Soil Management
If you want healthy and vigorous flowers and ornamentals, you need to manage the soil properly. The quality of flower bed soil is important. On this page, you’ll find information on soil management of ornamentals and floriculture, including soil testing, choosing plants to thrive in various soil conditions, proper fertilization, and compost.
Soil Management for Floriculture and Landscape Horticulture
Optimal soil conditions are crucial for all stages of plant development. Understand the soil and how best to manage it and you’ve got the best foundation for a productive landscape and garden. You can grow flowers and ornamentals in most soils, but they grow best when you’re able to meet the plants' varying needs.
Determine the fertility of your soil by testing it. As well as the fertility, soil testing also determines the acidity or alkalinity of the soil, the optimum lime and fertilizer requirements for your plants. Without this knowledge, you could very easily over-fertilize your potted plants.
There are various ways you can overcome poor quality soil. Raised beds, for example, provide a unique opportunity for you to effectively manage the quality of the soil. Select the right contents for the raised bed and you can control texture, drainage, and organic matter content.
You can also improve the quality and health of your soil and there are several production methods of compost, each of which has both benefits and drawbacks.
Salt damage is a particularly common problem during the winter. Sodium chloride is commonly used by residential property owners, landscape contractors, and township supervisors in Pennsylvania for de-icing roads and sidewalks. However, overuse can lead to a chemical drought in plants and salt spray from roads and driveways can burn the needles of evergreen leaves and damage the following year’s growth.
Flowers and Ornamentals for Dry or Wet Soils
Very few plants will grow in soil that is constantly saturated with water. Poorly drained soil can be a problem for plants as it can suffocate root systems and kill the plant. Similarly, soil that is extremely dry is not an optimum growing environment for flowers and ornamentals. There are, however, plants that can tolerate such extreme conditions. Here are some examples:
- Dry to moist soil/sun to part shade: black haw viburnum, sassafras, prickly pear cactus, black-eyed Susan
- Wet to moist soil/sun to part sun: pin oak, swamp white oak, New York ironweed, Stokes’ aster
- Dry to moist soil/shade to part shade: mapleleaf viburnum, alumroot, white and blue wood aster
- Wet to moist soil/shade to part shade: inkberry, spicebush, ostrich fern, creeping phlox.
Find more information on plants’ soil requirements and fertility management in this section. Advice on soil testing, fertilization, and compost is also available.
- Articles
Abiotic Diseases Of Woody Ornamentals
Of the two major types of diseases of woody ornamentals—biotic and abiotic—abiotic diseases are by far the most important ones on landscape and nursery plants. - Articles
Correcting Nutritional Disorders in Greenhouse Crops
The pH of the greenhouse media substrate can significantly influence nutrient uptake and availability in plants. - Articles
Bringing Houseplants Indoors
Many houseplants thrive outdoors in the summertime, but must be brought indoors before temperatures get too low. Learn how to help them readjust to conditions inside the house. - Articles
Over-Fertilization of Potted Plants
Over-fertilization of commercial pot or container-grown crops results in high concentrations of soluble salts in the potting medium. - Articles
Soil Testing
Soil testing is a soil-management tool used to determine the fertility of soil as well as the optimum lime and fertilizer requirements for crops. - Articles
How to Pasteurize Medium and Sterilize Containers and Tools
To increase the survival rate for seedlings during germination, containers and tools should be sterilized and pasteurized or sterile soilless mixes should be used as growing medium. - Articles
Homemade Potting Media
Many cost conscious home gardeners and do-it-yourselfers are often looking for cheaper ways of growing plants for home and garden use. One way to achieve this may be by making homemade potting media. - Articles
Caring for Houseplants
Learning how to develop an ideal environment for houseplants will create lasting enjoyment. - Articles
Care and Maintenance of Perennials
There is some basic care needed to keep your perennials in their best form and to come back year after year. - Articles
Lacebark Pine: Its Bark is Better Than its Bite
Lacebark pine, Pinus bungeana, is native to eastern and central China. - Articles
Why Isn't My African Violet Flowering?
Most modern African violets (Saintpaulia spp.) bloom throughout the year without much effort on the grower's part. - Articles
Compost: How to Make It and How Much to Use
Here we share the benefits and drawbacks of 4 compost production methods, as well as 6 straightforward tips for using compost. - Online Courses
$59.00
Plant Establishment and Maintenance
Sections 7Length 7 hoursLandscapers learn how to plant and maintain woody and herbaceous plants in ornamental landscapes. Earn PCH credits. - Online Courses
$59.00
Soils and Plant Nutrition for Ornamental Landscapes
Sections 6Length 5 hours, 30 minutesLandscapers learn about soil properties, amendments, and tests, as well as nutrition and fertilizer. Understand container soils and how best to work soils. Earn PCH credits. - Online Courses
$19.00
Employee Landscape Training: Introduction to Soils
Sections 3Length 2 hoursThis course helps landscape businesses train beginner and seasonal employees to identify soil properties, fertilize and amend soils, and grade, level, and fill. Earn PCH credits. - Articles
Choosing Plants Wisely
To create and maintain a healthy landscape, choose plants that are suited to the conditions in your yard.