Holly
Newly Registered
Posts: 3
Joined: Thu May 29, 2008 8:59 pm

Too Much Holly tone!

Hi All, I had some foundation bushes planted last evening and (my very little english speaking gardener) misunderstood me and instead of one cup holly tone per bush I am left with an almost empty 40lb bag. I have been watering like crazy but any other suggestions would be appreciated![/I] :cry:

TheLorax
Greener Thumb
Posts: 1416
Joined: Tue Feb 19, 2008 9:40 pm
Location: US

Had to look up what this Holly Tone product was. I found a label online.

Hollies like acid, but not that much acid.

I couldn't help but notice the product wasn't available in a 40# bag but a 50# bag which aggravates the situation considerably. Have no idea how many foundation shrubs you had planted by this person but I suspect all of the plants are on overload right about now even with you watering.

After having read that label, I'd go out and dig up all the shrubs that were planted myself. Hose off all the roots and set them together in dappled shade for now. Cover the roots with wood chips then hose down the wood chips to keep the roots damp until they can be replanted. Have this person dig up all the over-fertilized soil and set it aside somewhere and since you've been watering, dig the holes deeper and wider to remove soil from the surrounding area. Maybe you can use it in the future by mixing it in to other soil for acid loving plants but in its current concentration, not good to leave it where it is if it is your intent to re-plant those shrubs in the same spaces. Then I'd have this person re-plant every shrub using a fresh soil. At this point, I wouldn't even bother adding any of that Holly Tone but mulch heavily around the bases of the shrubs.

Try not to get worked up if all of these shrubs go to holly heaven.

It's probably a good idea to let people know at least which state you are in as well as what types of shrubs you planted. I'm assuming hollies based on your user name and the word Holly in the product name but there are other acid loving trees and shrubs that this Holly Tone is recommended for.

Food for thought- we've hired people from time to time over here. No one on a regular basis since I retired though. No reason for you to feel embarrassed about requesting that anyone sent to you be able to communicate productively with you in a language that you speak. We have no qualms about sending anyone home who can't speak a language we can speak. The services will still try to slip a few in who don't speak anything other than their native tongue but we shamelessly send them back and ask that they be swapped out and a replacement sent. We've discussed it with our service providers before and told them to mark our file accordingly. A few times they told us that was all they had... don't care any more... not our problem... and we can take our money elsewhere and will without batting an eyelash. When one takes that stance, they tend to pull people out of the woodwork to send out. Sorry, my home and my yard and I'd rather pay more to be able to talk to who ever is sent over here because of just the type of costly situations you described above. Ridiculous, how much did those shrubs cost a piece not to mention the soil and that bag of Holly Tone? I feel sorry for you. If you only speak English, maybe you should tell them to send you someone who speaks English. Not much more I can say. It's always unfortunate when situations like this happen.



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