What to do with Alkaline soil

Hi everyone,

Bought a soil test kit the other day, and had a go with it today, test came back as alkaline, ph8 which was the highest on the scale.

Now there are already plants in the garden, and 2 fruit trees and a grape vine. The grape vine did show symptoms of alkaline soil in the summer (yellowing leaves), so put some iron sulphate on it and this seemed to work.

Should I be overly concerned about the alkalinity of my soil?

I have found several potential solutions:

Powdered Sulphur
Sulphate of Ammonia

Which would you recommend putting on with their being plants already in? Don't want to upset the balance too fast.

Im thinking the sulphate of ammonia may be best as its not as acidic.

 

Mike - a pH of 8 is pretty alkaline. But have you tested it in several places. You don't want to be mislead by a single rogue result. Assuming that the reading is true - what are other people's gardens like round you - are they all suffering or do they look happy?

Whilst there are things you can do, a garden is a very large area. I would be inclined not to fight nature, but to go with it. Find out what plants like it alkaline and cultivate these. You could always grow acid loving plants in a pot.

 

I agree with Peter, you cant change the PH of a whole garden.

If its alkaline there is probably a reason, maybe your garden is on chalk?

Sulphur works in a limited space but you need to keep applying it, Sulphate of Ammonia as far as I know is high in nitrogen, and is more often used as a fertilizer.

 

Leaves from tress are acidic when broke down. See if you can get some chopped up and just put it on top of your soil, the natural rain/snow will break them down further for next year.

 

I know my mum always says she can't grow things, and she lives over the road from us but she has got a garden full of plants as have many other people on the street.

Our soil has a high clay content, but not sure what that would do to the PH.

Took the reading from a part of the garden where I am hoping to grow vegetables, so there is a lot of compost and chicken manure pellets all mixed in, did it a few months ago so its not something I've just done and still its PH 8.

Will have to take a few readings around the garden to see if its just that area or whether other parts of the garden are the same.

 

Mike - just did a quick Google and this was the first site - there must be loads more
http://www.demesne.info/Garden-Help/Solutions/Soil/Alkaline-Soils.htm

 

Some clays are alkaline, I suppose they are formed from ground up alkaline rock such as lime. I have a private allotment just over the border in Cheshire from here and I suspect it is alkaline clay - in that area the clay was used as marl to improve the acidic sands. i have not done a pH but i suspect it because many of the potatoes I grew this year had very bad scab - so next year I will tend to grow varieties that are less inclined to scab such as Sante and bed the tubers in a layer of compost or manure.
The brassica family - cabbages and brussels sprouts have done very well and they like lime. Most vegetables like lime. Those that are not keen such as marrows, squash etc I would dig a hole, fill with well rotted manure or compost, put a bit of soil on top and plant on top of the little mound formed.
Peas, beans and onions should do well.

 

Maybe its not all bad then. I do still have the issue of the 3 bits I already have planted, an apple tree, nectarine tree and a grape vine.

I guess these can just be treated on a yearly basis? The house next door to me has a fairly large apple tree, so I can't see an issue with growing that.

Not sure about the nectarine, but I know the grape vine needs a bit more acidity...

How about in the spring giving it a dose of Sulphate of Ammonia, the powdered sulphur is way too expensive, that way it gets fertiliser and acid in one??

BTW, to put you in the picture I live in South Yorkshire, not sure if this area has any reputation for its soil?

 

Acid rain should be just right for you then. :D

 

Did a few more tests around the garden, one near to the grape vine which requires more acidity and another in the veg patch.

The one near the grape vine actually came back as slightly acidic (yellow colour showed up), so that is ideal, and may be down to the fact that I gave it a tonic earlier on this year as I noticed the leaves were yellowing.

The veg patch again showed up green, but it was closer to neutral this time. So perhaps that first reading wasn't very accurate.

Think I will use some sulphate of ammonia in early spring on the veg patch to further neutralise the alkaline soil, but will leave the other soil as it is, and just give the grape vine a shot of tonic should it start yellowing again.

Not so bad after all!

 

Mike - I think you have variable results. It might be worth getting one of those little electronic meters, so that you can take loads and loads of readings. Though I don't know how reliable they are. I have one myself - but everything comes out neutral.

Just check about the veg patch. I don't grow any veg - but geoffhandley said - most veg like it alkaline.

 

I would not bother with the sulphate of ammonia, it does not last long. The only use for it is to give a quick boost of nitrogen, say to spring cabbage.
If you want to make things more suitable for stuff that likes acidity, such as raspberries, conifer leaves are quite good, pine needles if you can get them. I think trimmings from a conifer hedge might have a similar effect. I used them as a mulch over raspberries.
If you put manure on your plot every year then that will make it more acidic gradually. On most soils the procedure is to apply manure and lime to the vegetable plot most years. in your case just miss out on the lime. pH 8 is not that high cause it is only Calcium which is an essential nutrient. Go higher and it is a worry cause it would mean sodium which is toxic to most plants, but you would only get that in either a salt marsh or a desert.