Newly planted heathers yellowing foliage, please help!

[MonJardin]

Hello,

I am a very novice gardener and desperately need some help.

A few days ago I planted a few heathers (calluna vulgaris) as they look nice and are low maintenance (or so I thought). Because I read that they prefer an acidic soil and have no idea what kind of soil I have, I added fresh ground coffee (I read that it helps to make the soil acidic). Now I notice that the foliage is yellowing and I don't know why I read somewhere that this means that the soil is too alkaline for their liking but what about the coffee then? I planted them in a semi shady area (sunny for a short time in the mornings) and watered them once I planted them and haven't yet as I don't want to overwater them. I really want to save them as I really put my heart into planting them and want to develop my gardening as I always loved the idea but never had enough time to do it. I am in the South East so it is not really cold right now. Thanks in advance for your help!

PS: I bought the heathers ready in pots.

You could buy some ericaceous compost, remove the plants and dig out the current unsuitable soil. Fill the hole with the ericaceous compost and replant.
In the spring feed the plants with ericaceous plant food.

They do prefer acidic soil. Never heard that up about coffee though. Ericaceous compost is acidic so you could dig that in but really you can’t change the soil you have ( but like colouring your hair, your hair roots grow back your natural colour). It’s sometimes better just to buy plants that suit your soil type than try and change your soil type to suit your plants!
But you could put the heathers in large pots instead and use ericaceous compost in the pots. They’d be happier

Thanks for your posts. I really have no energy to replant. Should I water them again do you think or wait for the coming rain tomorrow/next week? Also, is it possible to put the compost on top/ around the heathers? Would that help? I really hope they won't die

I think you could leave them and wait and see. How much coffee did you put in? I've not heard of that before. It might just be that they need time to establish but you should water plants when you plant them.
I'm not sure if everywhere will stock ericaceous compost now as none of the garden centres near me have peat in their compost.

As I understood it Callunas aren't as fussy about soil type as Ericas (hence ericaceous compost). We did create a heather bed by using huge bales of peat but that was a while ago before peat based products were 'banned'

sorry - tapped send too soon. You can also buy plant food especially for acid loving plants (azaleas, magnolia, rhodadendron )

Thanks very much for your advice. I think I'll wait and see. Hopefully they will establish and thrive. If anyone has a specific brand for a good fertiliser (ready and easy to use) free of chemicals and animal bones please share. Thank you :)

Heathers need the acidic soil to take up water and nutrients, Adding ericaceous compost, coffee beans and plant food occasionally is a bit like giving a person a small glass of water on Sunday and then starving them of food and water for a couple of weeks afterwards each time. They won't thrive and are unlikely to survive, I'm afraid. Callunas absolutely need acidic soil and you would need a huge amount of effort and time to alter your soil to make it habitable for them. The only heather likely to tolerate neutral soil is Erica Carnea (strictly a winter heath not a heather).

You could try a fertiliser with sequestered or chelated iron. An alkaline soil inhibits iron uptake, and a fertiliser with sequestered iron puts the iron in a more readily available form

@brambleberries What is the definition of a heather? Is Erica tetralix a heather?

@MereDintofPandiculation - Erica tetralix is also known as the cross-leaved heath. (Callunas are heathers and Ericas are heaths).
The differences are in the leaves, with ericas having more needle like whorls, and lower growing foliage; and in hardiness and natural habitat, with ericas less winter hardy so preferring warmer regions.

Erica tetralix is also known as the cross-leaved heath. Yes, of course, I meant to type Erica cinerea. Big difference in flower shape too, of course. Where did the definition arise from - is it basically a gardening distinction? I've seen several sites claim that "Heathers bloom in the summer and heaths bloom in the winter" (or maybe it was the other way round) which isn't, of course, true when considering the UK species.

@MereDintofPandiculation - I believe it is a taxanomical distinction with calluna belonging to a separate genus classification. Though confusingly, at one time calluna did belong to the erica genus...

Thank you all for your help. How can I know which type of soil do I have please? Is there any simple way to find out without using specialised tools, etc.?

Also, as a general rule, do I have to water newly planted plants (apart from the day of planting of course) even when it is winter or raining?

As a rough starting point, it’s best to work out soil structure/ texture, and pH - whether it's acidic, neutral or alkaline. It will help enormously in knowing what will grow successfully in your garden.

Soil texture/structure. There are 3 main types you are likely to encounter - clay, sandy and chalky.

Avoiding any compost you might have added, take a small lump of dry soil from your garden and rub it between your fingers until it disintegrates..Does it look and feel like a very fine dust with tiny particles (clay soil)? Or is it rough and gritty with larger particles? (sandy soil or perhaps chalky).

Next, use a small plant pot with a drainage hole at the bottom and half fill it with soil - press down firmly to compact. Then fill the plant pot with water. Does the water sit on top of the soil and drain away very slowly (clay soil)? Or does the water go through quickly and drain off straight away? (sandy or chalky soil). Try adding water a few times to the same soil to see if the result is the same each time.

Rub a bit of the wet soil between your fingers - if it's clay it will feel fairly slippy, sticky and smooth; if sandy it will feel gritty and coarse. If chalky it is likely to be very stony.

Put some vinegar in a small bowl and add a bit of dry soil - does it froth up? It’s chalky.

Think about your garden - does soil stick to your gardening tools and boots in big clumps when it's wet? It’s clay soil. If you dig down into such soil about a foot down, you might see lumps of heavy grey clay (the sort you used in art pottery lessons at school). In hot weather this soil will bake hard and leave cracks in your lawn.
Is your soil very stony and dry, with white pieces of chalk-like stones? It’s chalky.

For soil pH you can get testing kits that are very easy to use - from ebay/amazon or garden centres and cost about £10.
But you can often work it out from the soil type. Sandy soil is usually acidic, chalky soil alkaline, and clay soil neutral to alkaline.

Also have a look at your neighbours front gardens - have you seen any mop-headed hydrangeas in the summer? Not in pots but in the ground. If the flowers are blue then most likely acidic sandy soil; if pink then clay soil and neutral/alkaline.

@brambleberries Wow, thanks sooo much for taking the time to explain! I will check the type of soil in the coming days and might check the PH as well. I think the soil is quite muddy, at least the front garden might be. Not sure about the back garden as it is mostly lawn. All my neighbours gardens are lovely and well maintained and if I bump into one of them I might ask about it as I saw some heathers in some of the front gardens but as they are experienced gardeners,
they might have changed the soil or the soil might be acidic after all. Again thank you :)

[quote brambleberries]@MereDintofPandiculation - I believe it is a taxanomical distinction with calluna belonging to a separate genus classification. Though confusingly, at one time calluna did belong to the erica genus...[/quote]
It’s not one that is reflected in the official common names, in that Erica cinerea is Bell heather, not Bell heath. And it’s not simply on genus, as Daboecia is also a heath.

Taxanomic groupings have latin/greek names even if they have english equivalents. Erica is in the subfamily Ericoideae, and within that in the tribe Ericeae - but so are Calluna and Daboecia. Hence why I was curious.

A quick way of finding out the likelihood of acid or alkaline soil - do you get a build-up of limescale in your kettle?

If you do, then the soil in your region is probably more likely to be alkaline than acidic.

@MereDintofPandiculation you are right.. Erica Cinerea is indeed known as the Bell heather in common usage, however it is actually a heath (also known as twisted or black heath).

It is certainly confusing because generally gardening terms tend to lump heathers and heaths together as they look similar and have similar requirements for growth, hence no need to distinguish them in common parlance.

It is my understanding there are 3 genera -Erica, a genus of heath of which there are many species; Daboecia - the irish heath and a separate but closely related genus to Erica, with a small number of species; and Calluna - the heather, of which there is only one species in the genus.
And, as you say, they all fall within the tribe Ericeae.

According to the website Soilscapes, my soil is:

Slowly permeable seasonally wet slightly acid but base-rich loamy and clayey soils

Texture:
Loamy and clayey

So it is slightly acid? Meaning that the heathers have a chance to survive?

www.landis.org.uk/soilscapes/soilguide.cfm

@MonJardin - the Soilscapes map is an interesting one to explore. It is a simplified version of a more detailed national mapping of soil types.
I can see why you're hopeful that this is good news for your heathers!

It's quite possible that your soil could be slightly acidic, but here's the thing - you can't tell from this map. It's a simplified version of a map of large areas of land - not specific to your garden. So, looking at the map scale of 1:250,000 - this means every 1cm on the map is equivalent to 2.5km on the ground - about one and a half miles. Within this there could be quite a bit of variation in the soil. This type of map could be used by farmers to see what type of crops could be grown over a large area of land, or regional town planners to look for issues of poor drainage across a county, for instance.

Looking at the description given 'Slowly permeable seasonally wet slightly acid but base-rich loamy and clayey soils' actually covers quite a few different possibilities of soil types.
Loamy soil is an ideal mixture of clay, sand and silt which is full of nutrients and easy to work with - if you have this type of soil you've hit the jackpot in gardening terms!

I do hope your heathers recover, as it's clear from your posts that you've put a lot of effort into choosing and planting them and really want to save them... fingers crossed!

[quote brambleberries]@MereDintofPandiculation you are right.. Erica Cinerea is indeed known as the Bell heather in common usage, however it is actually a heath (also known as twisted or black heath).

It is certainly confusing because generally gardening terms tend to lump heathers and heaths together as they look similar and have similar requirements for growth, hence no need to distinguish them in common parlance.

It is my understanding there are 3 genera -Erica, a genus of heath of which there are many species; Daboecia - the irish heath and a separate but closely related genus to Erica, with a small number of species; and Calluna - the heather, of which there is only one species in the genus.
And, as you say, they all fall within the tribe Ericeae.[/quote]
Not just “common usage”, it’s the approved common name, in the same way that the approved common name for Caltha palustris is Marsh Marigold rather than Crazies or Kingcup.

Funnily, it was the gardening sites that were so keen to distinguish them.

Bruckenthalia?

@MereDintofPandiculation - Quite right! . Bruckenthalia is in danger of sending me down a taxanomical rabbit hole from which there will be no escape...! And it's entertaining to find someone similarly interesed in such rabbit holes. I shall be more cautious with paranthesis in future
It has brought to mind this article..
www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/the-big-ugly-problem-heart-of-taxonomy-180964629/

Hmm. That’s a bit more than the age-old arguments between lumpers and splitters, isn’t it?