The university of california advises that the accuracy of soil ph readings is plus or minus 0 5 ph units.
Is soil ph in hardwoods acidic or alkaline.
Hundred times as acidic as a ph of 7.
Garden plants typically grow best in neutral or slightly acid soil ph 7 or slightly below.
While a soil ph around 6 5 is often considered ideal for plants many trees can grow well at soil ph values above 7.
Soils with a ph level that is higher than 7 are said to be alkaline such soils are suitable for growing plants that thrive in a sweet soil as opposed to a sour or acid soil if soil ph needs to be raised meaning the ground is not alkaline enough apply garden lime if on the other hand your soil has too much alkalinity you can lower the ph by applying a fertilizer that has sulfur.
See illustration at left.
Before delving into what causes soils to become acid or alkaline and the steps to take to treat and correct soil ph we must first establish what is considered an optimal ph for crop production.
Soil ph is a key factor in farmland as it controls availability of nutrients microbial activity and crop productivity.
For plants that are especially sensitive to ph such as red maples an increase in ph from 6 0 to 6 5 can be enough to induce nutrient problems.
What happens when soil ph is too high.
Because it s a logarithmic scale each jump is a ten fold increase so a soil with a ph of 5 is 10 times more acidic than.
The ph scale indicates acidity or alkalinity.
A soil with a ph number below 7 is acid while one with a ph above 7 is alkaline.
Most won t thrive in highly acid or highly alkaline soil though a few have adapted to such extremes.