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tinamcg_gw

Soil pH amendment question

tinamcg
17 years ago

I'm in the Chicago area where we have naturally neutral to alkaline soil which is helped along by acid rain. We got very little rain last year, and most of the water my hydrangeas got was well water -- pretty high calcium content. I am trying to lower the pH of the soil where I have hydrangeas, bog andromedas and chelones. It's a pretty slow process.

The bed has been heavily amended with peat, compost and I add aluminum sulphate about once a year. I'm afraid of overdoing the aluminum. The ES in that bed is sporting some gorgeous, huge, deep pink blooms and the whole plant is magnificent. Only one bloom is tinged with blue and the pH is hovering around 6.5. I would love the blooms on this ES to be lilac colored or blue.

My question is, how long do I need to wait before adding anything else to lower the pH even more? I adderd aluminum sulphate about two months ago, and I dug in more peat because the root system had grown since last year.

I figuerd I'd ask here rather than the soil forum because soil pH is a concern for hydrangea growers. Thanks.

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