Friday, August 15, 2014

yellow hornbeam

This Hornbeam has been yellow all summer long. It was a vigorous tree up until I re-potted it in April. 

At that time I used Cat Litter as a potting medium as I had heard that it was a possible cheap alternative to Akadama. It seemed ideal, apart from the pale colour. What I didn't foresee was the way it would degrade into a sludgy mess, which not only was reducung drainage to nil, but also I fear creating a toxic environment for the roots. Ironically I had used it before diluted down in a peaty compost and I just didn't notice how bad it was.
So I removed it from it's pot and stripped away as much compost as I dared (basically back to the original peaty core)



I repotted into a new pot with lots of grit and topdressed with some chicken manure after I had it well watered in. Hopefully it will forgive me.



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