PH is buffer dependent. It and redox (reduction/oxidation) potential work together, it’s not a single point system. Water at 5 PPM is useless for plant growth purposes is the short answer. Distilled water has near zero buffer ability, it is “just a messenger.” Sourced from stores “Distilled Water” is not to be trusted due to HIGH variability and most is not actually distilled. This is why one needs to adjust the PPM BEFORE adding acidifiers. At 7 PPM the pure water will cause its own reverse osmosis and suck nutrients out of the plant cells.
For Blueberries you have more latitude than for Miracle Fruit and some orchids as far as EC/TDS with the ability to absorb much higher concentrations.
Acid solutions with higher TDS will tend to be more stable and have a broader effect on soil.
Thanks for the link. Not sure I fully followed it.
My tap water has a ton of calcium in it. My shower head has quite a bit of limescale.
If I add sulfuric acid to a high calcium water, does it a neutralize the basic component until it is fully neutralized then start to acidify the water?
Does that water then have more acidic buffering capacity?
or
Does it only have as much acidity as was not neutralized by the starting calcium?
Is the resulting solution more effective at modifying the acidity of soil it is added to?
I found the solution for watering simple, rainwater. Also on paper and in the real world vary. The idea of acidifying water is to not disturb the pH of the soil. As mentioned pH is dynamic, the best way for me to tell what’s going on is to look at the plant. It will tell you everything you need to know. Especially blueberries. I just need a rough measurement of pH as the soil is fairly stable, or buffered if you prefer… As long as the water is between 4.5 and 5.5 you’re good to go I fine tune by measuring plant response, growth rate, firmness, and color. Red for basic green for acid. Not only that but the color violet will look neon when the plant is healthy, some show this color while flowering, the calyx will be a deep violet if all is well. The color of new growth says it all too. It is an art growing plants properly. I enjoy trying to find the best ways to grow various species. I’m always taking on new ones too.
With Blueberries,it probably doesn’t need to be absolutely precise, when irrigating.
The water coming out of my tap,is about 7.2 pH.I use an EZ-FLO,which can be very imprecise,with the plants nearest the tank, getting the strongest dose of whatever is added to it.Never the less, right now, I can’t remember any problems, acidifying them and they look good.
By the way,most are in containers.
Yeah I’m finding the raised beds more forgiving. I agree with what you say. Ultimately what the plant is doing tells you your next move. It’s not rocket science. No need to overthink it. For me , growing
blueberries for some time, my main concern is not too high a pH. I’m worried about too low a pH.
Northern Highbush is more sensitive to ph than Rabbiteye. I’m having problems with the Blueray I purchased last year. It is from ph just over 6. I’ve added azalea fertilizer which is gradually helping.
All well and good for those of us who actually get this mythical thing called rain and have any experience with a given species or a broad range of experience. The rest of us have to make artificial rain water (can U say 21 PPM?) near daily and play a guessing game trying to learn the language of new plants.
Blockquote
The idea of acidifying water is to not disturb the pH of the soil.
Blockquote
Ideally true but OP specifically started this thread due to desire to do just that-modify the PH of soil through acidic water. Other options, best choice for an impatient person? (OP not me)
Blueberries are new for me this year but seem super easy. I have not the gift of your experience and thank you for sharing color health tips. Trying my hand at Southern Highbush attempting to learn lighting requirements in my desert conditions. Do your color observations apply to all cultivars? I have one with notably different color leaves despite same culture. Any tips for signs of too much heat? Sorry @OP for thread hijack.
Growing plants well usually seems to be a mater of understanding what they are trying to tell you, not so easy at times for many of us, particularly for new varieties.
Your last paragraph says it all. Very good! No unfortunately the color thing does not apply to all. Impatience is a death sentence with plants. I waited 30 years for a cactus to flower. So a few years seems like nothing to me. I just put in a shipova tree this year which takes 8 years to fruit.
Start with the right soil for one thing. Then you won’t have to worry about acidifying it. Maintaining acidic soil is easier than creating acidic soil. I use peat and pine bark with some DE the size of perlite. Mulch heavily with pine bark, bigger pieces not fines, but fines will do. The soil is perfect now. As organic matter decomposes you will have to add sulfur.
Southern high bush is probably the hardest to grow. Great fantastic cultivars though.
OP here, I like doing things the most over the top complicated way possible. We will see if anything survives my wrath. By the way what does patience mean?
My blueberries have a few red leaves but I think those are caused by the 33F nights we have been having.
I have decided to leave everything alone for the next week to see what happens. I have heard that there are some plants that grow in the wild with no human intervention whatsoever.
If you live there, yes you’re set. Wild oranges do poorly in Michigan. I’m on the east side of Michigan. The west side used to be an ocean bottom, the climate has changed a touch, but the sandy soil once the calcium from shells leeched out is now very acidic.
And folks think I’m crazy breeding orchids that take 7+ yrs. Didn’t realize 30 yrs was typical for cacti. Sure hope yours was a good one after all that.
Less than 400 chill hours here so… 2 Southmoon, Misty and Sharpblue to start.
The seeds of patience have been sown. (Drew51 effect?)
How could this be possible?
It came to mind early in my growing of orchids that in nature they don’t have tenders come along to satisfy their every need. I have found that much of what is commonly recommended (even from top professional organizations) often doesn’t make a noticeable difference and at times is even flat out wrong.
Some cacti take one year to flower. Some take 100 years. I have never seen a wild blueberry here yet my yard is full of blueberry fruits. To claim because they grow wild elsewhere will grow n your area with no care is BS. What nonsense. Man has done amazing things to plants. No southern highbush grows wild, it is an extremely complex manmade hybrid. You could not be farther away from a wild blueberry. Our strawberries are so huge because we crossed the flavorful but small European strawberries with Chilean tasteless giants to create what we grow now. Sweet corn does not exist in the wild.
I find it ironic comparing wilds to hybrids which would not normally exist in nature as a reason one does not have to care for a plant. Follow that advice and see how little if any fruit you will get.
I like foraging for wild fruits, but decided most are not worth growing if your goal is a decent amount of fruit. I decided not to grow the Maine lowbush because yield is so low. I grow hybrids which have come close to capturing that wild flavor but produce like cultivars. What a day and night difference between cultivated plants and wild ones. Another example is cornus mas fruit. Seedlings are certainly not worth growing for fruit compared to the amazing cultivated varieties out there. I have both and again the difference is day and night. The wild golden currants are going to be removed. They are plain not worth growing for my needs. Flavor of the few berries they produce is nothing special either. I would keep them if they had that to offer, they do not. I am trying another golden wild collected from a different location but I suspect the results will be the same.
Southern highbush is hard to grow as in some areas where conditions meet criteria they still will not grow well. It’s hard and close to impossible to zone push them. Many here gave up on Southerns. Where they will not grow rabbiteye seems to excel even though Southerns have rabbiteye in their lineage. I grow Newberry blackberry that has 35 cultivars in it’s lineage, it has both blackberry and raspberry flavor. An amazing fruit, man should be proud of what we have achieved making wilds taste better and much more productive. I say keep moving forward. Some wilds taste amazing but are best left to breeders to make something better. They are not really practical to grow for fruit. Unless you have unlimited space. Which most do not. Sure you can grow wilds if you wish, I still do but caring and breeding for something better has resulted in fruits one used to only imagine can exist. Our input into fruits has changed and fed the world.
my step daughter asked me why i grew raspberries in my yard when they grew wild in the back field where her and her brother used to pick them? then i gave her a bowl of my autumn brittens. she couldnt believe how big they were and the taste blew her away! now she bugs me for raspberries. man has done a excellent job improving fruits over the millenia. look how far sour cherry and haskaps have come in just 25 yrs. they can be grown in cold regions that werent able to grow fruit in the past.
I like wild raspberries, but you can pick all day and still just have a cup full. I used to forage them every year, but have not the last 2 years. Just too much trouble for little reward. I will again though I’m sure. The wild golden currants were a big disappointment. It is amazing how many more flowers are on The Crandall cultivar, like 3 times more flowers thus fruit. The fruit was very small on the wilds too.
I have 14 dogwood cherry seedlings I used to make a hedge. Which worked out great! I have 2 cultivars elsewhere in the yard. The two cultivars produce more fruit than all 14 seedlings together. Still I like the hedge and you need seedlings to get small plants to shape.
I added some raspberries this year. Heritage because it seems to work all over and is reliable producer. I also added Cascade Delight as Brady finds them his best cultivar for flavor. My Cascade Gold had a few bad years but has seemed to recovered and is going to produce well this year. It’s my favorite yellow, but not that easy to grow. I ordered one raspberry from Indiana Berry and it looks dead, they seem to be getting sloppy. It was a small order, still… A Nova cultivar. So called good for cold climates. If it lives? It looked very bad.
i nuked my thimbleberries and put in 5 himbo tops from nourse with yours in there a few weeks ago. the thimbles barely fruited but were taking over everything. since your recommendation ive read up on them and decided to give them a go. i needed another raspberry like i need a hole in the head but im a sucker for good raspberries. my cascade golds did well over the winter so i should have a decent crop from them and acc eden this summer. my nelson blackberries should give me a nice crop also. all got their first fertilization in early april. you get the dewberries to root yet? mine got a good helping of chick manure also in april. hang on. those things put out some serious canes! im planning to cut back this years primocanes to 10ft to try and get more laterals and fruit. their taste beats any blackberry ive tried. hopefully i can get more of them this year.