North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[John Smith <friendly27sw@yahoo.com>]

Where I live we have really hard, alkaline water. 
This isn't very scientific but I bought a quart of
"liquid iron 4.6% and soil acidifier" a year ago at
Lowes for $4 and add about a tablespoon to a quart of
water every couple months to my potted plants that
were becoming chlorotic (orange, hibiscus, and
ornamental pepper primarily) and it's done wonders,
although I'm still getting a mineral buildup in the
pots from our water...  I think I need to drench them
and try and leach it out, but the iron and acidity
have really improved plant health.
zone 5b central MO

--- Hal Love <lovehd@comcast.net> wrote:

> You could also use water that has been through a
> de-ionizing filter. Our
> household water goes through such a filter. In
> addition to improving
> (removing?) the taste of the water, it removes most
> of the calcium and
> magnesium (and chlorine). It seems to work well for
> our potted indoor
> plants. The filter only needs replacing once a year
> @ $75, although our
> water is only moderately hard.
> 
> Hal
> zn 6b TN
> 
> 
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Thomas Olenio" <tolenio@sentex.net>
> To: "North American Fruit Explorers"
> <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
> Sent: Monday, December 05, 2005 6:30 AM
> Subject: [NAFEX] PH? potted citrus
> 
> 
> > Hello All,
> >
> > I have a couple of potted citrus and I have a PH
> question.
> >
> > Our water is hard, heavy with calcium.  By
> watering the potted citrus with
> > this water it sweetens the soil.  Citurs like
> slightly acidic soil.  I
> > believe this hard water is stunting my potted
> citrus.
> >
> > Is there a means to either make my water slightly
> acid or top dress the
> > soil with an an acidifying amendment?
> >
> > The plants do very well outside with natural rain
> water during the summer,
> > but coming indoors with hard water seems to set
> them back.
> >
> > Any suggestions?  Possibly "Jobes" makes
> acidifying soil sticks?  Is
> > melted snow acidic like rain water?
> >
> > Thanks,
> > Tom
> 
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