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What is the perfect soil ph for plants? The answer to this question is not so simple, but I shall try to simplify this explanation and tell you what is the perfect or the ideal Soil PH for most plants and also 10 organic or natural ways to soil amendment and make your soil acidic or to the desired level.
Let’s begin with a simple explanation. I assume that most of us know What is PH. And for people who want it more simplified, PH is a just a number or a value ranging from 0 to 14. 7 – that’s the middle of the scale is considered Neutral PH and anything below 7 is called Acidic or Sour in laymans terms and Anything above 7 is called Alkaline or Sweet.
Without going into too much depth, we will come straight to the point. What is the Perfect or the Ideal or the desired Soil PH for most plants. How will I measure this and How will I adjust the soil ph to this desired level.
This Value of Ideal soil pH could make a huge difference and really an important step for those looking to grow bountiful gardens. Because most of the nutrient absorption at root level happens at this ph. You may be adding a lot of fertilizers, supplements like micronutrient powders and stuff like that regularly to your plant, but if its not producing good results and you still have anaemic plants, then you should suspect something wrong with the soil PH, either its not favourable to your plant or the plant is unable to adapt to the ph changes.
For most plants, the ideal ph has to be SLIGHTLY ACIDIC, like 6.5 plus or minus 0.2. but this doesn’t mean that plants cannot grow outside this range. Places with lots of vegetation and rain, such as forests, tend to produce acidic soils whereas Dry and arid zones like deserts are more likely to be alkaline.
Well now, How do I test Soil PH at home gardening level? Every hobby gardener must have this handy ph testing tool. This is not at all costly. Actually there are a wide range of soil ph meters including digital meters with varying costs. This one is actually inexpensive and does the job for me. You can purchase this from HERE.
Now, How do I adjust my soil PH if its too Alkaline or even neutral to achieve the ideal PH around 6.5. or a better question is How to make soil more acidic specially for acid loving plants. You can checkout my video on the list of acid loving plants.
Here are the top 10 natural ways to make your soil acidic if its alkaline and vice versa.
- First and foremost is the Rain Water: If it’s a rainy season and if soil is neutral or alkaline, you need not do any thing. Just check the soil PH after rains. Rain makes the soil acidic naturally.
- Good Compost in your soil: This is the basic requirement. Atleast 20 to 30 percent of your soil or potting mix should have a well decomposed manure like cowdung or horse dung or leaf compost or vermicompost. This itself is actually sufficient to make your soil have that desired perfect PH value. If you add compost to your soil now, you need to wait for atleast a month or two to see the ph change effect because this is a gradual process.
- Vinegar: White Vinegar about 1 teaspoon per liter or water can be used to make the soil ph drop, like watering with this solution thoroughly once a month or so. Its always better to check the soil ph before and after application.
- Coffee ground or even Tea waste: The tannic acid present in this will lower the ph of your soil slightly. You can watch a separate video on this topic HERE.
- Lemon Juice: Some even recommend adding 1 -2 teaspoons of lemon juice per liter of water and watering with this solution once in a month.
- Shredded Pine barks or any evergreen barks if available can be used to mulch on the top soil to make your soil acidic.
- Sphagnum Peat Moss is another remedy to lower soil ph. You can see my separate video on this topic HERE.
- Alum : chemically called Potassium Aluminum Sulfate is a compound commonly used in water purification. This is available in powder or in crystal form. You can powder the crystals and use about 5 – 10 gms per liter of water and water your plants monthly once. You can watch a separate video on Alum in Gardening for more details.
- Chemical or commercial products containing elemental sulfur can also be used to lower soil ph.
- If your soil is too acidic and you may want to raise the soil ph, then you can use wood ash as a natural remedy for this job. You can watch a detailed video on this topic HERE.
