Hi toronado. Actually, acidic soil has a low pH, something under 7.0, that being the neutral point and everything above that increasingly alkaline.

As to the species' soil needs, all I know is that it is ericaceous, so indeed would prefer acidic soil. Not sure on drainage requirements,etc.

+oM

Thank you wisconsitom. I used to be able to keep my PHs straight.

Oxydendrum needs the same growing conditions as rhododendrons. Acid, 50% or more organic content, moisture retentive but very well aerated planting medium. If you have clay soil, the best thing to do is to create a raised bed with the proper kind of soil. You'd probably be better off growing 6" seedlings on in pots until they're a foot or two before trying to plant them out.

MGs last point is the best advice IMO. Your planting too small a transplant too quickly. I've had multiple seedlings croak and I know they grow just fine around here. I never have issues with the larger transplant...ie at least 2 years old.

I find that most acid lovers do just fine in neutral soils.

Whaas, I am the guy who will plant a pencil sized tree and then blame it for not surviving being yanked from the ground and mailed across country! How did ya know lol.

Perhaps this year I will hunt down one locally if they have two to five gallon size.

Well, I planted one this spring. TERRIBLE choice of hot dry years to plant a tree.

It even blew over during an good windstorm and sat roots to the air all day at work. Couldn't risk that too many times so I had to stake it of all undesirable things.

It flowered, defoliated once during the drought after showing pink tinged foliage for awhile, releaved, sorta flowered again, and has been holding red leaves and the strange dried fruit/flowers for quite some time now. Can't wait to see it after a decent year with a good amount of foliage.

{{gwi:488755}}

I have no experience with oxydendrum except that I like sourwood honey.

I just planted an itty bitty, mail-ordered sourwood in my front garden. Hopefully it likes my soil here on the coast. There are rhodedenrums growing elsewhere in the garden, so I have high hopes.

Good luck! And hopefully you'll be back with gorgeous pictures in a year or two to inspire me to go out to my little sapling and tell it to grow, grow, grow! :)

I planted two here on the gulf coast a few years ago, and they didn't seem happy, very finicky. They hung in there for a year, then died.

But... I was in the Smoky Mountains a few weeks ago and the Sourwood trees were everywhere. Even in cutover areas, the Sourwood sprouts seemed to outnumber the oak sprouts. There was a big one next to the hot tub at the cabin a rented, I stared at the gorgeous color every day I was there.

I'm getting ready to buy 65 "one-foot" tall sourwood trees in quart-size containers from Greenwood Nursery in TN in Nov for my bees to feast on in July here in central Alabama. My natural soil pH is 5.4 with a loamy clay base. I plan on subsoiling down 12 inches and tilling in some high quality organic compost I'm getting from GEC Organics which will be loaded with microbes. I'll also have a spray jet irrigation system in place to water when necessary. They will be planted along a 500 foot fence on the south side of a 100 foot tall treeline to give them plenty of afternoon shade. Like my bees, I want to spoil these little trees so they will grow big and strong and produce a bunch of tasty nectar. Am I missing anything? Is Greenwood Nursery a quality nursery? Also, does anyone know how many feet per year sourwood trees grow? I'm having a hard time finding any detailed specifics of growing these trees. Any thoughts will be greatly appreciated!

I really love that sourwood honey too. Will be driving down to Tennesse next week to get some.

Mine was planted as a seedling about 15 years ago. It took the place of a Cherry that was ancient and fell over. The Sourwood was planted about 10ft. from the cherry stump. Soil, like all my soil, is clay. Tree on left is Quercus bicolor, on the right is Acer rubrum.

{{gwi:488756}}

Very nice, Dzitmoidonc. Wish I could get mine to show alittle vigor.

And alabamatreehugger, when I was in SW VA, sourwood was one of the chief "colonizers" in the local area -- especially along exposed road-cuts and forest edges. Below was one close to my house:

This post was edited by beng on Mon, Jul 8, 13 at 11:17

My little stick put on about 6" of growth this year and has flower panicles beginning to emerge. This is its first growing season in my neutral mineral deficient sandy loam. The other one I planted I forgot to go back and mulch after planting it. It has not fared nearly as well. Both were Ebay specials - 3' branchless sticks bought in dormancy that I gently root pruned and placed in rootmaker pots for a growing season.

And of course I killed 4 Arbor Day twigs last year.

John

This post was edited by j0nd03 on Mon, Jul 8, 13 at 12:30