soil acidifier?

[#1Phan]

i checked the ph of my soil today and it seemed a little high, (7-8). does anybody have a suggestion as to what i should use to bring the ph down a little bit. ( i may have added a bit to much garden lime)

[papayatwins]

You and I have the same problem. My pH is about 7.5 and my plants are starting to show it right at the end of veg.

for the record, I've been working on this problem for about a week and still am, so I'm no expert but maybe I can save you a few steps.
Here's what I've tried and what others suggested for me.

Vinegar: I flushed my plant thats in a 5 gallon container with 10 gallons of water with vinegar added to it. I flushed only one plant and unfortunately it didn't make it. 2 days later it died. Some say that vinegar damages the roots, so maybe that's what happened. Also, I've been reading that if you bring the ph down too quickly, the plant can go into root shock. Be careful, so have to do this patiently and gradually.

Lemon juice: I used this on all 11 of my plants and it seems to be working. I squeezed about 1 tbsp worth into one gallon and tested the water. When it came down from 7.5 to 6.3 I gave the plants a modest/moderate watering. They are responding ok, but the bottom leaves are still yellowing and dropping, but not at an alarming rate. There is still work to be done, and if I were to keep going with the lemon idea, I would just add it to the water at every watering.

The best recommendation I've been given is to go to the pet store and buy some pH down, like the kind used in aquariums. It costs $7.50 and I've already spent more than that on vinegar, since you need to use so much more of it.

As far as flushing goes, I'm a little traumatized by the whole thing and feel like too many things can (and did) go wrong so I don't think I'll try that again unless I have to.

Putting some peat moss around the stem on top of the soil can make your soil more acidic as well and I've seen it suggested but haven't tried it. My orchids grow in peat moss and coconut bark and they love it.

If all else fails, I suppose you could replant into some fresh soil and make sure to adjust the pH of the water you're feeding your gals before it goes into the soil.

Hope that helps at least a little. Happy growing!