How to find out the acidity of the soil at home: methods and means
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PEOPLE'S MEANS 100% CORRECTLY ALLOWING TO DETERMINE THE SOIL ACIDITY
Usually, alkaline (pH - above y), neutral (pH - 6-7) and acidic (pH - below 6) soils are distinguished by type of acidity.
Most vegetable crops grow better on neutral or alkaline: beets, cabbage, garlic, onions, cucumbers, eggplant, peas, zucchini and potatoes. But there are also sour lovers: tomatoes, carrots, pumpkins. You do not know what type your site belongs to, and there is no way to conduct a laboratory analysis? Let's "poke" together.
50 g of earth pour 100 ml of cold boiled water, mix,
let stand for 5 minutes. Drop 1 drop of green stuff on top. If the liquid brightens, the soil is acidic. If the color has not changed, the reaction is neutral or alkaline.
Prepare three glasses: with a solution of 9% vinegar (1 tablespoon per 1 tablespoon of water), with a solution of soda (1 tablespoon per 1 tablespoon of water), with cooled boiled water. Drop in each glass a drop of blackcurrant juice (you can mulberry or red cabbage). Look at the reaction in acidic (vinegar), alkaline (soda) and neutral (boiled water) environments. The color of the solution should change.
Then add a drop of the same juice to the solution with the soil (pour 50 g of earth with 100 ml of cold boiled water, mix, let stand for 5 minutes). By the reaction of the juice, you can easily determine the level of soil acidity.
Mix the earth with vinegar essence (1: 1). If bubbles appear, the reaction is alkaline.
CHANGE SOIL ACIDITY AT THE SITE:
if the plot is acidified, it is easiest to introduce dolomite flour, gypsum or chalk into the soil (up to 200 g per 1 sq. m);
if, on the contrary, you need to acidify the bed for tomatoes or carrots, collect the soil under any coniferous tree and mix it with your soil (1 bucket per 1 sq. m).
To get the maximum result, add additives to the soil no later than one month before sowing seeds and transplanting seedlings.
© Author: Vladimir MIKHAILIN, Ph.D. agricultural sciences
See also: Soil acidity from A to Z - as a measurement, definition and plants for different types of acidity
PLANTS-INDICATORS OF SOIL ACIDITY
How to determine the acidity of the soil on the site, many years ago, a neighbor taught me. Just something and you need to carefully look at the plants.
Acidic environment is preferred by white clover, sorrel, field horsetail and buttercup.
On alkaline soil, large plantain grow in abundance, yamutka, yarut, medicinal smoky, self-sown poppy, euphorbia multicolor, St. John's wort.
© Author: Claudia Shupikova
HOW TO DETERMINE SOIL ACIDITY IN HOME - VIDEO
Below other entries on the topic "Dacha and garden - with their own hands"
- Pollinator - choose correctly. Self-fertilized varieties
- Neighborhood of plants
- Sprinkling with boric acid cherry - experiment
- Growing your seedlings: from grapes to apple trees
- Choosing flower seeds for planting this year - what, where and what
- What are and how to deal with diseases and pests of strawberries and strawberries
- Preparation of the site for planting vegetables and growing, seed preparation and hardening of seedlings
- To what depth is the soil to dig
- Deep holes for seedlings to save from frost - scheme
- How to make garden soil and mixtures with your own hands
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They say that the type of soil on the site can be determined by the weeds that grow on it. If someone knows how to define it, please write.
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Determining the acidity of the soil by plants is very simple. Take a closer look: if your site is dominated by horsetail, plantain, sedge, horse sorrel, wood lice, then the soil is most likely acidic. On neutral or slightly acidic, bindweed, coltsfoot, couch grass, chamomile grow. You can determine the acidity and the trees growing nearby. Alder - acidic soil, birch, linden, hazel - neutral.
And my friend uses this method. He buys indicator (litmus) paper and takes 3-4 samples of the earth at different ends of the site (from the depth of the shovel bayonet). She moistens each sample with water (but not tap water!), Attaches a piece of paper and monitors the color. If the paper turns red - the soil is strongly acidic, if it turns pink - medium acidic, if it turns yellow - slightly acidic, if it turns greenish-blue - the soil is close to neutral, blue - the soil is neutral. You need to repeat this procedure annually, since the acidity of the soil can change in one direction or another, depending on what you “feed” it with. Mineral fertilizers and mulch increase acidity, while liming, on the contrary, lowers it.
By the way, lime materials, like all fertilizers, are better to apply in small doses every year than to swell a lot at once for several years. They can be introduced after sifting, and only during autumn digging at the rate of 100-400 g per 1 sq. m, depending on the acidity of the soil. You can replace lime with chalk, dolomite flour, ash. More ash will be needed, especially for cabbage, onions, beets, peppers, cucumbers, lettuce. But tomatoes, rhubarb, sorrel, parsley, pumpkin and zucchini more or less put up with excessive acidity.