Hi I have a plant that does well in acidic soil but my soil is
alkaline. is it possible to make it more acidic?

On Fri, 09 May 2003 17:47:05 +0100, wrote:

Hi I have a plant that does well in acidic soil but my soil is
alkaline. is it possible to make it more acidic?

You could dig in some ericaceous compost and mulch it
with pine needles but this is never really successful.

You're probably better off growing it in a pot.

Andy

Add sulphur or lawn sand?


wrote in message
...
Hi I have a plant that does well in acidic soil but my soil is
alkaline. is it possible to make it more acidic?

You can het sulphur chips from chempac I think it is

wrote:
: Hi I have a plant that does well in acidic soil but my soil is
: alkaline. is it possible to make it more acidic?

wrote in message
...
Hi I have a plant that does well in acidic soil but my soil is
alkaline. is it possible to make it more acidic?

Water the plant with aluminium sulphate!

Badger

On Fri, 09 May 2003 18:14:30 +0100, Andy
wrote:

On Fri, 09 May 2003 17:47:05 +0100, wrote:

Hi I have a plant that does well in acidic soil but my soil is
alkaline. is it possible to make it more acidic?

You could dig in some ericaceous compost and mulch it
with pine needles but this is never really successful.

You're probably better off growing it in a pot.


What plant is it? Just curios.

Andy

On Fri, 09 May 2003 17:47:05 +0100, wrote:

Hi I have a plant that does well in acidic soil but my soil is
alkaline. is it possible to make it more acidic?

If your soil is chalky and consequently very alkaline, there's very
little you can do to make it acidic as such. If your soil is only
slightly alkaline, you may be able to make it less alkaline by digging
in lots of compost or peat.

Alternatively and probably a better approach, you can water individual
plants with a special type of fertiliser that supplies the essential
minerals missing in alkaline soils. Look in your garden centre for
'Sequestrine' or those containing sequestered iron and trace elements.
A popular combination of ordinary fertiliser and sequestered iron and
trace elements is supplied in various brands of 'Ericaceous
fertiliser' .


--
Chris

E-mail: christopher[dot]hogg[at]virgin[dot]net

I read that too much coffee grounds in a compst heap can make it acidic, dont know if it will do the same to the soil though

Andy wrote:
: On Fri, 09 May 2003 17:47:05 +0100, wrote:

:Hi I have a plant that does well in acidic soil but my soil is
:alkaline. is it possible to make it more acidic?

: You could dig in some ericaceous compost and mulch it
: with pine needles but this is never really successful.

: You're probably better off growing it in a pot.

That's what I did with my blueberry bushes. It seems to be working fine.
--
__________
|im |yler http://timtyler.org/

On Sat, 10 May 2003 18:49:55 GMT, dommy
wrote:

I read that too much coffee grounds in a compst heap can make it acidic,
dont know if it will do the same to the soil though

I would think you'd need commercial amounts of coffee grounds (e.g.
from a restaurant) into a small heap to have a big effect. Ordinary
domestic quantities shouldn't make any difference. For that matter,
too much grass doesn't do a compost heap much good either. A good mix
of all sorts works best.

With chalky soil, the pH will remain alkaline as long as there's free
chalk still present, because the chalk acts as a buffer and holds the
pH high until there's no chalk left, i.e. until it's all dissolved by
whatever it is you're adding to acidify it. In really chalky soils,
that would mean dissolving almost all the soil and you'd have no soil
left! However, with soils that are only slightly alkaline but not
actually chalky, it may be possible to lower the pH a little with
compost or whatever to just bring it to the acid side of neutral.


--
Chris

E-mail: christopher[dot]hogg[at]virgin[dot]net