How to Lower Your Soil pH with Elemental Sulfur 

Thank you so much for doing this, it's incredibly helpful! I went off some recommendations I found in a university study, so I'm glad to hear that they were also in the ballpark. I'll make sure to save this formula for future applications!

It's kind of crazy because I was expecting my bag of sulfur to have some kind of guidelines and ratios... like all the fertilizers I bought... but my sulfur bag was basically like, "ask a friend who knows" 🤣 None of the Google searches I did yielded any results. It's weird how difficult it is to find the formulas. If you hadn't found that university study and I hadn't randomly happened across that Master Gardener Guide... jeesh. The deck was stacked against us. Haha

I have a hard time finding reliable information about so many garden topics, whether I’m trying to learn for myself or researching for a video. Too many myths and anecdotal evidence being claimed as truth.

And I was ab to eyeball it 😭

What does the "strength" mean?

You’re welcome, thank you for subscribing!

You’re welcome!

Thanks for subscribing! I hope your blueberries continue to grow well for you.

You’re welcome, that’s exactly why I make them! Happy gardening!

You’re welcome, thanks for watching!

Thanks!

You’re welcome and thank you! Do you have blueberries planted already, and are they in-ground or in containers?

Thank you! I’m glad to hear you like the video and your blueberries are doing so well. I do my best to share what I learn so others can benefit, too. Thanks for watching and happy growing!

Those blueberry bushes are huge! I hope ours can do that well. I’m sure the pine chips helped, they seem to work better than pine needles.

@@SomeRoomtoGrow it took more than 10 years to get to that size, even though I planted them too close and they are too crowded, which is not ideal. They really take their time to become very productive, but when they do, you have blueberries to spare.

Fantastic! Glad it worked and thanks for sharing.

How long did it take?

That’s fantastic! Way cheaper than what I purchased online. I’ll pin this comment so others can see it. Thanks!

You could’ve run a side business! Oh well, hopefully that stuff is finding a good use.

That's awesome, I'm glad it worked for you!

That’s great! I’ve read good things about using pine bark when growing in containers. It’s good to hear another success story 😀

@@SomeRoomtoGrow I'm looking to grow blueberries next spring so I'm getting the area ready now. I was going to dig a foot down in the area I'm planting, for the soil I was going to use organic compost/peat moss as well as fertilizer that is specifically for blueberries. With the blueberry fertilizer I was going to dissolve it in water and apply twice a week. Is this a good way to get the ground ready for spring 2023?

@@josephwilliams6706 that sounds like a good start, but after you prepare the soil, you should send a sample to a lab to test it before adding any fertilizer. You may not need it. That lab test will also reveal the soil pH so you can determine if you need to add sulfur or not. I won’t be using any fertilizer on our blueberries, just wood chip mulch to feed them slowly and sulfur to maintain pH.

@@SomeRoomtoGrow I actually did a soil test January 2021 and the lab sad I have a ph of 7.8.😬😬😬😬

@@josephwilliams6706 that’s definitely too high for blueberries! It may change slightly when you mix in compost and peat as well. But a test will also show all of your nutrient levels. You don’t want to add more fertilizer if your NPK and micronutrients are already high enough. The sulfur or soil acidifier is purely for the pH.

You're welcome! I'm glad to hear it. Yes, I did show a quick clip of that in this video at 2:49. The footage is sped up, but basically I added the same amount of sulfur as the first application. I sprinkled it on the soil surface, lightly raked it into the top inch of soil, then re-covered the soil with wood chips. Blueberries have very shallow roots so you don't want to till the sulfur in. Then, keep testing the pH every year and add sulfur as needed.

@@SomeRoomtoGrow thanks so much! Info on the application rate has not been easy to find. This gave me the confidence to tackle planting my camellias today. How many months apart were your first and second applications?

You're welcome! It was about six months from the first application/planting in October to the second in April (2021). I haven't added any more since then, and I can't even access the plants now that they're doing construction behind our house for the next few months.

Pine needles can work very well as a mulch, but once they decompose, their acidity is neutralized. They don’t alter the pH of the soil. It sounds like the soil in your pots is pretty acidic on its own.

I’m glad you found some! You’ll just have to grow LOTS of blueberries now. 😂

@@SomeRoomtoGrow Oh I do love blueberry pancakes 🤤😂

I'll eat blueberry anything.

Good question! I haven’t used anything like that, but from what I hear from more experienced gardeners, they’ll only give you a vague idea of your soil conditions. Lab testing is the best way to get accurate info, and it’s very affordable and sometimes even free.

You’re welcome! I have another video on planting blueberries and that includes information about how much to use. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-wDieChbjlaU.html

Thank you! Yes, they should be grown in separate areas since they do have different pH requirements.

You’re welcome! I apologize for mixing the music in too loud.

You can mix it into the topsoil carefully without damaging the roots near the surface, then water it in. Most of the plant roots will be in the top 4-6 inches of soil.

I hope you have better luck this time! I bought that bag on Amazon. I’m sure you can find some at a local nursery as well. Try Espoma brand “soil acidifier”.

If the plants are in small- to medium-size pots now, you could pot them up to something large, but you shouldn't have to pot them up again after that. They can keep growing in a large pot for many years.

Sulfur is best for plants that prefer an acidic soil. The amount will differ depending on what you’re growing and the natural pH of your soil. My first video on planting blueberries shows the ratio I used for our 6.1 pH soil.

That’s a good question. I don’t have an answer as far as the acidity, but pulverized eggshells can be good for earthworms.

There's a comment that's pinned at the very top of the list of comments that should help. Another viewer did some calculations for various sulfur strengths. It's not an exact science, so you will have to test your soil again after adding sulfur to find out the pH. It will take a few months to lower the pH and if it's still not down to 4.5, you can add a little more.

Iron sulfate can be useful but it can also be much more expensive than using pure sulfur. We already have plenty of iron in our soil and don't want to hurt our plants by adding more. Here's a study with more info (it talks about ferrous sulfate on page 2): www.canr.msu.edu/uploads/files/Lowering_Soil_pH_with_Sulfur.pdf

@@SomeRoomtoGrow Thats nice info! However I'm yet unsure of how much I'm gonna need so maybe I ought to give it a try in some parts of the garden and see how it goes! There are also many other benefits of using ferrous sulphate so hopefully it's good! :-D

Absolutely, good luck with it!

I’m sure it’s possible with the right lab equipment and knowledge. I only know that sulfur is broken down by bacteria and we seem to have enough in our soil to process it.

That’s a very good question. These plants still haven’t produced any fruit, and they may not until next year. They’re the only blueberry plants we have so far. I have heard from some gardeners who say they get good yields even with soil at 6.5 or so. I guess this video is mostly about how to adjust the pH with sulfur, though I would like to do as you suggest and run a blueberry experiment to compare results. Thanks for the idea!

@@SomeRoomtoGrow Blueberry bushes grow slowly, so I am curious whether I could do better or not. I have established bushes, but w ho knows whether they produce as well as they could? And I have tried growing from seed, for fun, and they grow so slowly that I killed the seedlings before they grew beyond the vulnerable seedling stage. Because homegrown varieties can be so, so tasty compared to store bought, I’ve dabbled with growing from cuttings. But any means of getting these cuttings to root and grow into larger, producing bushes is welcome knowledge and experience. It is hard to know whether they are growing at a slow, normal, or fast rate. Look forward to any knowledge you gain and share!

For sure! It sounds like you've already experimented much more than I have. I hope to someday have more land and the freedom to do this stuff full time. Until then I'll keep sharing what I can!

@@SomeRoomtoGrow I appreciate your sharing of soil pH adjustment measurements. I have about 60 hardwood blueberry cuttings taken in late winter. I would be happy to report back here on how well they rooted, in a year, and hopefully some info on how fast or slow they grow in the years after that. I don’t have the land for them, but I’ve read that hardwood cuttings is one of the best ways to propagate blueberries plants. I can attest that softwood cuttings rooted a small percentage of the time, tho I did not have a great humidity or moisture controlled setting for them. (If I’m notified via a comment here in a year or more, that can prompt me to find my way back here to provide an update).

@@ttb1513 wow, that’s excellent! I’d love to hear an update on those. You can also send me a message on Facebook or Instagram if that’s easier. I have links for those on the main channel page. I hope the cuttings do well for you!

I bought it on Amazon, unfortunately. You can usually find it at a local plant nursery. It’s often called Soil Acidifier for azaleas, rhododendrons and other acid lovers.

I’m not sure, but you could always test it out first.

@@SomeRoomtoGrow ok.. thanks

Yup! It helps to get the soil bacteria working on it right away.

@@SomeRoomtoGrow thanks!

Some gardeners like to do that by using battery acid. That may be more harmful to other life in the soil, though, not to mention potentially burning yourself. I prefer the slower, less risky method.

I used the same amount both times

@@SomeRoomtoGrow 300 grams in 3 yrs right?

@RH-zc5dq correct

You can, but it’s less dangerous to let the soil biology do that for you. They’ll convert the sulfur over a longer period as well, which will do a better job maintaining the pH over time.

Good advice, thanks!

One of my viewers was kind enough to do some calculations for that and left the info in a comment. It’s pinned as the top comment on this video ☝️

@@SomeRoomtoGrow I HAVE ONE LAST QUESTION. HOW MANY BLUEBERRY PLANT CAN I PLANT IN A 25 GALLON POT? SOME PEOPLE ARE PLANTING 2 BUSHES IN A POT.

I would still recommend planting one bush per pot. They need some space to spread out their roots. You’ll still need at least two plants of different varieties that bloom around the same time to help with pollination. Plant them in separate pots and keep them close to each other.

@@SomeRoomtoGrow ok

@@SomeRoomtoGrow i have oneal, star, emerald, biloxi, and H5 All are early crops

Obviously you like to read, so I would recommend checking out some physics or astronomy books and research papers. They should be easy to find since there are literally tens of thousands of them out there written by some very smart people who have spent, collectively over centuries, 917 trillion hours (give or take) trying to find the answers to how our world works. The least we could do is spend a few hours reading what they've worked so hard to research and publish. They can even teach you how to design your own experiments to see it in action for yourself! It's truly fascinating. I really do love science, because without it, I wouldn't have been able to respond to this comment that you left after streaming my high-definition video over the internet to your own computer/mobile device. Yes, it would be great for people to wake up to the power of science.

So all the science before that was okay, but climate science is wrong?