[pbs] Not lime. Limestone
Adam Fikso
adam14113 at ameritech.net
Thu Jun 26 14:02:50 EDT 2008
I did not say anything about adding lime in my brief post about Ixiolirion
tataricum. But I note a number of replies are all about adding lime,
increasing pH, etc. Plants sometimes need calcium and cannot take it up if
it's not in solution. To be in solution, it's got to be dissolved from a
water-soluble salt, e.g., Calcium Carbonate, Calcium Nitrate, etc. Lime is
not limestone, nor is all limestone dolomitic. They always need a source of
magnesium.
Dolomitic limestone is a major source of magnesium which is the inorganic
element around which the chlorophyll molecule is organized just as iron is
the inorganic element in the hemoglobin molecule. Each is central to the
organization of these principal molecules that differentiate animals from
plants. We bleed red, plants bleed green. Plants die if they can't pick
up enough magnesium. (Very rare), but occasionally a growing mix may make
particular plants struggle unnecessarily. Very alkaline soils make many
plants die. And as noted, most plants do very well in a slightly acid or
neutral soil.
Of course many acid-loving plants, e.g., the heaths, cranberries, can be
found growing over limestone,falling leaves and leafy detritus from
evergreens tend to become acidic as they rot and degrade into new soil.
Let's clarify our thinking here and not insist on accuracy only in the area
of trying to establish boundaries for taxonomic niceties that don't mean
much except to taxonomists and those of us who have to put up with them to
talk understandably to one another.
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