"-or-so, and make the raised bed 8"-or-so high, giving a total depth of 16" of acidified soil. I know I will have to keep checking the pH, and I'll use ericateous feed, as I do now.

Just wondering if the plants will suffer if their roots so much as touch the underlying lime soil.

2 Jul, 2008

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