getting the soil acid,any suggestions

[AndyC]

NBD a bit more info from Metalhammer that I received this morning:

Quote:
Sulphur is a long term way of acidifying soil.Sulphur powder is the quickest method,but sulphur chips last longer as they take a couple of years to breakdown.But you need something like kilo to a square metre to drop from ph6.5 to ph6.

If he is growing acid lovers in alkaline soils,the best way to go is either in pots or build a raised bed that is least 18" above the soil,put a membrane down,then backfill with plenty of peat.

I said I would pass it on.

Di

You can buy Flowers of Sulphur for the garden on Ebay quite cheaply. I've tried it on one corner of my garden but I haven't given it enough time to see what difference it has made yet.

[Chalk Brow]

Pine needles, coffee grounds, leaf litter by making a 1 metre sq cage and collect just leaves a fill and you'll have leaf mould, great stuff for free.

Pine needles do not make any significant difference to soil pH; you would need a very large quantity of coffee grounds (the same goes for tea leaves); and leaf litter will make little difference unless it was collected from tress growing on acid soil.

[Andy Martin]

In my village which is on a hill, at the bottom its alkaline and at the top its neutral/acid sand so when the moles are active in the fields 100 yards above me......

My agaves, yuccas, dasylirions, Scheffleras, Ensete ... in fact everything likes growing in its free draining structure. Long term project though and it keeps me fit
Even longer term which I do also is shred all green waste, compost and dig in.
If you concentrate on a small area at a time you'll get better results.
Of course the ultimate acidifier is Cocoa shells which has a ph reaction of ~5 and worms absolutely love it.