I’m super low. Just below 5. I want to say 4.7. So it needs attending to.
I really don’t know. I wonder if some type off liquid lime would get into the root zone sooner?
Are your fruit trees growing at 4.7?
Surprisingly they are. I’m sure they are not happy with it but life finds a way and all. I always knew our soil was acidic but I expected upper 5s at most. I think I will core in the spring before I lime just to open things up a bit and get a portion a bit closer to the target zone. I can’t think of a better way to move forward than that.
Looked at the reading. 4.87. Still less than ideal.
Sounds like the perfect PH for Blueberries.
I can’t think of a better way to get the lime a little deeper to start.
Powered lime is a lot finer than agricultural lime and goes to work faster and moves through the soil quicker too. I’m not sure about the size of the particles in pelletized lime but it spreads a lot easier.
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Time is going to be my best recourse. I put down a bag of lime yesterday just to give it some time to react and get it down before a projected period of rain. I don’t think that I will get coring done before the spring though I think that would help.
How often do you need to reapply to keep yours in a good range?
I have a few blueberries going but I neglect them a bit and they are in a less than ideal spot. I’ve never grown a fondness for the fruit though my daughters are fan so a few bushes are warranted. The ducks and chickens know of them and try their best to get to any fruit before we do.
It took several years to get the PH high enough to make the fruit trees happy.
We have not checked it recently but we probably should.
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I’m going to have to deal with 5.4 PH in my peach tree row. The row is along an old cattle fence row that led to a cattle barn. At the top of the hill the soil PH is 5.7. At the bottom of the hill by once was corner post the PH is 5.4 and in the middle was the cattle run, that led to the barn the PH is 6.3.
It’s interesting to note that the cattle run has limestone starting about 4 inches down and the peach trees are thriving in that layer of rock. I think I could stand to raise the PH a little less than 1 point and leave the 6.3 alone. Soil is mainly clay loom with a lot of composted organic matter on top.
I think I’m going to use baking soda to raise the soil PH in the short term (1 Tablespoon per 1 gallon of water) then use a drop spreader to spread lime within the row and probably about 10 foot on ether side of the row also. I’m going to test baking soda / water mix on a pot full of soil first though.
Link —> How to Organically Raise pH in Soil | Kellogg Garden Organics™
Just an FYI…
My unofficial baking soda PH meter test.
I mixed 2 tablespoons of baking soda to one gallon of water and poured into a pot of soil that measured a PH of 6.0 prior at normal wetness according to the meter.
I let this set over night.
I checked the soil PH in the pot again this morning at normal wetness as per the meter. The soil PH was 6.6. I probed in 4 locations, same reading 6.6 at normal wetness probe depth.
So Unofficially I want to think baking soda does raise the soil PH.
It would be interesting to do this test in a controlled laboratory environment, to verify my unofficial results.
Why waste your money with sodium bicarbonate? As your reference says it’s not permanent and adding sodium to your soil isn’t a good idea. Your pH levels aren’t that low. Spread the limestone and give it a year or two to do its thing. Want “organic”, there are not many soil amendments more natural than limestone.
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If you are looking for quick release use hydrated lime, or even firewood ashes. If you can incorporate it into the soil, all the better, even if shallowly. The tree will find what it needs, and roots pull the nutrients from wherever they are available, so the pH needn’t be homogenous. If the lime isn’t incorporated beyond the first couple inches, mulch will help.
The literature often says otherwise, but having adequate calcium and other nutrients unavailable in acidic soil deeper down is only a problem once the top few inches dry out and are no longer accessible to feeder roots. On the other end of the spectrum, blueberries can get the iron they need even if only the top few inches of soil are acidic. They also can if the very topsoil is near neutral and a few inches down it becomes acidic.
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Best I remember Bone Meal has a PH around 12. Used as a fertilizer it should also raise your soil PH. That only works if your soil is a bit on the acidic side (which you have). It is not a quick thing, slow release, last months.
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From wikipedia
Bone meal provides phosphorus and calcium to plants, along with a largely inconsequential amount of nitrogen. The [N-P-K] rating of bone meal is typically 3-15-0 along with a calcium content of around 12% (18% CaO equiv.) although it can vary quite a bit depending on the source from 1-13-0 to 3-22-0.
As bone meal is water-insoluble, it needs to be broken down before the plant can absorb it, either by soil acidity or by microbial activity producing acids. According to the [Colorado State University] it can only be broken down in [acidic soil] (pH < 7.0) and releases its nutrients over a span of 1 to 4 months
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5.5 works well for RabbitEye blueberries - that is about the norm for my soil test.
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