Continuing the discussion from When to add Nitrogen?:
[quote=“alan, post:9, topic:613”]
Irrigation water is often alkaline
[/quote]Yeah, well water is usually alkaline. However, CO2 dissolves in water exposed to air and creates carbonic acid. That is why distilled water is slightly acidic. In theory, irrigation with well water by sprinkler should make the water more acid than drip lines, but I’ve often wondered how much of a difference it actually is.
I worked at a trout hatchery one summer when I was younger. They ran their spring water through a simple aerator made from black corrugated drain pipe filled with bio-balls. It released some gasses into the atmosphere while dissolving both oxygen and carbon dioxide into the water. It might a be useful practice to lower the ph of irrigation water as well.