(GROWING PAINS continued from page 6) 
about soils. Ericaceous plants need loose, friable soil 
which will stay that way. You just cannot take 
average good garden soil, mix it with the baled 
(imported) peats, and have soils that suit them. A 
good garden soil is entirely too sweet (alkaline or 
‘“limey”). If it will grow a good crop of vegetables 
it is just what you don’t want for these ericaceous 
plants. 
Woods earth from under cak trees is usually recom- 
mended. To collect it, if you can find it, is very time 
consuming and expensive. Sawdust, and baled peats, 
mixed with oakleaves is used by some, but it is a 
“hit” or “miss” program. And if you are like we are, 
the “hits” are what we are looking for, and “misses” 
we can’t afford. 
Years ago, we concluded that if we intended to grow 
liners of ericaceous plants, we’d have to have 
customers, and to have customers who’d buy more 
than once, we’d have to be able to tell them how to 
grow the liners. And the growing had to be worked 
out so that it would be direct and simple. With all 
he has to do, the average nurseryman isn’t going to 
spend much time pampering any group or lot of 
plants. 
We started off with a bale of each of every brand of 
imported peat moss we could find. We also collected 
a few bags of domestic peats from various sources. 
Each bale and bag was broken up into a number of 
experimental flats of different mixes. Soils from 
gardens, dry creekbeds, the mountains, and other 
sources, were mixed in and plants planted to each 
flat. The results of course, varied considerably. 
Unquestionably, plants in flats containing almost 
straight domestic peats were much better than in any 
others. In fact, those plants in some of the straight 
domestic peats made as much as 8 to 12 times the 
growth of the best in flats of the imported peats, 
whether straight cr mixes. 
Until 1954 we have continued to experiment with 
various peats and soils, and mixtures of them, but as 
yet we have found none which even approach the 
results the domestic peats give us. Because there are 
peat bogs in many sections of the ccuntry the 
chances are that you can find a nearby source. We 
have used peats from Michigan and Ohio with 
excellent results. At present our source is Pennsyl- 
vania Peat Moss, Inc., Hazleton, Penna., simply 
because their product is as gocd as any we have 
located, and they will give us the coarse grind we 
prefer. Also, they deliver with their trucks and we 
have no car unlcading to upset the routine of the 
place. Being nearby, the transportation cost is 
negligable, and that puts the peat here at very low 
COSUs 
So, to conclude the soils phase of this diatribe, let’s 
say that the easiest simpliest, and least expensive 
way of preparing soils for ericaceous plants is to 
make up beds of straight domestic peats. 
(Continued on page 10) 
