Is Acid Good for Plants?
Most recent answer: 10/22/2007
Q:
Is acid good for plants?
- Kate (age 12)
Cooper, wheeling,IL,U.S.A.
- Kate (age 12)
Cooper, wheeling,IL,U.S.A.
A:
Kate -
I’m afraid that there’s no hard and fast rule here - every plant is different. Each type of plant has a specific soil pH range that it will grow best with. For some plants, this is basic (soil pH above 7.0). For others, it is acidic (soil pH below 7.0).
For example, blueberries do very well with fairly acidic soil. This is why it is very difficult to grow blueberries near limestone cliffs (lime increases soil pH).
But even for these plants, there is always such a thing as too much acid - while a little acid can be good, a lot of acid can be very bad.
-Tamara
I’m afraid that there’s no hard and fast rule here - every plant is different. Each type of plant has a specific soil pH range that it will grow best with. For some plants, this is basic (soil pH above 7.0). For others, it is acidic (soil pH below 7.0).
For example, blueberries do very well with fairly acidic soil. This is why it is very difficult to grow blueberries near limestone cliffs (lime increases soil pH).
But even for these plants, there is always such a thing as too much acid - while a little acid can be good, a lot of acid can be very bad.
-Tamara
(published on 10/22/2007)