Acidifying Soil Help With Purchase

Hey everyone I know your probably looking at the title thinking can you not search but believe me I have spent the last couple of days seeking out the most effective way to lower my soil ph.

OK so I am looking at buying a product which will help me make my soil more acidic and suitable for my plants but looking at the various bottles on eBay I cannot decide which is best to use.

Firstly I would like to ask I am guessing that to lower soil ph you need to water with a solution of a lower PH thus turning it acidic??? Surely you would need to put something into the soil to make and keep the soil more acidic???

Also I keep hearing people saying about the PH of the drain off what is the importance of measuring the run off for PH as surely there will be a big difference between the liquid coming out due to it being diluted. Or is it you are looking for a change compared to the water you put in for example watered with PH 6 water and it come out at PH 4 would mean your soil is more acidic. If someone could explain this it would be great to understand.

Also I am from the UK and looking on eBay for the best long term/fast acting/effective to use to make my soil more acidic and would love some suggestions, I am all good for PH UP as I have a big 3KG box of garden lime.

Thanks in advance

http://hubcap.clemson.edu/~blpprt/bobweb/BOBWEB29.HTM

Using runoff pH to gauge your mediums pH is futile at best. The only sure way to know your mediums pH is by testing the medium itself. Using dolomite lime and worm castings in the mix from the start of the grow will take care of your pH for you the entire grow(average 90-100 day grow)it most cases. Altering your mediums pH during a grow you can top dress with dolomite lime. But this method takes a few weeks to see any reactions take play. Making and feeding a worm casting tea every few weeks during the grow also helps contro pH and keep it in a healthy range for MJ and most container plants...

Are you mixing your own soil or buying soil? If your medium doesn't already have a correctly balanced PH then you need to figure out what part of it is causing the problem so you can either change it or compensate correctly i.e. lime etc. I have never experienced a problem with the PH of the soil as long as the PH of my watering and feeding solution is correct.

Alexander Supertramp said:

http://hubcap.clemson.edu/~blpprt/bobweb/BOBWEB29.HTM

Using runoff pH to gauge your mediums pH is futile at best. The only sure way to know your mediums pH is by testing the medium itself. Using dolomite lime and worm castings in the mix from the start of the grow will take care of your pH for you the entire grow(average 90-100 day grow)it most cases. Altering your mediums pH during a grow you can top dress with dolomite lime. But this method takes a few weeks to see any reactions take play. Making and feeding a worm casting tea every few weeks during the grow also helps contro pH and keep it in a healthy range for MJ and most container plants...

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I took a look at that guide mate and looked for the aluminium sulphate on eBay/Amazon and could not find any in the UK I also know that it is not in the major gardening stores we have, I know you can use sulfur but this takes time and does not increase soil ph as quickly so I am now puzzled as where to turn to next as it appears almost impossible to get these products in the UK???

elemental sulfur

I just managed to find this it looks at though there is a slight spelling difference from UK/USA with these products however this one does not appear to be solely for gardening use so I am unsure of it quality etc any thoughts???

http://www.amazon.co.uk/ALUM-ALUMINIUM-POTASSIUM-SULPHATE-500G/dp/B004E2FC4E/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1341258628&sr=8-5 here is the link I meant to post to show you all.

scroglodyte said:

elemental sulfur

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I just checked both eBay/Amazon for elemental sulfur and found there to be none, would the bottles of ph down containing phosphoric acid do the job for my soil or is this only effective for hydro setups??? It seems to be the one PH down product which is every where in the UK.

If used on soil how long would it take to effect and also how long would it last for etc???

Here is an example of what is available and the only thing by the looks of it

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/HYDROPONICS-LIQUID-pH-DOWN-250ml-PHOSPHORIC-ACID-/270828684105?pt=UK_HomeGarden_Garden_PlantsSeedsBulbs_JN&hash=item3f0ea5c349

across "the pond," eh.............
hmmmm...........hard to believe British gardeners don't use sulfur. ES is to acid what lime is to base.

scroglodyte said:

across "the pond," eh.............
hmmmm...........hard to believe British gardeners don't use sulfur. ES is to acid what lime is to base.

Click to expand...

That link you posted won't ship out the US would of been a nice price after converted to £ lol yeah it appears that there is basically no where to get it from round here. Even perlite is going out of fashion it seems because I went into the biggest gardening store UK wide to be told we are no longer selling it this year I just thought how can you not sell perlite. Even bags of soil don't have the ph written on it proper crazy lol.

Literally the only thing I can find in the UK is make soil more acidic is phosphoric acid but I am unsure on how effective with soil etc

wow........that sucks. sulfur is the ph down of the organic world. i've never used phos. acid, but its in soda pop
can't be bad.

sulfur or aluminium sulphate would of kept me happy something a little unnerving using this when everyone seems to advise totally different methods, it doesn't help finding many people promoting the use of it in soil lol

is there anyone out there that has used phosphoric acid to make soil ph more acidic if so I would love to hear out it worked for you. God why can't I just buy sulfur or ali sulphate over here

are you thinking of just dumping ph down right into the soil?