Preparations for deoxidation of the soil. How to reduce the acidity of the soil in the garden

Acidic soil is a problem of so many gardeners. Most garden crops successfully grow and develop only on neutral or slightly acidic soils. How to conduct deoxidation correctly and in what time frame will be discussed below.

Determine the acidity of the soil

Before proceeding with deoxidation, you need to make sure that the soil on the site is acidic, not alkaline. For this, a special pH meter or litmus paper is used. But for most summer residents they are not available. Therefore, to determine the level of acidity, you can use the so-called folk methods.

The simplest of these is brewing a mixture of cherry and currant leaves. For this, several leaves of these crops are placed in a small container. Then they are poured with boiling water. After the broth cools down a little, a small lump of soil from the site is placed in it. If the broth turns red - the soil on the site, clearly acidic, blue indicates a neutral reaction.

Indicator plants will also help determine the level of acidity. If the soil in the plot is acidic, the following herbs grow in large quantities on it: horse sorrel, dandelion, horsetail, plantain.

Lime deoxidation

Deoxidation of the soil in the garden can be done in several ways. Each of them has its own characteristics, advantages and disadvantages.

One of the most common and affordable methods of regulating high acidity is liming. It is most expedient to carry it out in the fall. During the winter, a neutralization reaction will take place in the soil under the influence of natural factors. The following types of mineral additives are most often used for liming:

– Ground limestone. The most optimal and affordable option. Its composition additionally contains magnesium carbonate.
– Slaked lime, or fluff. Effectively neutralizes high acidity. You can make it yourself from regular quicklime. To do this, it is quenched with ordinary water.

Limestone deoxidation can be carried out both locally, that is, within a specific bed, and throughout the site. It should be introduced only in the fall. If for some reason these deadlines were missed, then other types of fertilizers should be used.

When calculating the consumption rate, soil type and acidity should be taken into account. For deoxidation 10 square meters. meters of sandy or sandy loam soil will require 1 kg of limestone. For clay and loamy soils, this consumption rate should be increased 3 times.

With this application rate, deoxidation of the soil is possible to a depth of 15 - 20 cm. To change the acidity to a greater depth, the consumption rate will need to be significantly increased. In this case, one should rely on the following rule: if limestone consumption is more than half a kilogram per square meter, the deoxidation process should be planned for 2 to 3 years.

Deoxidation of soil with dolomite flour

Dolomite flour - powder from crushed rock. In addition to reducing acidity, it has the ability to improve the structure of the upper fertile layer. Dolomite flour is produced in its pure form, without the use of artificial additives and impurities. Unlike limestone, it can be used for application in both autumn and spring.

The consumption rate of dolomite flour for every 100 square meters. meters depends on the level of acidity:

- Strongly acid soil with a reaction of pH4.5 and below - 50 kg.
- Sour - 45 kg.
- Weakly acid - 35 kg.

The type of soil is also strongly influenced by the amount of dolomite flour introduced. On sandy soils and sandy loams, its amount should be reduced by 1.5 times the recommended amount, and on clay, loam and heavy soils, increase by 15 - 20%.

Dolomite flour is most effective when applied before use. She has the ability to interact very organically with them.

On the beds intended for growing vegetables, it is applied 15 days before planting. With this method of use, dolomite flour not only deoxidizes and improves the structure, but also has the ability to disinfect. For example, a crop such as potato is often affected by various fungal diseases. Their distribution is able to suppress timely introduced dolomite.

Dolomite flour also affects pests such as and. It damages their chitinous integument, which in turn contributes to the fight against them. The disinfecting properties of dolomite are also widely used when growing plants in closed ground conditions.

Some gardeners also use this fertilizer for autumn application under fruit trees and shrubs. In this case, under each tree, about 2 kg of dolomite is introduced into the near-stem circle with subsequent termination, from 0.5 to 1 kg is sufficient for a shrub, depending on its size.

Chalk application

Chalk is another substance of natural origin, which is used for deoxidation of garden soil. It effectively reduces high acidity, while acting very gently. Requires annual application.

You can use chalk in the spring. To do this, about a month before the planned landing date, it is evenly scattered over the surface of the site. Then they start digging. You can add chalk in early spring in the snow. Melt water will carry chalk grains deep into the soil.

Caution: Chalk should be applied in optimal dosages. With too frequent and plentiful application, it has the ability to accumulate in the soil, thereby causing its salinization.

Should I use ash?

Ash can also be used as a deoxidizing agent. However, this is not the best and most effective option. Its use is justified on soils requiring weak deoxidation. To more or less strongly affect the level of acidity, you will need to make a lot of ash. And this is already fraught with an overabundance of trace elements contained in it. Therefore, ash is more likely to be top dressing than an effective deoxidizing agent.

If you still need to use ash, it is best to use birch wood. It contains the largest amount of potassium and phosphorus. The rate of application is about 10 kg per square meter.

Siderat plants

Adherents of organic farming for deoxidation of the soil can also use. In this case, you do not have to calculate the application rate and worry about an excess of calcium. With proper crop rotation, it will be possible to do without the use of limestone, dolomite or other mineral fertilizers.

For example, seeding gives a good result. This plant not only reduces excess acidity, but is also an excellent honey plant. Throughout the summer, it will attract a large number of pollinating insects to adjacent beds.

Phacelia is sown in spring. Throughout the growing season, it will have a beneficial effect on the soil and by autumn the soil acidity will significantly decrease. Before the onset of frost, plantations of phacelia are mowed and embedded in the soil.

In addition to phacelia, other siderates can also be used to reduce acidity:, rye,.

How often should deoxidation be carried out?

The frequency of deoxidizing events depends on many factors. The first and most important of them is the level of acidity. On slightly acidic soils, the main deoxidation is carried out once every 5, or even 8 years. Strongly acidic soils will need to be treated once every 3 to 4 years.

In addition to the main deoxidation, a whole range of activities to maintain neutral acidity will have to be carried out annually. For example, you can limit yourself to introducing a small amount of dolomite before landing.

Now on sale you can find special mineral complexes for regulating soil pH. In addition, they are enriched with various trace elements, so in most cases they can also be used as top dressing.

All of the above methods of deoxidation of the soil in the garden can be combined and alternated. For example, from spring, under shallow digging, add dolomite flour and. Then additionally shed a solution of biological product Baikal-EM1. It contains special soil bacteria that accelerate the decomposition processes. In 2 - 3 weeks after such treatment, it will be possible to start sowing siderates.

The effect of deoxidation on the application of basic fertilizers

So that deoxidation does not adversely affect the number of batteries, it should be carried out in compliance with the flow rate and at the recommended time. With an excess of lime in the soil, most of the elements such as boron, iron, manganese, and potassium turn into poorly absorbed compounds for plants. After which, cultures begin to suffer from their lack.

The same is observed with the joint use of deoxidizers with phosphorus and nitrogen fertilizers. To prevent these undesirable consequences, deoxidation is carried out in the fall, and feeding is done in the spring. In this case, the work of some does not interfere with the action of others.

In general, after the main deoxidation, the first 2 years to introduce mineral complexes is not recommended. If necessary, you can limit yourself to a sheet or use organics.

Deoxidizing the soil in the garden is not so difficult as it seems at first glance. The main thing is to comply with the necessary rules and application standards. Also, before proceeding with the work, it is necessary to accurately establish the level of acidity. Excess calcium is no less harmful than its deficiency.

Soil reaction plays a very important role for the growth and development of plants. Soils are acidic, alkaline and neutral.

The acidity of the soil is determined by the pH value of the pH. When acids are added to water, this value begins to decrease, and for alkalis, it increases.

Most soils in central Russia, especially in regions with high rainfall, are slightly acidic or neutral (pH 5.5-7). In places where there is little rainfall, soils are most often alkaline (pH 7-8).

If the soil in the garden is acidic, it leads to a state close to neutral. On acidic soils, plants are oppressed: they grow poorly, the roots branch poorly, and productivity decreases. Plants are especially sensitive to increased acidity of the soil at the beginning of growth, immediately after germination. They poorly absorb nutrients from poor and structureless soil. A large amount of salts accumulates in them, which leads to salinization.

Acidic soils (pH 3.5-4) are mainly sod-podzolic soils, and strongly acidic ones - peaty. They are poor in nutrients and structureless.

Most crops require neutral or slightly acidic soil. So, cyclic salad, radish, radish, sorrel grow well at pH 5; carrots, cucumbers, pumpkin, zucchini, tomatoes, kohlrabi, rhubarb - at 5.5; cabbage, lettuce, eggplant, horseradish, garlic - at 6; asparagus, beets, celery, onions, peppers, spinach, parsnips - at pH 6.5.

How to find out - what is the acidity of the soil on the site? If beets and cabbage grow well in the garden, then the acidity of the soil is close to neutral; if bad, the soil is acidic. The strong development of such weeds as creeping buttercup, pikulnik, horsetail, ivan-da-marya, pike and whitebird also indicates that the soil in the plot is acidic.

Soil acidity can also be determined by the simplest analytical method: using indicator paper. Take about 20 g of soil, add 50 ml of water, shake well and leave for 1 day to settle. Carefully, so as not to shake, pour the transparent infusion into the dishes and lower the purple litmus paper.

If it does not change its original color or changes to blue-blue, then the soil has a reaction close to neutral. In the event that the paper turns red, then the soil is acidic. Of course, such an analysis is not very accurate: it characterizes acidity only in general terms and does not show its degree at all.

And you can use the "grandfather" methods. Take 3 ~ 4 leaves of black currant (or bird cherry) and brew in 250 ml of boiling water. The broth is cooled and a lump of soil is lowered into it. If the water becomes reddish - the soil reaction is acidic, greenish - slightly acidic, bluish - neutral.

There is another, but also simple way.

Take 2 tbsp. tablespoons (with top) of soil and pour into a bottle with a narrow neck. 5 tbsp are poured there. tablespoons of water at room temperature. In a small piece of paper (5x5 cm), 1 teaspoon of chopped chalk is wrapped and pushed into a bottle. Roll up a rubber fingertip and put bottles on the neck (the fingertip remains flattened). The bottle is wrapped in newspaper so that it is not heated by hand, and shaken vigorously for 5 minutes.

If the soil is acidic, then when interacting with chalk in a bottle, a chemical reaction will begin with the release of carbon dioxide, the pressure will increase, and the rubber fingertip will completely straighten. With a slightly acidic soil, it will straighten in half, if the soil reaction is neutral, do not straighten at all.

You can distinguish acidic soils from the rest by external signs. So, they have a low-power dark-colored humus layer, which at a shallow depth is replaced by a clearly defined white podzolic horizon with a thickness of 10 cm or more.

❀ Attention: the soil in different places of the site may have different acidity, which changes from year to year, so that it cannot be determined once and for all.

To more accurately determine the acidity of the soil on the site use the services of the nearest agrochemical laboratory. In laboratory conditions, such an analysis is simple and, accordingly, not very expensive.

If the soil on the site turned out to be acidic, then acidity can be reduced by adding lime. On strongly acidic soils, 50-70 kg of lime are added per 1 hundredth of a plot, on acidic soils - 35-45, and on slightly acidic soils - 25-30 kg. Recently developed soils with light or light brown coloring also need liming.

With the same acidity on heavy clay soils, the dose of lime should be higher than on lighter loamy and sandy loam soils.

Lime is applied in the fall, by spreading it evenly over the surface of the soil before digging it. The better the lime is mixed with the soil, the faster the acidity decreases.

Lime in the soil moves very weakly, so it must be well mixed with the ground.

❀ Attention: excessively high doses of lime are harmful. On such soils, plants absorb potassium and many trace elements worse, which, in turn, worsens the wintering of plants.

Lime is characterized by a long-lasting effect: when applied in the indicated doses, the need for liming repeats arises only after 7-10 years. Sometimes liming is carried out in smaller doses, but then, naturally, the acidity of the soil decreases more slowly, and the need for its re-processing comes faster.

On acidic soils after liming, due to a decrease in acidity, crop yields may increase - as after applying a good dose of complete fertilizer.

For liming use limestone flour (ground limestone), slaked and quicklime, calcareous tuff, lake lime, marl, dolomite flour.

It is better to gypsum the soil rather than liming: that is, instead of lime or wood ash, gypsum, alabaster, chalk, dolomite, crushed old cement, plaster (including dry) or egg shells are used to deoxidate the soil.

The fact is that lime and wood ash are strong alkalis. Calcium entering them completely and quickly dissolves in water. Getting into the soil, especially in large quantities immediately, they sharply increase the soil reaction pH to 7, sometimes up to 8-10.

At the same time, chemical elements in the soil, including phosphorus and potassium, enter into chemical compounds that are not soluble in water, and therefore become inaccessible to plants - the suction power of root hairs is not enough to absorb these elements from chemical compounds.

Plants begin to starve and stop developing. Over time, the natural acidification of the soil occurs, including due to acid rain occurring near large cities. The reaction of the soil changes, the pH decreases and everything normalizes, but up to this point a whole season can pass. Thus, liming makes the soil for some time unsuitable for growing plants. That is why it is recommended to apply lime in the fall and not to use fertilizers at the same time.

If the soil is deoxidized with chalk, gypsum, etc., this does not happen. The fact is that all of the above is not soluble in water, and acid is required to dissolve them in the soil. If the soil is acidic, gypsum materials dissolve to reduce its acidity, but as soon as the soil reaction reaches the pH value most suitable for most plants, the chemical deoxidation reaction will stop and a further increase in pH will not occur. Not only that: the unused part of deoxidizers will not disappear, but will remain in the soil, since they are not soluble in water.

When the natural process of acidification of the soil lowers the pH to 6, they will again enter into a chemical reaction, reducing the acidity of the soil. Since the pH during gypsum does not decrease below the permissible value, nutrients, including phosphorus and potassium, remain in a form accessible to plants.

In the Northwest region, soils are best deoxidized with dolomite flour containing not only calcium but also magnesium.

However, with an excess of the latter in the soil, phosphorus is poorly absorbed by plants. So an excess of magnesium is just as bad as its lack.

And gardeners should know that phosphorus, which is in the soil, is available to plants only if its acidity is in a small pH range: 5.5 ~ 6.5.

Egg Shell Delicacy

Egg shells increase soil fertility and bring significant benefits. First of all, as a means of reducing its acidity. As already mentioned, excessive acidity reduces the fertility of the earth, negatively affects the development and productivity of many plants.

Typically, lime, chalk and other ground calcareous waste are used as liming materials. But eggshells should not be discarded. Its composition is about 94% of carbonic salts of potassium, 1.3% of magnesium, 1.7% of J phosphates, 3% of organic substances. Ground eggshell is a unique fertilizer, which, in addition to these elements, includes proteins, fats, carbohydrates and other microadditives.

Collect the shell carefully. You can put it in small cardboard boxes and dry it on a heating battery. In 1 ~ 2 days, the shell dries and does not emit an unpleasant odor. After this, the shell is kneaded, and then passed through a meat grinder.

For better digestibility by plants, a small amount of shell is ground in a coffee grinder. In this case, egg flour is obtained from the shell. This "delicacy" is added directly to the wells before planting. Coarse shell is mainly found in the digging of the earth.

The problem of soil acidity is faced by many gardeners. In excessively acidic soil there are no conditions for the life of trace elements and important bacteria. The trouble is that with high acidity and abundant fertilizer of the earth, plants still do not receive the necessary substances for nourishment and a good harvest.

How to analyze soil acidity

Even if before starting planting the first plants, checking the land for acidity showed a neutral pH, then in the future an increased level of acidity can unpleasantly surprise a summer resident. The good news is that now there is no need to resort to specialists and sophisticated technologies for analysis. There are simple ways to study the acidity of the site yourself.

Soil analysis using litmus paper. Having collected half the tablespoon of earth from different places of the site, you need to lower each test material into a jar of clean water in the proportions of 1 to 1. After five minutes, in each container for 1 second you need to lower the litmus paper previously purchased in the pharmacy. Referring to the instructions, you can understand what pH corresponds to each color-changing piece of paper.
Study of acidity with vinegar. It is necessary to place the glass on any dark coating, pouring on it a spoonful of earth from different places in the garden. Watering each handful of soil with 9% vinegar essence, it is necessary to monitor the appearance of foam. In the case of strong foaming, there is no acid in the ground, a little foam is a good indicator, and in the absence of a reaction the earth is acidic.
Observation of the color of beet leaves. If you plant beetroot in different parts of the country, then with the appearance of large leaves, you can find out the acidity of the land on which beets grow. If the whole leaf of the plant has a red filling - acidity is high, there are red veins on the leaf - a weak indicator of acid, the green color of the leaf is the permissible pH.

Deoxidation Methods

Independent deoxidation of the soil is not particularly difficult, since all the ingredients for this can be taken at Sortsemovoshch, in the market or made directly on the site. Taking special care, and carefully studying the methods, you can proceed to the procedure.

Lime application

Deoxidation of the earth with lime gives an effective result, but at the same time for a long time deprives plants of the ability to absorb phosphorus. Given the aggressive nature of lime, it is best to use it in the fall, leaving time before spring sowing to normalize chemical processes in the soil.

Slaked lime is added as follows:

especially acidic land - half kg per 1 sq.m
average acid - 300 g per 1 sq.m
small acid - 200 g per 1 sq.m

Dolomite for deoxidation

Dolomite can be sprayed on the site before planting and in autumn, as it behaves quite neutral with respect to plants, at the same time saturating the soil with magnesium.

The proportions of dolomite flour are as follows:

acid soil - half kg per 1 sq.m
average acid - 400 g per 1 sq.m
low acid - 300 g per 1 sq. m

Ash treatment

Applying ash, the gardener not only deoxidizes the soil, but also fertilizes it with potassium, necessary phosphorus and useful magnesium.

True, ash consumption is great:

wood ash - more than one and a half kg per 1 sq. km. m
ash from weeds - 2.5 kg per sq.m

Gypsum and chalk deoxidation

Plaster, like chalk, can be called a controller of the acidity of the earth. After getting these drugs into the ground, they begin their work, interacting not with water, but with acid. Having normalized the pH of the soil, these deoxidants remain in it in a passive position until the acidity increases again. As a result, these substances introduced into the soil for a long time regulate and lower acidity.

Grandfather taught me to deoxidize land under beds. He always said: "At such a site you will only collect a large crop of weeds, but you won’t get along with vegetables." At first we did it by eye, and when I mastered the Internet and read about test strips, and then ordered them, we began to reduce acidity to a strictly defined norm.

To create ideal living conditions for your plants. Firstly, in the right soil microorganisms necessary for vegetables multiply well; secondly, it improves the frost resistance of crops (which is especially important for perennials); thirdly, in a land with low or medium acidity, the amount of mobile nitrogen increases — a substance necessary for any “green creature”, especially in spring, during active vegetation.

Although, of course, some useful crops, on the contrary, like to grow in an acidic substrate. Therefore, when deoxidizing, they need to leave an untouched bed, having previously designated it.

And if you plant a plant in the wrong soil?

Our "pets" will bloom less and / or bear fruit. The fact is that in too acidic soil their roots grow very slowly, and nutrients dissolve poorly and are absorbed. As a rule, even with timely top dressing, plants may experience starvation.
You may also notice that in the heat of your plants quickly wither, especially if the soil is light. Still: the water goes down, and underdeveloped roots simply can not get it!
These horticultural crops may be more likely to hurt.

How to determine the acidity of the soil in the garden or in the garden?

Scientific methods

Here are garden soils:

Ideal for most home crops, a pH of 6.0 to 7.0 is considered. It is necessary to deacidate garden or garden soil, the pH of which falls below 5.5.

The most progressive way of determining is litmus test. A set of such "testers" can be found not only on the Internet - they are sold even in an agricultural store in the market of our district center. They are made at our place or in China (in the photo it is the last option). If there is no instruction, sorting out is still easy.

You need to work with a piece of paper like this:

Make a small hole in the yard or in the garden. At a depth, take about 100 g of land.
Fold the earth in a bowl, put a piece of paper on it.
Pour them with clean water, press with something so that the paper and soil are in close contact.
After a couple of minutes, the piece of paper will begin to change color. When this "transformation" is over, take it out and evaluate it.

Roughly speaking, blue or green is the norm for most crops, pink is an occasion to think, and red is a direct indication for soil deoxidation.

An alternative way is 9% table vinegar. Take a dark plate, or just lay a glass of glass on something dark. Put earth on it. Pour vinegar over the ground, and look right there. If there is no reaction - the soil is very acidic, if a little foam appears - neutral, and if it foams very much - alkaline.

Definition by weeds and crops

Weeds. If you have a lot of wild nettles growing in your yard (in the garden, flower garden, garden), the soil has low acidity. If the "camomile" ugly - average. A large amount of moss indicates the high acidity of the site.
Vegetables. In acidic soil, do not mind growing pumpkin, sorrel. If these crops in your garden invariably yield good crops, and the rest fail year after year, buy a litmus test.

Beet. If its leaves are green and the petioles are red, beets grow in neutral soil. Slightly acidic soil is shown by red veins on the leaves, and acidic - redness of all leaf blades.
Decorative crops. Hydrangea, heather, rhododendron, lupine, juniper, mountain ash, as well as cinquefoil and fern grow very well in acidic soil.
Garden plants. In "acid" honeysuckle, lingonberry, blueberry, currant, and rhubarb love to grow.

From this table you will find out which garden crops do not interfere with light acidification of the soil, and for which the garden should be deoxidized, even if the pH of the plot is higher than 5.5.

Top 5 Deoxidation Methods

If it is necessary to fertilize the soil annually (and ideally, several times a season), then you can deoxidize the site every three years. Although of course, a lot depends on the initial qualities of the site and the method you choose.

It is worth checking the quality of your soil twice a year: in the first months of spring and autumn.

Liming

The most popular, good old way.

Finely ground lime must be added to the soil (you can even first sprinkle it through a sieve). Lime must be extinguished (that is, I mean fluff). You need to deepen the lime by about 20 cm.

Application rates:

slightly acidic plot - about 20 kg per hundred square meters;
medium acid - 40 kg;
high acidity - from 50 to 70 kg.

By the way! Liming is a method that will improve the structure of your soil several years in advance. That is, it is not necessary to add lime every autumn or spring, otherwise the soil will be oversaturated with limestone, and, again, the yield of most crops will suffer (in a land oversaturated with calcium, plants will increase root mass worse).

If you observe crop rotation, you need to process the entire garden immediately. If the plot is small and it is all divided into beds, select only those plants on which they love neutral soil, and lime only them.

Liming of the garden (under fruit trees) should be done in advance - a few years before planting.

Dolomite flour (also known as calcareous)

This material is more expensive than lime, but is considered more useful for the garden: it improves the mineral structure of the soil, saturating it with magnesium and calcium - important "participants" in the photosynthesis process. It is also believed that vegetables grown on such land suffer less from harmful insects, are better stored in the winter.

The substance is not toxic to animals or humans, but protective gloves must be worn during operation, and if flour gets on your skin, wash it off thoroughly.

You need to add flour once every 3-5 years.

It is very important that the flour be the finest fraction.

Application rates:

slightly acidic soil - about 35 kg per hundred square meters;
medium acid - 45 kg;
high acidity - 55 kg.

This substance is especially useful for nightshade.

Wood ash

Such deoxidation enriches the soil nitrogen, which is especially important for plants appreciated by foliage or shoots. But calcium is not here, so it is better to use ashes not as the main but as an additional deoxidizer, or when mixing with other substances (chalk, lime).

For 1 square of the earth, take a liter of water and 200 g of ash. If the ash is peat, add 350 g of such ash to the same liter of water.

Adding Chalk

Another calcium-rich substance.

As in the case of dolomite flour, you need to ensure that the grains of chalk do not exceed 1 mm in diameter.

Application rate:

low acidity - 10 kg per hundred square meters;
average - 20 kg;
high - 30 kg.

This substance can be replaced by: cement, used plaster, alabaster, as well as grated egg shells on powder.

Siderata

These plants have many advantages: they enrich the soil with useful trace elements (copper, zinc, phosphorus, magnesium, calcium and others), protect the garden from the dominance of weeds, and are environmentally friendly.

Of course, they will not fundamentally change the state of the site, but if the acidity of the soil is slightly higher than necessary, they can correct the situation. True - in a couple of years.

When is deoxidation necessary?

Fall. At this time, it is better to give wood ash to the ground. This substance has a very long productivity, so the ash should be allowed to "lie down" in the ground until spring.

Spring. At this time of the year, it is good to use dolomite flour, chalk or lime. This is especially true for chalk: during the winter, do not throw this substance into the ground, otherwise by spring all chalk will be washed off by rains, melt snow and groundwater.

Dosage

Sand or sand (light) soils. Give from 3 to 6 kg of deoxidizer per hundred square meters of land.

Loamy and clayey (heavy) soils. From 6 to 10 kg per hundred square meters.

You need to “dance” from specific figures of acidity - the higher they are, the more deoxidant you use.

If the soil is light, deoxidants need to be applied more often: they do not linger in it for as long as in heavy soil. For example, they can be added to peat soil every 3 years, to sandy soil once every 5 years, to loam even once every 7 years (and the higher the humus in the earth, the more lime or other material is needed).

To summarize

It is very important to determine the acidity of the soil in a garden, garden or flower garden - in a land with too high acidity, yields are lower and flowers are worse.
You can check the acidity in a rustic way (noticing which weeds take root on the site - the moss loves the acid soil most), or by buying a set of litmus papers.
It is possible to deacidify the earth by adding fine lime, wood ash, dolomite flour, chalk when digging or plowing. Also, not drastically, but still sown and dug up siderates will help to improve the acidity of the site in time.

Sometimes people confuse acidic and alkaline soil, clay and sand. This video will help you finally understand the types of soils.

Acidity is the ability of the soil to apply the properties of the resulting acids. Each gardener meets this term when working in a summer residence or in a separate agricultural plot. Control of this soil property is required, as it directly affects the vital activity of plants. To achieve the highest results in gardening, it is necessary to carefully study a number of land properties.

The benefits of deoxidation

Deoxidation of the soil affects the germination and productivity of different crops of vegetation. In fact, this process is the creation of favorable conditions for growing garden and other types of crops. Observation of this property and its adjustment increases the frost resistance of plants, increases the vital activity rate of the necessary microorganisms that affect the development of crops, increases the amount of mobile nitrogen, creates favorable conditions for certain plants, since the perception of each plant to the soil is different.

The need to increase (decrease) the acidity before planting depends on a number of checks. Garden crops will need a lower acidity, because microorganisms prevailing in acidic soil do not allow them to develop, and for certain types of flowers this condition is not enough, and often the earth needs additional fertilizer.

Deoxidation is not so commonas it seems at first glance. The minimum period is 1 time in 3 years, but the time for using deoxidizing agents depends on their type and results of the verification.

Effect on plants

Such a soil characteristic as acidity has an effect on the solubility, assimilation and production of essential plant substances.

If there is an increase in acidity, then the root growth stops, conditions arise for plant disease due to lack of nutrients, and this helps to reduce yield or flowering.

In an acidic environment, favorable conditions for development are reduced to a minimum level or completely disappear, while the flow of useful minerals ceases, and the plant dies.

After conducting lengthy experiments, the best range of soil acidity was revealed - pH \u003d 6.0–7.0.

Determination of acidity

Determining the acidic environment is not a time-consuming process and is not so diverse, therefore, it will not mislead beginning gardeners. Despite the frequency of soil deoxidation measures, it is better to test for acidity 2 times a year (in early autumn and early spring).

Methods for determining soil acidity:

Deoxidation Methods

Several methods are known to lower the acidic soil level, such as:

Liming. The most popular and effective way. The idea is to add limestone (fine grinding recommended) to the soil. Limestone increases the development of beneficial microorganisms that help reduce weed germination. This process is carried out every few years. More frequent use will lead to oversaturation of the soil.
The use of dolomite (lime) flour. The soil becomes less harmful. Material is much more expensive than limestone, but use is allowed once every 3 years. The effect of flour is not favorable for all types of plants.
. Using this assistant is a tradition of gardening. The action is long, but the result is clearly observed. Wood ash can be replaced by materials such as marl, chalk-ruhlyak, alabaster, eggshell, cement, plaster (used).

Procedure Period

The period of application of deoxidation of the soil depends on the method used and the aim pursued. There are many features of deoxidants in the seasons.

In autumn, the deoxidation process involves the use of wood ash. Since there is no plant vegetation in winter, the long-term productivity of the ash will not damage the soil, all the more it is not recommended to combine a deoxidizer (ash or a replacement representative) with fertilizers. Autumn deoxidation creates an alkaline environment, which affects the neutrality of acidity.

In the spring, liming or the use of dolomite flour is used. The main objective of deoxidation material is saturation of plant organisms with necessary nutrientsi, as well as they are difficult to remove from the earth, which increases the duration of their exposure. Deoxidation of the soil in spring is also carried out using chalk. In winter, this procedure should not be carried out, otherwise it will be washed out of the soil with running water.

We must not forget about the types of soils, for example, sandy and sandy loam, loamy and clayey. Doses applied to each variety vary. A dose of 3 to 6 kg is recommended for the former, and for the second, from 6 to 10 kg per 1 hundredth, but the higher the acidity level, the greater the dosage.

Plants in an acidic environment

The diversity of vegetation, preferring soil with high acidity, is not so great. Plants like cinquefoil, fern, lupins, rhododendrons, heathers, hydrangeas are especially fond of acidity. All representatives are mainly ornamental plants. However, highly acidified soil contributes to the productivity of other plants:

currant;
honeysuckle;
carrot;
beet;
cabbage;
garlic;

Table of soil acidity by types of garden crops

Soil acidity is a big piece of knowledge about nature. The study of this characteristic is necessary, since the bulk of horticultural processes depend on this parameter. If you need large yields and good plant growth, a thorough study of acidity, methods of deoxidation and periods of use of deoxidants is necessary.