[OT] watering with water + lemon juice: it lower or raises the ph?

[huertasurbanas]

Hi, I just planted some blueberries, they say these plants need low PH, 4 or 5



watering with water + lemon juice: lowers or raises the ph?

[CoPlantNut]

Using lemon juice will temporarily reduce (lower) the pH. 

In my experience, lemon juice isn't the best thing to use to lower the pH though; the citric acid it contains does help to lower pH but without another acid to act as a buffer, the soil pH will start to raise again over time.  I personally use a commercially-available (here in the US) mixture of phosphoric and citric acid, which seems to work great-- I just adjust the pH of all my water before watering plants with it.

   Kevin

[fruitlovers]

Low pH is acid, high pH is alkaline. Lemons have citric acid so will lower the pH. You should get a pH meter so you can measure soil pH changes because the change will not be very big, especially after lemon sitting in soil for some time.
For growing berries i suggest instead to mix a lot of pine needles, or coffee grounds, into the soil. I think that may work a lot better. Having a lot of organic matter, like compost, also lowers soil pH.

[FlyingFoxFruits]

citric acid is a natural chelating agent!

I think it could be beneficial if properly applied!

also, just using composted citrus fruits as a top dressing might help.

[Pancrazio]

I really don't know. I guess that may help on the short term, but you have to take in account how the citric acid reacts with soil colloids, and with soil bacteria. Citric acid will get oxidized pretty soon by any bacteria i guess, it is one of the elements of the citric acid cycle, so it will be used to get energy by bacteria.

What i would do to lower the soil ph, is going towards some pH-reducing soil fertilizer. Anything with sulphur in it should work (iron sulphate, for istance) or some acid nitrogen fertilizer.

This should have some effect on potted plants. pH of the garden can't be substantially reduced (unless high pH is due high level of sodium, wich is pretty easy to eliminate, but will leave you with a very high - i'm speaking about 8 - pH that won't be reduced by anything economically viable). pH 4-5 is very low even for soil considered acidic, it's very hard to reac if you aren't starting from an already acid soil.

[huertasurbanas]

Excelente guys, you are the best ever, this forum is fantastic, thanks