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Fragrant Plants

Important Gardenia question

14 years ago

This is my first post in this forum but I need to ask an important question.

I recently purchased a Gardenia Kleim's Hardy plant. Someone suggested adding shards of aluminum foil to the base of the planting hole in the container that it will be growing in. He said that it aids the acidic maintenance of the soil.

My question is, will this damage the plant in any way? The foil is covered in a 2" layer of compost (separating it from the rootball) but now I am a little concerned that it will adversely affect the plant.

Please help!

PS I've also done this to my container grown Japanese Azalea shrub.

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Comment (1)

jimshy
14 years ago
Never heard of this one! Powdered aluminum sulfate is used to acidify the soil around hydrangeas to keep the flowers blue, but I don't know how quickly foil will oxidize into something that will mingle with the soil.

As long as the foil isn't blocking the drainage hole in the container, I'd say it probably won't harm the plant, but I think there are better ways to keep the soil acidic -- coffee grounds, for instance, or extra peat moss in the potting mix.

Jim
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