Changing Soil PH without producing (dangerous-to-plants) salts ?

Hello,

I have soil in my yard that is 8+ PH and
I want to lower that PH to about 7 without
generating salts that will damage the tree
I want to plant. The tree is a Bauhinia.
This soil is so alkali that if you pour
a little vinegar on it , it will bubble
like crazy. Can anyone tell me the best
way to acidify my soil to a neutral PH
without generating salts dangerous to plants ?

What I really need is to get input from
a soil scientist but there are no newsgroups
on my server catering to horticulture or
soil science.

Oppenheimer once said a chemist is nothing but
a half baked physicist so that is why I post
here. That, and the fact there is no chemistry
newsgroups on my news server.

--
Sincerely,
gmv
No Emails, Possible Spams.

"gmv" wrote in message
...
Hello,

I have soil in my yard that is 8+ PH and
I want to lower that PH to about 7 without
generating salts that will damage the tree
I want to plant. The tree is a Bauhinia.

It should be good to pH 7.5
http://hort.ifas.ufl.edu/trees/bausppa.pdf

This soil is so alkali that if you pour
a little vinegar on it , it will bubble
like crazy.

Sounds like you live in the desert southwest. Bauhinia does not do well
where hard freezes occur. See figure 2 in the above link.

Can anyone tell me the best
way to acidify my soil to a neutral PH
without generating salts dangerous to plants ?

Try an ammonia-based fertilizer:
http://hubcap.clemson.edu/~blpprt/lowerpH.html
If that fails, try sulfur or alum (aluminum sulfate).

What I really need is to get input from
a soil scientist but there are no newsgroups
on my server catering to horticulture or
soil science.

Oppenheimer once said a chemist is nothing but
a half baked physicist so that is why I post
here. That, and the fact there is no chemistry
newsgroups on my news server.


Tom Davidson
(half-baked)
Richmond, VA

Pine straw... mulch it in and make sure there is water for decay.

Pine straw makes soil acidic. It kills most broadleaf undergrowth.
That's why pine forests tend to be so open.

Stefan


On Mon, 15 Sep 2003 22:41:13 GMT, "gmv"
wrote:

Hello,

I have soil in my yard that is 8+ PH and
I want to lower that PH to about 7 without
generating salts that will damage the tree
I want to plant. The tree is a Bauhinia.
This soil is so alkali that if you pour
a little vinegar on it , it will bubble
like crazy. Can anyone tell me the best
way to acidify my soil to a neutral PH
without generating salts dangerous to plants ?

What I really need is to get input from
a soil scientist but there are no newsgroups
on my server catering to horticulture or
soil science.

Oppenheimer once said a chemist is nothing but
a half baked physicist so that is why I post
here. That, and the fact there is no chemistry
newsgroups on my news server.