Ericaceous trough

[Bajocian]

Hello everyone,

I recently constructed a large hypertufa trough and I would like to grow ericaceous plants in it. Is it necessary to separate the growing medium from the hypertufa to prevent lime leaching through?

Thanks,

Paul

[Maggi Young]

Hi Paul, welcome to the forum!

Depends how generous you were with the cement in the hypertufa mixture - it might be an idea to allow the trough to sit outside in the open for a few weeks to allow the major part of any lime to be washed out.

If you're impatient to get planting then I would think the dangers would not be too great if you use a good ericaceous mixture to plant in - keep an eye on the plants to make sure they  show no sign of suffering - can you tell that I'm not the most patient person myself and would be in a hurry to plant it myself??! 

[Bajocian]

Hi Maggi,

thanks for your reply and for the welcome!

I used five parts gritty sand, three parts peat (I'd prefer to use a substitute but I just couldn't find any here in the Netherlands) and two parts Portland cement. It's been out in the absolutely torrential rain for about a week now so that should have helped a lot; nonetheless I'll try to be patient and wait a couple more weeks! Its my first attempt and I'm quite chuffed with it so I'll probably share some photos once it's planted up!

Thanks again,

Paul

[Maggi Young]

Sounds as if the weather is doing its best to help.
I would love to see pictures of how it progresses, Paul - but please keep control of your spiders!!

[johnw]

Paul - I use 1/3 peat, 1/3 sand and 1/3 Portland cement.  A couple of wet months outdoors does the trick.  I have even pushed it a bit when in a rush and hosed a new trough down and planted it up.   We're fairly wet here so can get away with it.   Acid rain might help but our summer tap water is circa pH 8.  I suppose planting up a fresh hypertufa trough maybe not so wise here in August-September when it's drier.