"Acid Loving Plant Food" Bad?

i have some bandini acid loving plant food and it doesnt do much good. i evn tried some ph testing on it and it makes the soil VERY acidic. i would go with something else

 

I started using the Miracle-Gro Water soluble Azalea, Camellia and Rody plant food about 2 months ago and it's been working well for me. It's got a high nit. portion (30-10-10). I use it at the indoor rate as stated on the box of 1/2 teaspoon of fert per 1/2 gallon of water. I have an electronic ph meter and it hasn't shown much drop in the ph. So far, It's kept the leaves greener, with no burnt tips.

 

I'm not sure what it is about such ferts that make them good for acid-loving plants. Do they actually turn the soil more acid? Are they somehow maximized to delivery nutes in highly acidic soil? Is it just a marketing gimmick?

To me the real answer is that MJ is not an acid-loving plant so spend a few bucks to get some plant food for tomatoes/vegetables or just general plant food.

 

Hi Toasty,

My reasoning behind these nutes is that it's high in nit. (which MJ loves). Neutral ph is 7.0, but MJ likes ph around 6.3-6.5, depending on your source of the best ph for MJ. My soil is usually about 7 and I've found that this fert hasn't dropped the ph much. But, soil takes a long time to change ph. The reason you want to watch your PH level is that nutes get choaked off from the roots if the ph is way off. That's why some plants can be starved for nutes even though there's tons of it in the soil. So, there is an optimum ph range for MJ. I'm going to keep trying these nutes since I'm having better results with them so far and see how it goes from there.

 

Yeah, I'm the slightest bit familiar with pH, nute lock, etc. ; -) ...

My point is that MJ's preferred pH of 6.3-6.8 or so is not "acid-loving", it probably is better characterized as on the very slightly acidic side of neutral. Azaleas, by contrast, prefer pH around 4.5, now that's acid-loving.

There are a lot of ferts high in N. There has to be some reason that this fert is dubbed "acid-loving." The Miracle-Gro box says it "creates the ideal growing environment for acid-loving plants." That either doesn't matter to MJ or might be harmful, I don't know, but that can't make it better for MJ.

If you use it and it works, great. My preference would still be to shop for a product that is not touting itself as geared for conditions that are known to be not conducive to MJ growth.