How can I increase acidity in soil?

[crichmond]

Hi All

I want to increase the acidity in one of my raised beds but dont know how other than maybe water with ph down but this isnt ideal so can I add something to increase it.

Reason I added too much mushroom compost.

[Capsid]

It's difficult to do, but the soil will tend to become acid with time. So perhaps put it down to experience this time and grow brassicas this year. Next year it will probably be neutral again.

[Paulottie]

Add Pine needles and/or bracken leafmould, peat and chicken guano.

[tootles]

Do pine needles actually make the soil more acidic??

I remember reading a very interesting article which reckoned that the soil around pines wasn't acidic because of the pines, rather, the pines just grew there because it was already acidic.

I would be tempted to try a spot of vinegar in the watering can.?.

[Alice]

I think you have a point there Tootles. In my last garden we had lots of pines and needles. I was surprised to discover the soil there was no more acidic than anywhere else in the garden.

[stupot]

Lemon or any citrus peal. Also onion pealing are acidic. I think the best option would be to add chicken manure, as Paulottie said chicken manure is acidic.

[Snadger]

Oh dear........I recently fell into the chicken manure trap! Apparently it's actually ALKALINE!

Apart from the obvious like peat, forest bark, vinegar, lemons etc the usual way to lower ph is by using fertilisers.

Ammonium Sulphate
Ammonium nitrate
Urea
Sulphur coated Urea
Diammonium Phosphate
Flowers of Sulphur
Aluminium sulphate

I don't know about you crichmond but i don't like adding inorganic chemicals to the land and would may be as has been suggested...live with it?

I just wonder WHAT you intend growing in the beds and whether you've actually done a soil Ph test to confirm the alkalinity of the enriched soil?

I would think that unless you already have very alkaline soil before adding the spent mushroom compost, the advantages of the organic matter in the soil would outweigh the acidity/alkalinity levels!

As a last resort you could of course flood the beds as lime is very fluid within the soil profile and will wash away......eventually!

[Two_Sheds]

I think the best option would be to add chicken manure, as Paulottie said chicken manure is acidic.

As Snadger says, chicken poop is alkaline. It is nearly as effective as lime at reducing acidity.

There are about 130,000 hectares of land in South Africa that have been under black wattle plantation for a long time and whose soils have become more acidic ...
(A) study investigated the effectiveness of lime & chicken manure ...to ameliorate the soil acidity. Lime and chicken manure were applied ...
It was concluded that (chicken manure has) the potential to be used as liming material .

The effectiveness of lime, chicken manure and leaf litter ash in ameliorating acidity in a soil previously under black wattle (Acacia mearnsii) plantation

[Edwardo82]

That is very interesting about Chicken Poop, but I wonder if it still breaks down the clay in the soil like Lime.

My next door neighbour has chickens, and has offered me some a couple of times now.

My soil is 7.5 so I am not overly keen on adding any Chicken poo now I have read this.

Thanks for the lesson of the day!

[Demeter]

You could just wee on it a lot?

[stupot]

Demeter .. I thought it but didn't write it :-) From my A level chemistry I thought ammonia and nitrates were alkaline as well? Probably the reason that chicken manure is alkaline no? Any chemists in the house?

[Snadger]

You could just wee on it a lot?

Mmmmmmmm! Possibly! Here's some interesting reading!

Urine pH

[Nicos]

Used coffee grains - get a pile of them from Starbucks and elsewhere!!!

[Capsid]

I asked at Starbucks recently why they hadn't been giving their coffee grounds away and the response was that they don't do it during the winter. Don't they know how long compost takes to make?

[crichmond]

Thinking I may buy some sulphur as it is used to increase acidity according to the rhs website, but another option maybe to add ericacious compost but I am not sure if that will increase the acidity enough.

Its my fault anyway I built a new raised bed to put my strawbs in and didnt realise that they didnt like alkaline soil (well actually I didnt realise that mushroom compost was alkaline so I chucked loads in to raise the soil level)