Sunday, February 5, 2012

What plants react to acidic/alkaline soil and how?

I have hydrangeas

What plants react to acidic/alkaline soil and how?
This is a great plant to see what happens if soil is acidic or alkaline. If the soil is alkaline then the blue Hydrangeas are now pink and I mean PINK. acidify the soil and they return to a beautiful sky blue. I use aluminum sulfate for this and lime for the pink
Reply:All carbon-based plants do. In the periodic table of element, there are alkaline metals in group 1. If you go to atomic levels, carbon will react with the alkaline metals(types of elements found in the soil). Note:alkaline metals are never found uncombined in nature, so almost anything reacts!
Reply:The pH of the soil effects what nutrients are available for plants to use. In acidic or alkaline soils these nutrients can be there but they are locked up and the plants can't use them. This is the main reason plants dislike different soils.



In Hydrangea the Blue/Pink colouring of the flowers is a great example of this. It is not infact the pH of the soil which affects the blooms but the availability of Aluminium and other nutrients which is influenced by pH. There are special fertilisers you can buy that contain aluminium to make the flowers blue.


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