Attack on 'Dusty' peat moss.

[Durgan]

How to Make Soil More Acidic (Decrease pH) Peat moss is acidic.

Some ornamental plants and fruit plants like blueberries require an acidic soil. To make your soil more acidic (decrease its pH value) you can use either aluminium sulphate or sulphur. Aluminium sulphate is the quickest acting as it will increase the acidity as soon as it disolves into the soil. The downsides are though that its effects can be short term and it is possible to over-apply it.

The more recommended but slower way to increase your soil pH is to use sulphur. Sulphur converts to sulphuric acid with the help of bacteria in the soil but this takes time depending on factors like the presence of bacteria, texture of the soil and moisture levels. This could take months if conditions are not ideal.

For my peppers (like a ph around 5.5) I feed them a cup of vinegar in water periodically during the summer, in the home garden. This is very local treatment. http://etooj.notlong.com/ 31 August 2007 Harvest of the produce from five plants.

Another way to decrease the pH is to use evergreen needles. There is no shortage of these in most areas.

Peat moss use to have a chunky texture years ago, the stuff sold today is simply dust, any absorbent properties are probably not even present. I put ten bags about four yeara ago to mix with my garden soil in a relatively small area. It simply disappeared and I felt it did absolutely nothing beneficial.

My preference in the garden is small wood chips (rather than peat moss) mixed in the soil, along with compost. I find these chips disappear in a year, and I add about three inches evey year, and the level of soil never increases. There appears to be sufficient nitrogen in the compost to balance out that used in decomposing the wood chips, plus I plant a fall crop of red annual clover that fixes soil nitrogen. The proof is in the pudding. Here is the garden.
http://poqua.notlong.com 27 June 2007 Zone 5B.