Soil

 
Hi everyone!

Could anyone tell me if certain plants thrive in poor soil, does tha
mean they wont grow very well in good soil? Thanks Mar


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CORVIDSTATION61

 Very good question.  Some trees, pioneer species as they are called, can
thrive in poor soil because they can survive for some years without
mycorrhizae.  I do not know of any that cannot grow because of mycorrhizal
fungi being present.  There might be one.  One pioneer I can think of is
birch.  Birches are planted often in urban areas which the soil is not as
poor as others.  Really good question.  So where do we draw the line between
poor soil and great soil?  In old growth forest I did some soil testing
about the rhizosphere or rhizoplane and found the carbon to nitrogen ratio
to be 27:1.  Eastern Hemlock and White Pine.  Back to your question.  I do
not have the answer.  I know some can.  On the other hand there are places
where trees won't grow and they have to inoculate with a fungus that will
infect the non-woody roots of the trees and form the organ mycorrhiza.  Or
they won't grow.
It sounds like a good question.
I recommend contacting someone in the US Forest Service with a back ground
in tree biology.

let me suggest one off the top of my head.
Dr. Kevin Smith
http://www.fs.fed.us/ne/durham/4505/people/kevcv.html

He did a lot of research with the late Dr. Alex L. Shigo

Remember about mycorrhizae.  We cannot inoculate the soil with mycorrhizae.
Mycorrhiza is an organ.  You cannot inoculate with an organ.  You can
inoculate with a fungus that will infect and then a organ forms.


--
Sincerely,
John A. Keslick, Jr.
Consulting Arborist
http://home.ccil.org/~treeman
and  www.treedictionary.com
Beware of so-called tree experts who do not understand tree biology.
Storms, fires, floods, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions keep reminding us
that we are not the boss.

 On Wed, 12 Dec 2007 20:02:36 +0000, CORVIDSTATION61


A counter example, Protea.  Soil with adequate phosphorous for most
plants is toxic to them.  Pacific Horticulture magazine had an article
about them, one place they grew very well would not support weeds.

I think there are other plants from Australia with a similar
phosphorous sensitivity.

 

Take a peak at the reviews here.

(Amazon.com product link shortened)
bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid97500351&sr=1-1

or

http://preview.tinyurl.com/ysejb4


Bill

--
Garden in shade zone 5 S Jersey USA

 In article


Bill, I hope the holidays are being good to you. Mine started off fine
but then the relatives showed up:-(

Books like "Weeds and What They Tell" really appeal to me but some times
I wonder. One of the reviews read, in part, "Guilds, the author tells
us, are groups of plants that function as an ecosystem to provide
products for humans, create cover and food for wildlife, nourish the
soil, conserve water, and repel pests. A simple example of a guild is
the "three sisters" (corn, beans, and squash); corn stalks provide a
trellis for beans, the beans supply nitrogen to the soil, and the squash
leaves inhibit weeds and conserve water." The group kicked around the
idea this year of growing beans on corn stalks and iirc the up-shot of
it all was that there may be specific beans that do well on corn but in
general, it is a bad idea. I grew my corn in blocks and the light seemed
to have had a hard time penetrating in to the beans. The beans that grew
on the periphery did OK but they had a bad habit of pulling the corn
stalks over. The melons that I planted also had the sunlight problem and
were stunted until the "hounds from hell" found them. That was the end
of that particular problem.

The group discussions we have had have been more valuable to me than any
of the books that I have purchased.

Oh, in response to the OP. Grapes make better wine if they are nitrogen
and water stressed. If water and nitrogen are available, ad libitum,
they will vegetate and not set fruit.
--

Billy

Bush & Cheney, Behind Bars