Organic Craig, I'm going to come to Harvestman's defense here, not because he needs me to, but because I agree with him. You seem to be new to this forum, but myths like coffee grounds and pine needles lowering pH continue to come up on fruit forums, so when someone like Hman who, like myself, has read forums and publications intensively for some years, points out that it is a myth, it's not based on a cavalier comment, but based on past discussions (sometimes fairly indepth). On the Nafex forum, pine needles and coffee grounds have been discussed extensively. The consensus (based on research and experience) seems to be that pine needles don't significantly lower pH, even after decomposing. Rather, the soil is already somewhat acidic, which is favorable for some pine species. As far as coffee grounds, most of the acid is leached out in the coffee, and the grounds have no more acidifying affect than than any other organic material that breaks down. In other words, it's negligible. I also enjoy trying to help people (that's why I frequently respond to newbies common questions, despite that I'm repeating the same information over and over). It's rewarding to help new people get started in fruit crops. But when a regular and experienced poster has a different view, I suggest addressing the difference seriously, instead of resorting to name calling. As an arm-chair approach, here is a link that discusses the effect of pine needles on soil pH: Here is a link that might be useful: Do Pine Needles Make Soil Acidic?

I was mainly curious to see if anyone else has been trying things like this. It seems the world of house plants is often very conventional. People don't like trying new things because they often don't understand why their old approach worked in the first place. I don't think I'll be pumping hydroponic nutrients into every plant I grow, but it has been interesting to grow plants like this. The apartment plant enthusiast is frequently dealt a bad hand, and I'm curious what can be done to mitigate that. I'm not interested in luck. regards, -max

I'm a grad school trained Biochemist w Botany (physiology) minor. Mostly worked with mycology lignocellose biodegraders and bioremediation R&D, including some work with biodegradable plastics. Worked quite a bit with shiitake mushroom cultivation and enzymes and biological pulping of wood too. My passion since 12 yr old was growing plants. Mostly indoor orchids. Over last 16 yrs worked to get outdoor gardens at home lush enough to make them feel lush and maybe a little tropical. We live on a circle, which limits the front yard size. These are a couple photos of the front yard design going in last summer. With so many deciduous bushes there I have a lot of spring bulbs. Crocus, Hyacinth (50!), small yellow and large Mt Hood daffodil, Poet's Narcissis, Muscaria. Along the other side of the walkway are highly fragrant Sarcococca coning into bloom now. In summer the hydrangea will fill on and just touch eack other. The tree rose at 5' now is a nearly thornless 'Zephirine Drouhin'. An heirloom of that's still popular, it's a quintessential 'Old Bourbon' fragrance class rose. It runs 20 - 30'. So, I'm going to run it up the front house corner and also over the front porch. Late fall 2016 plant design staging in the back yard. Much installed just before first freeze. Japanese Iris Bog is behind the canna on right. Yes, this is the same area above with Canna 'Tropicanna'. On left of walkway are rainbow of German Bearded Iris (not in bog) and modern warm colored Echinacea and Red Hot Poker varieties. Japanee Iris, Peruvian Daffodil and Colocasia 'Diamond Head' stage for planting. Now much is planted. This is the Japanese Iris Bog (connected to Giant Gunnera bog water pit, but not the fidh pond). Late season with cold nights just before frost makes it look rundown. Some of the varieties installed here are below. They are sorted in the yard by increasing height but are random by color. The goal is a mind boggling changing landscape of color. There a other places in the yard with banks of color, such as a fragrant moongarden, where my wife likes to hammock bask in the summer evenings. There's some nocturnal fragrance magicians there such as Brugmansia 'Little Angel, Nicotiana 'Fragrant Cloud, Night Phox 'Midnight Candy', 4 O'clocks and Evening Stock. As you walk there or the wind changes direction, one detects new scents. During the day the Echinacea and Oriental Lilies are quite fragrant too across the yard. Then we have Hydrangea with cool blue, white, purple, pink and red colors all around the yard and gazebo edges. Lacking warm yellows and oranges, they contrast with the perennials.

It was distilled water, which I think is the cause. With normal tap water and the same concentration of Foliage Pro, pH goes from about 7.6 to 6.8 after addition of fertilizer. Vinegar actually has a very similar affect with the same distilled water, 1/4 teaspoon of 5% distilled white vinegar in 1 gallon of water dropped ph from 7.0 to 5.1. Yesterday I found a local aquarium shop that sells Reverse Osmosis / Deionized water (i measured at 0ppm TDS / pH 7.0 prior to adding anything), and with a gallon of that water pH goes from 7.0 to 5.5 with 1/4 teaspoon/gallon foliage pro. I read a bunch and I guess this is somewhat normal, water with no or very few ions has no buffer and so fertilizer can change ph drastically, depending on exact formulation of fert. Some people recommend mixing a little tapwater into distilled to add a little buffer. Whitcomb in article at top of this post said "On the other hand, if the focus is on proper nutrient levels, pH of most container growth media typically falls in the ideal range of 4.5 to 5.5.". Whole point of the article is that pH of media (not irrigation) can be used as in indication of nutrient buildup in the soil, but monitoring irrigation pH isn't useful. But, 4.9 seemed really low to me so thought I'd post. I guess I could find a way to try measuring media pH, but, I will watch my plants for now instead.