当你想到“酸”这个词时,首先映入脑海的是什么画面?也许是柠檬、醋和胃不舒服的景象——但我大胆猜测,一堆泥土并没有加入他们的行列。
If you’re hoping to grow a bumper crop of blueberries or potatoes, soil acidity and learning how to make soil acidic should become something you’re thinking about more often.
On land that is alkaline to a fault (something more common west of the Mississippi), you may find your plants just don’t thrive as they should. Many garden plants, especially popular ones like tomatoes, squash, blueberries, and potatoes, prefer slightly acidic soil.
pH值在6.5到7之间是理想的,可以让必需的营养物质慢慢溶解并被利用。许多装饰性植物和花卉,如绣球花和杜鹃花,甚至更喜欢它,喜欢酸性高达5.5 pH值的土壤。苹果树在pH值为5时生长良好。
Now, before you go about trying to change the chemical nature of your soil, always take some time to understand what you’re working with first. For background, check out Insteading’s article onwhat soil pH is以及为什么它很重要。然后,从你想改变的地方取一些土壤样本。一个简单的pH值测试,通常可以在任何花园商店买到,很容易在网上订购,就会给你答案。
So let’s say that you’ve done your tests, and you’ve found that your specific garden plot is just too alkaline for your future plans and plants. Don’t give up hope — gardeners throughout time have found lots of ways to work with the soil and gradually change the pH to be more acidic and better-suited to their needs.
Related Post:Soil Testing
请记住,勇敢的土壤化学家们,使碱性土壤变得更酸比中和酸性土壤更难一点,但如果你准备好迎接挑战,这篇文章可以帮助你。
Let’s get into some methods and ideas for how to make soil acidic in your garden plot.
Adding Sulfur or Ammonium Sulfate
Conventional gardening literature often recommends adding sulfur to the soil as a means of acidifying it. I’m including this in the article because it is a common way to affect your soil’s pH, but I don’t like it, and itdoesn’t come with my hearty recommendation.
A successful and productive garden is possible for anyone with a bit of land, regardless of income and available outside resources. While you can spend money at a garden center for dangerous-to-store, mystery stuff in a throwaway plastic bag to achieve your garden goals, you certainly don’t have to. This is not the only option, as we’ll read later in this article.
When messing around with any chemical additive, read the instructions and do your research before casting random amounts on your garden plot — you certainly wouldn’t want to end up doing more harm than good.
The amount of sulfur that’s appropriate to add also depends on your soil type.Burpee’s advice for lowering pHone unit is as follows.
- Sandy Loam: 10 pounds of sulfur per 1,000 square feet
- Loam soil: 13 pounds per 1,000 square feet
- Clay Soil: 20 pounds per 1,000 square feet
Older or less researched resources may recommend spreading materials like aluminum sulfate as a slow-release source of acidity. Anyone with any knowledge of chemistry and biology should immediately feel on edge with this recommendation asaluminum is toxicto plants, animals, and people, and is easily leached into groundwater. Don’t favor short-term results at the cost of long-term harm. Regardless of what you hear,do your researchand avoid spreading this stuff at all costs, please
Ammonium sulfateis sometimes recommended as a safer alternative to aluminum sulfate but again, read directions carefully and err on the side of using too little, rather than too much. It can still burn plants with over-acidified soil if misapplied.
我的建议吗?不要把你的花园变成化学实验室。这些材料粗糙、肮脏,有时弊大于利。自然的设计不会使用这些捷径。在森林、田野或湿地中,不同的pH值水平是由你可以学习和模仿的自然过程产生的。
Let’s get into safer, gentler means of soil amendment.
Peat Moss
你会经常看到泥炭藓被列为一种有机的、自然的酸化土壤的手段。泥炭苔藓是泥炭植物的自然堆肥残留物,这些植物在泥炭沼泽的海绵状酸性环境中积累了数千年。泥炭苔藓的酸度从2.8到4不等,当用作覆盖物或修正物时,它会自然地降低土壤的pH值。
While this natural material is both nontoxic and organic, what the label doesn’t tell you is that it is also afinite resource that needs to be mined.Something that took years to create can’t be immediately replenished after being scraped away from a wetland — no matterwhat claims the bag label makes.
Additionally, the wetlands that created the peat in the first place suffer greatly in loss of biodiversity as the complex, delicate balance they held is totally disrupted by the mechanized removal of peat, however carefully it is done.
Related Post:The Scoop on Organic Fertilizer: Is It Right for Your Garden?
You canresearch moreon this if you’re interested. It’s a complicated subject, withstrong opinions在谈判桌上的双方。但这是作者的观点,如果你可以用自家后院好的、免费的东西来创造土壤的酸度(我们将在下面详细说明),为什么你需要从遥远的湿地用卡车运来的材料来达到同样的效果?
The big bag companies won’t make any money off your assumed trust in their product, and at the end of the day, you’ll be a little bit more sustainable in a real way.
你能用醋使土壤酸化吗?
I’ve been asked if there are quick fixes to acidify soil, such as spritzing it with vinegar. It seems a logical idea, I guess if you’re only looking at pH numbers, but this mentality is shortsighted. There really is no shortcut to good soil.
Vinegar might change the pH for a moment, but it will wash out almost immediately with the next rain, and the sudden shock to your plants won’t do them any good in the meantime.
The truth is, trying to hijack your soil with a hack like this is like taking a vitamin in lieu of a good diet. Truly changing the pH of your garden in a healthy, long-term way takes time and work, but the results are worth it.
Coffee Grounds
Now we’re getting on the right track. By that I mean, now we’re talking both organic material and no need for excessive packaging.Coffee groundswill add to the organic component of your soil, but don’t actually change the pH in any long-term way.
Studies done on the effects of coffee grounds in the garden show theytemporarily contribute to the acidity of the soilwhen applied directly to a certain spot, but the effect wears off. Including coffee grounds in your composting menu is always a good choice, however, and it will certainly add to the soil and keep that good stuff out of needlessly sitting in landfills.
It’s a good ingredient on your journey to souring the soil, but as far as I know, it won’t give you the long-term soil acidity that you need for permanent change.
Leaf Mold
You might be thinking, sheesh, lady! What WOULD you recommend, then? Well, as an organic, off-grid gardener, I always hope to give my biggest recommendations to materials that are locally sourced, easy to obtain with a bit of your own elbow grease, and not dependent on things outside your control.
幸运的是,可以温和彻底酸化土壤的天然材料很容易找到。这个过程需要时间,就像任何建造土壤的努力一样,但这些材料将通过持久的影响2022世界杯四强亚盘赔率和真正的改变来建造土壤。
Leaf mold is a great place to start, particularly if you have access to oak trees. Oak leaves, in particular, are excellent for adding a bit of acidity to the soil, and you’ll get a fresh batch of ingredients every fall.
Leaf mold is eveneasier than compost——只要你能找到多少树叶就把它们堆在堆肥箱或旧铁丝围栏里,把它们弄湿,静置两年左右。
Your tiny-scale model of a forest floor will get chewed up by bugs, worms, bacteria, and fungi, and transformed into a wonderfully crumbly, light-to the touch, brown material that is excellent for mulching around your plants, or layering on the garden between plantings. Its effect won’t be immediate, but over time, it will build up the soil and adjust the pH as it does.
Pine Needles
Pine needles are also another good material to use as mulch. You may have noticed that different plants grow in pine-dominated forests than in other hardwood forests, or that you can’t grow the same plants by your pine trees as in your mailbox garden.
这种差异是因为几十年来掉落的松针改变了常青树下土壤的pH值和成分。从松树下收集好的材料,为你未来的酸化花园带来这种效果。
Wood Chips
If you have access to wood chips (or havesigned up for a free motherload of themfrom ChipDrop), they can also be employed in your arsenal of natural materials for changing the soil. You may have read warnings in gardening books about using wood chips and sawdust in the garden because they contain acids that affect the soil. In this case, we can obviously use that to our advantage.
You should keep in mind, however, that these materials can remove nitrogen from the soil as they decompose. Pairing them with a hearty dose of compost may be the best route for keeping your soil nourished while it undergoes its pHersonality change.
I know that these three ideas are slow going, but when it comes to building up great soil, the time invested is worth it. Though it may take a few years for your garden plots to really come into their own, adjusting the soil naturally will make for healthier plants and healthier land in the long run.
This winter is a great time to start applying the soil-builders you need to enhance the garden. They’ll slowly break down through the cold months, and get your plot ready for your best gardening season yet.
菲尔。says
缓慢的方法是伟大的,但我有三个大的蓝莓植物在路上,需要尽快酸化种植区域。
Yes, planning ahead would have been better but I’m beyond that now. I doubt I’ll receive an answer but you never know.
Thanks.
Kane Jamisonsays
Hey Phil,
You can try diluted vinegar as a short term solution and treat the plants frequently, but it’s hard to guess how much you need and as Wren points out, it may not stick.
I would focus on two things:
1 -当你种植灌木时,你还可以根据洞的大小移除5-10加仑现有的土壤,并将其与酸性盆栽土壤混合,以“启动”当前土壤的酸性。
2 – Getting blueberry specific fertilizer and treating regularly through the first couple of seasons.
菲尔。says
谢谢你!大多数博主从不回复。
我会试试你的建议。
Robert Getersays
the title says…….3 ways…….Exactly what are the 3 ways, you wrote about a lot of things but were never true to the title in giving the reader what you promised……..Im still waiting to find the 3 ways.
WBsays
橡树叶,松针和木片。
Teresa Hotellsays
Robert she did tell us 3 ways, leaf mold, pine needles wood chip and sawdust but I add of course not from treated wood
Patriciasays
I am having great success with huge rhubarb plants this season. However, the stalks are only turning red at the base. Otherwise they are very healthy. Do I need to wait another season for a useable harvest? My soil is alkaline in a raised garden bed in Southern California.
Jim Blacksays
There is green and red rhubarb. Perhaps you have the green, which still has rose coloring. Both are excellent if given enough water and decomposed manure. The red imparts a nicer color for sauces and pies, but I can’t tell the difference in flavor. (There is no better pie than rhubarb custard.)