#soil ph

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#gardening #homesteading #farming #soilph

[whats-in-a-sentence]

The pH can also affect the availability of substances that plants need for growth (figure 11.8).

"Chemistry" 2e - Blackman, A., Bottle, S., Schmid, S., Mocerino, M., Wille, U.

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Soileon (SOY-lee-awn)

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Ground/Poison

Evolves from TBD

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Tino Carnevale shows how to test the pH of your soil and digs deeper into what it means for your plants. Subscribe 🔔 http://ab.co/GA-subscribe

Healthy plants need healthy soil that can hold and supply the right amount of moisture and nutrients. The pH of soil is the measure of alkalinity or acidity of the soil, or in technical terms, the amount of hydrogen ions present. It can vary depending on where you live or how soil has been managed, and it can affect the type and amount of nutrients plants can access.

Testing Soil pH:

The easiest way to measure your soil pH is to use a pH test kit from your local nursery.

Whilst pH can range from 1 to 14, the kit contains a scale from 2 to 10 which is the range you can find in soil.

Follow the instructions in the kit to collect a soil sample free of rocks and twigs, add the dye and barium powder. The colour will indicate the pH number on the scale.

Testing top tips:

- Test multiple samples from different parts of your garden as the pH can vary

- Wait for dry weather to improve accuracy of results

- Test soil before adding organic matter or minerals

Neutral pH:

A pH close to 7 is ideal for most vegetable gardens as the most important nutrients of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium are readily available for the plants to uptake. If the pH is too acidic or alkaline, your vegies may have yellowing leaves or stunted growth and become more susceptible to diseases.

Acidic pH:

Acid-loving plants like waratahs, rhododendrons, blueberries, and camellias prefer pH to be between 5-6.5. Acidic in this case does not mean a pH of 1 or 2, that would be battery acid! The pH scale is logarithmic, which means that there’s a big difference between each number – a pH of 6 is ten times more acidic than a pH of 7.

To acidify soil, add compost, manure, and mulch.

Alkaline pH:

A pH of 7-8 is perfect for brassicas, garlic, spinach, hibiscus, sweet peas and geraniums. All the major elements plus more calcium and magnesium are available. To make soil more alkaline, add dolomite or garden lime to soil. Clay soils will need more added than sandy soils.

Around the country:

There are general patterns of pH around Australia, based on the type of underlying bedrock, rainfall, and agricultural usage. For example, most of Western Australia’s coastal regions tend towards alkaline soil due to limestone; Tasmania’s east coast is dominated by dolerite clays that forms neutral to acidic pH soils; and two-thirds of Queensland’s soils are acidic due to high rainfall. Generally, dry areas are more alkaline as elements in the soil are more stable. Fifty per cent of our agricultural lands have high acidity due to practices like using ammonia-heavy fertilisers.

Crop rotation can also help with ensuring plants get the nutrients they need, or you could try choosing indigenous plants that are suited to your local soils. Keep an eye out for signs of nutrient deficiencies, test your soil, and amend it if needed. And consider choosing plants that are already suited to your soil type and it’s pH to save yourself time and money in the long run!

Featured Plants:

WARATAH - Telopea sp.

RHODODENDRON - Rhododendron cv.

CYMBIDIUM ORCHID - Cymbidium cv.

CAMELLIA - Camellia cv.

BLUEBERRY - Vaccinium cv.

[gardeningabc]

Soil pH is a measurement of the alkalinity or acidity of the soil.

Soil pH is measured on a scale of 1-14, with 7 as the neutral mark. Anything below 7 is considered acidic, or sour, soil and anything above 7 considered alkaline or sweet, soil.

The pH of soil has a very big role in plant growth and its survival.

Though it is not a nutrient, it controls the availability of the nutrients to the plant. So it does not matter how much nutrient you put into the soil, if it can not get absorbed by the plant it is of no use.

Read more on this here:

Soil pH: A Basic Idea

[scriptflorist]

are there any plants that can grow with ph of 3.5? if it will grow so-so, that's fine as long as it doesn't look about dying.. they need to be indoors as well. my character needs acidic soil for other purposes and wants to put plants in the same soil.

Blueberries and blue flowered hydrangea can take a pH of about 4.0 and Rhododendrons, Lily-of-the-Valley, Mountain Laurel and Azaleas can take pH as far as about 4.5.  But to go as low as 3.5, most plants start having problems with aluminum toxicity, manganese toxicity, hydrogen toxicity as well as deficiencies in magnesium and calcium.

Vetiveria zizanioides, vetiver grass, can tolerate a pH range from 3.0 to 8.0 and Pinus rigida, pitch pine, tolerates from 3.5 to 5.1.  Pitch pine is a tree, so unless your character has a bonsai version, it won’t be living inside, but a dwarf or bonsai pine is a possibility. Vertiver grass can also be grown in window gardens.

~*Mod Den*~

Alternatively, if all your character requires is an opportunity to hide the soil in plain sight, they could opt for a fake plant. A fern of anything else green would likely work best because it’s a little harder to tell the difference in texture for someone untrained here upon touching the plant, although there are plenty blooming plants that come as silk flowers. (Not recommended: orchids because they need a different type of soil.) People have been mistaking silk flowers for real ones since forever for reasons unknown. All your character would have to do would be to acquire a potted silk plant and “plant” it into a larger pot with their acidic soil.

Not everyone will be fooled by their scheme, but if they’re not good at keeping plants alive in the first place they could easily use it an excuse. Saying they want the illusion of it.

- Mod Jana

Disclaimer

This blog is intended as writing advice only. This blog and its mods are not responsible for accidents, injuries or other consequences of using this advice for real world situations or in any way that said advice was not intended.

[uselessgardening-blog]

Spring update and Life update

Spring time has arrived in sunny SoCal (well, it never really left, I suppose) and it’s my favorite time of year to dig in my garden!

First, let’s check up on how we did on “winterizing”

Well, here’s a pictorial overview. This winter was unseasonally cold and wet for a SoCal winter, so I’m extra glad I put down that mulch! When I got into the soil, it was still nice and damp, but a little compact. I am ever concerned about drainage in my clayish soil, so I raked the soil up a bit to aerate it.

With a very wet winter, it is a good idea to check on the pH of your soil.

The pH scale is a useful scale that describe how acidic or basic something is. Everyday acidic things include: vinegar (acetic acid), citrusy fruits, soda water (carbonic acid) with pH values of 4.8, ~4, and ~3 respectively.  Everyday type basic things include baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) and eggs(!!) with pH values of 9 and 8 respectively. 

Many plants like to be around pH 5.5 to 7 (slightly acidic to neutral), with many acid-loving plants such as camellias, gardenias, and azaleas withstanding pH values down to 5. There are fewer plants that like alkaline (another word for basic) pH soils than can tolerate slightly acidic soils. Rather than to once again speak where I know not, I will simply leave the heavy-duty explanation to the Old Farmer’s Almanac.

In any case, the pH of the soil is very important for nutrient intake! Excessive water and freezing/thawing cycles throughout the winter can cause minerals to be washed away, leading to alkaline soils. There are many remedies for this. I like to use a product called pH Up, which has been praised by organic gardeners as a good alternative to the very common dolomite lime. It comes with a test kit, and dilute phosphoric acid, and of course instructions on how much to use in your watering can should you find that your soil is alkaline. Also, it is fairly inexpensive. I am in no way associated with pH Up--I just really like their product!

Take-away point: spring time is a good time to check the pH of your soil, and adjust accordingly.

Here’s my colette! You’ll recall from last time that it was leggy, stressed, and had very poor drainage, and possibly blight! Ay ay ay, what a terrible plant mom I am! But look, we can all recover from even the worst offenses. The foliage is dark green and glossy, and the blooms are to die for!  It’s true what they say: a good haircut is a world of change (someone says that, right?)

Beautiful green leaves...

Yaaaay!

Pull your weeds now! NOW I SAY.

At this time, the young weeds will be the easiest to remove. DO IT. NOW. GO NOW. I’LL WAIT. Oh, I’m still shouting....

I put in some new plants that I saw on my hikes. Specifically, these dainty little mountain yarrow as ground cover.

And this beauty! It looks like ixora to me, but now 100% on that...

All in all, our winterizing procedure paid off. It’s nice to know that there is sunshine (and flowers!) at the end of the tunnel. :)

Other tips for spring:

Put down compost! Unless your compost is soggy...in which case, first fix your compost pile.

clear all the leaves and dead stuff that accumulated over the winter

things to plant now (March-April)--great time to start sowing seeds because the soil is warming up! The list is extensive, but I will name a few of my faves

BEANS

zinnias

daises

marigolds

carrots (harvest in early summer, and can re-sow for an early fall/late summer crop as well!)

cucumbers (and the plant itself is beautiful)

herbs (mint julep, anyone?)

dahlias

nasturiums--definitely check this one out! It’s a slightly odd-looking, but gorgeous plant, and is a gardener’s best friend. They’re easy to grow, perennial without any work at all, and keep bugs away from your precious beans. Pic below

Kinda goofy looking..but who isn’t?

Life update:

Tall person and i are MOVING this sunny paradise for the mountains of Colorado. I am excited, nervous, sad, celebratory, everything at once. And not least because I have never grown things in a) the mountains and b) a Very Cold Dry Place, so this will be an adventure for me and this blog as well. I will be sure to keep you updated with my successes, and inevitable failures. After all, there hasn’t been a lonely plot of soil yet that has resisted my green thumb :)

Onward!

[gardeningabc]

Soil pH is crucial for the success of your gardening. Learn the basic concept of soil pH at http://bit.ly/2b4DSjJ