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

Acidic soil is a problem for many gardeners. Most garden crops grow and develop successfully only on neutral or slightly acidic soils. How correctly and in what time frame to carry out deoxidation 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 exactly acidic, and not alkaline. For this, a special device is used, a pH meter or litmus paper. 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 easiest one is to brew a mixture of cherry and currant leaves. For this, several leaves of these crops are placed in a small container. Then they are filled with boiling water. After the broth has cooled 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 is definitely acidic, the blue color indicates a neutral reaction.

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

Deacidification of soil with lime

There are several ways to deoxidize the soil in the garden. Each of them has its own characteristics, advantages and disadvantages.

One of the most widespread and affordable methods for controlling acidity is liming. It is most advisable to spend it 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:

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

Deoxidation with limestone can be carried out both locally, that is, within a certain bed, and throughout the entire area. It should be introduced only in the fall. If for some reason these terms were missed, then other types of fertilizers should be used.

When calculating the rate of application, the type of soil and the level of acidity should be taken into account. For deoxidizing 10 sq. meters of sandy or sandy loam soil, you will need to add 1 kg of limestone. For clay and loamy soils, this consumption rate should be increased by 3 times.

With such an application rate, soil deacidification 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 the consumption of limestone is more than half a kilogram per square meter, the deoxidation process should be planned for 2 - 3 years.

Soil deoxidation with dolomite flour

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

Dolomite flour consumption rate for every 100 sq. meters depends on the acidity level:

- Strongly acidic soil with a reaction of pH4.5 and below - 50 kg.
- Medium acid - 45 kg.
- Slightly acidic - 35 kg.

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

Dolomite flour works best when applied before use. She has the ability to interact with them very organically.

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

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

Some gardeners 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 trunk circle with subsequent embedding, for shrubs, depending on the size, from 0.5 to 1 kg is enough.

Chalk application

Chalk is another naturally occurring substance that is used to deoxidize garden soil. It effectively reduces acidity while acting very mildly. Requires annual deposit.

You can also use chalk in the spring. To do this, about a month before the planned planting date, it is evenly scattered over the surface of the site. Then they start digging. Chalk can be added in early spring over the snow. The melt water will carry the chalk particles deep into the soil.

Attention! Chalk should be added in optimal dosages. When applied too often and abundantly, it has the ability to accumulate in the soil, thereby causing its salinity.

Should you use ash?

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

If there is still a need to use ash, then it is best to use birch obtained from wood. It contains the largest amount of potassium and phosphorus. Its application rate is about 10 kg per square meter.

Green manure plants

Adherents of organic farming can also use to deoxidize the soil. In this case, you do not have to calculate the application rates and worry about an excess of calcium. If a competent crop rotation is observed, it will be possible to do without the use of limestone, dolomite or other mineral fertilizers altogether.

For example, sowing 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 the adjacent beds.

Phacelia is sown in spring. During the entire growing season, it will have a beneficial effect on the soil and by the fall, the acidity of the soil will significantly decrease. Before the onset of frost, the planting of phacelia is mowed and embedded in the soil.

In addition to phacelia, other green manures can be used to reduce acidity:, rye,.

How often should deoxidation be done?

The frequency of deoxidizing activities depends on many factors. The first and foremost of these is the acidity level. On slightly acidic soils, the main deoxidation is carried out once every 5, or even 8 years. Strongly acidic soils will need to be processed once every 3-4 years.

Also, in addition to the main deoxidation, a whole range of works will have to be carried out annually to maintain neutral acidity. For example, you can restrict the application of a small amount of dolomite before planting.

Now on sale you can find special mineral complexes for regulating the level of soil pH. Additionally, they are enriched with various trace elements, therefore, in most cases, they can be used as a top dressing.

All of the above methods for deoxidizing the soil in the garden can be combined and alternated with each other. For example, in spring, under a shallow digging, add dolomite flour and. Then additionally spill with a solution of the biological product Baikal-EM1. It contains special soil bacteria that accelerate decomposition processes. After 2 - 3 weeks after such treatment, it will be possible to start sowing green manure.

Effect of deoxidation on the application of basic fertilizers

So that deoxidation does not have a negative effect on the number of batteries, it should be carried out in compliance with the consumption rates and within the recommended time frame. With an excess of lime in the soil, most of the elements such as boron, iron, manganese and potassium will turn into compounds that are poorly absorbed by plants. Then the cultures begin to suffer from their lack.

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

In general, after the main deoxidation, it is not recommended to add mineral complexes for the first 2 years. If necessary, you can limit yourself to the sheet or use organic matter.

It is not so difficult to deacidify the soil in the garden as it seems at first glance. The main thing is to observe the necessary rules and application rates. Also, before starting work, you should accurately establish the acidity level. An excess of calcium is no less harmful than a lack of it.

Soil response plays a very important role in plant growth and development. Soils are acidic, alkaline and neutral.

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

Most of the soils of central Russia, especially in regions with a large amount of precipitation, 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 is brought to a state close to neutral. On acidic soils, plants are inhibited: they grow poorly, the roots branch poorly, and the yield decreases. Plants are especially sensitive to increased soil acidity at the beginning of growth, immediately after germination. They do not absorb nutrients well from poor and unstructured soil. They accumulate a large amount of salts, which leads to salinization.

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

Most crops require neutral or slightly acidic soil. So, tsikorny lettuce, 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 do you know - 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 it is bad, then the soil is acidic. The strong development of such weeds as creeping buttercup, pikulnik, field horsetail, ivan-damarya, pike and white-grass, also indicates that the soil on the site is acidic.

The acidity of the soil 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 clear infusion into a bowl and dip 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, it means that the soil is acidic. Of course, such an analysis is not very accurate: it only characterizes acidity in general terms and does not show its degree at all.

And you can use the "old-fashioned" 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 dipped into it. If the water acquires a reddish color - the reaction of the soil is acidic, greenish - slightly acidic, bluish - neutral.

There is another, but also simple way.

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

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

It is possible to distinguish acidic soils from the rest by their external signs. So, they have a thin dark-colored humus layer, which at a shallow depth is replaced by a clearly pronounced white podzolic horizon 10 cm or more thick.

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

For a more accurate determination of the acidity of the soil on the site, they use the services of the nearest agrochemical laboratory. Under laboratory conditions, such analysis is uncomplicated and, therefore, not very expensive.

If the soil on the site turned out to be acidic, then the acidity can be reduced by adding lime. On strongly acidic soils, 50-70 kg of lime is applied per one hundred square meters, on acidic soils - 35-45, and on slightly acidic - 25-30 kg. Recently developed soils with a light or light brown color also need liming.

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

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

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

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

Lime is characterized by a long-term effect: when added in the indicated doses, the need for repetitions of liming 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 can increase - as after applying a good dose of full fertilization.

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

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

The fact is that lime and wood ash are strong alkalis. The calcium included in them completely and quickly dissolves in water. Once in the soil, especially in large quantities at once, they sharply increase the reaction of the soil to pH 7, sometimes up to 8-10.

At the same time, the chemical elements in the soil, including phosphorus and potassium, enter into chemical compounds that are insoluble in water, due to which they 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, there is a natural acidification of the soil, including due to acid rains that occur near large cities. The reaction of the soil changes, the pH decreases and everything is normalized, but until then a whole season can pass. Thus, liming makes the soil unsuitable for growing plants for some time. That is why it is recommended to apply lime in the fall and not 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 insoluble in water, and acid is required to dissolve them in the soil. If the soil is acidic, the gypsum materials dissolve, reducing 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 no further increase in pH will occur. Moreover, the unused part of the deoxidizers will not disappear, but will remain in the soil, since they are insoluble in water.

When the natural acidification process of the soil lowers the pH to 6, they will react chemically again, reducing the acidity of the soil. Since the pH during gypsum does not drop below the permissible value, nutrients, including phosphorus and potassium, remain in a form available to plants.

In the North-West region, it is best to deoxidize soils with dolomite flour, which contains 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 a lack of it.

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.

Eggshell "delicacy"

Eggshells serve to increase soil fertility and bring considerable benefits. First of all - as a means of reducing its acidity. As already mentioned, excessive acidity reduces the fertility of the land, negatively affects the development and productivity of many plants.

Typically, lime, chalk and other ground lime waste are used as limestone materials. But you should not give up the eggshell either. It contains about 94% potassium carbonate salts, 1.3% magnesium, 1.7% J phosphates, 3% organic substances. Crushed eggshell is a unique fertilizer, which, in addition to these elements, includes proteins, fats, carbohydrates and other micro-additives.

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

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

Many gardeners face the problem of soil acidity. In an overly acidic soil, there are no conditions for the life of trace elements and important bacteria. The trouble is that with high acidity and abundant fertilization of the land, the plants still do not receive the necessary substances for nutrition and a good harvest.

How to analyze soil acidity

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

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

Soil deoxidation methods

Self-deoxidation of the soil is not particularly difficult, since all the ingredients for this can be taken in "Sortsemovosch", on the market, or made directly on the site. Taking special care, and having carefully studied the methods, you can proceed with the procedure.

Application of lime

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 assimilate phosphorus. Given the aggressive nature of lime, it is best used in autumn, leaving time before spring sowing to normalize chemical processes in the soil.

Slaked lime is added in this way:

especially acidic earth - half kg per 1 sq. m
medium acid - 300 g per 1 m2
small acid - 200 g per 1 sq. m

Dolomite for deoxidation

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

The proportions of dolomite flour are as follows:

acidic soil - half kg per 1 sq. m
medium acid - 400 g per 1 m2
low acid - 300 g per 1 sq. m

Treatment of the site with ash

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

True, ash consumption is high:

wood ash - more than one and a half kg per 1 sq. m
weed ash - 2.5 kg per square meter

Gypsum and chalk soil deoxidation

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

My grandfather taught me how to deacidify the land for the beds. He always said: "On such a site you will only harvest a large harvest of weeds, but you will not work out with vegetables." At first we did it by eye, and when I mastered the Internet and read about the test strips, and then ordered them, we began to reduce the acidity to a strictly defined rate.

To create ideal living conditions for your plants. Firstly, microorganisms necessary for vegetables multiply well in the right soil; secondly, it improves the frost resistance of crops (which is especially important for perennials); thirdly, in the soil 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 for them, you need to leave an untouched bed, having designated it in advance.

And if you plant a plant in the wrong soil?

Our “pets” will bloom and / or bear less fruit. The fact is that in too acidic soil, their roots grow very slowly, and nutrients are poorly dissolved and absorbed. As a rule, even with timely feeding, plants can experience starvation.
You may also notice that your plants wither quickly in hot weather, especially if the soil is light. Still: the water goes down, and the underdeveloped roots simply cannot reach it!
These garden or horticultural crops can get sick more often.

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

Scientific Methods

Here are the garden soils:

A pH of 6.0 to 7.0 is considered ideal for most home crops. You need to deoxidize garden or garden soil, the pH of which drops below 5.5.

The most progressive way of defining is litmus test... A set of such "testers" can be found not only on the Internet - they are sold even in an agricultural shop in the market of our regional center. They are made in our country or in China (in the photo it is the last option). If there is no instruction, it's still easy to figure it out.

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

Make a small hole in your yard or garden. At the depth, take about 100 g of earth.
Place the earth in a bowl and place a piece of paper on top of it.
Fill them with clean water, press with something so that the paper and the 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 appreciate it.

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

An alternative way is 9% table vinegar... Take a dark plate, or simply place a bush of glass on something dark. Pour earth on it. Pour vinegar over the ground and watch right there. If there is no reaction, the soil is very acidic, if a little foam appears, it is neutral, and if it foams very strongly, it is alkaline.

Determination by weeds and cultivated plants

Weeds... If you have a lot of wild nettle growing in your yard (garden, flower garden, or vegetable garden), the soil has low acidity. If chamomile is "ugly" - medium. And a large amount of moss indicates a high acidity of the site.
Vegetables... Pumpkin and sorrel do not mind growing in acidic soil. If these crops in your garden invariably give good yields, and the rest do not work out year after year, buy a litmus test.

Beet... If its leaves are green and the petioles are red, the beets grow in neutral soil. Weakly acidic soil shows red streaks on the leaves, and sour - reddening of all leaf plates.
Ornamental crops... Hydrangea, heather, rhododendron, lupine, juniper, mountain ash, and also cinquefoil or fern grow very well in acidic soil.
Garden plants... Honeysuckle, lingonberry, blueberry, currant, rhubarb like to grow in "acid".

From this table you will find out which garden crops are not interfered with by slight acidification of the soil, and for which the garden should be deacidified, even if the pH of the plot is above 5.5.

Top 5 ways to deoxidize

If it is worth fertilizing the soil annually (and ideally, several times per 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 sprinkle it through a sieve beforehand). Lime must be extinguished(that is, I mean fluff). You need to deepen the lime by about 20 cm.

Application rates:

slightly acidic area - 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 for several years in advance. That is, it is not necessary to apply lime every autumn or spring, otherwise the soil will be oversaturated with limestone, and, again, the yield of most crops will suffer (in the soil oversaturated with calcium, plants will grow worse root mass).

If you are following a crop rotation, you need to process the entire garden at once. If the site is small and it is all divided into beds, select only those plants on which they like neutral soil, and only lime them.

The liming of the garden (for fruit trees) should be carried out in advance - several years before their planting.

Dolomite flour (also known as limestone)

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 process of photosynthesis. It is also believed that vegetables grown on such land suffer less from harmful insects and are better stored in winter.

The substance is not toxic to animals or people, but during work you need to wear protective gloves, and if flour gets on your skin, wash it off thoroughly.

You need to add flour every 3-5 years.

It is very important that the flour was the smallest 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 beneficial for nightshades.

Wood ash

This deoxidation enriches the soil nitrogen, which is especially important for plants that are valued for their foliage or shoots. But there is no calcium here, so it is better to use ash as not the main, but an additional deoxidizer, or mixing it with other substances (chalk, lime).

For 1 square of land, 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 with dolomite flour, care must be taken to ensure that the chalk grains do not exceed 1 mm in diameter.

Application rate:

weak acidity - 10 kg per hundred square meters;
medium - 20 kg;
high - 30 kg.

This substance can be replaced with: cement, used plaster, alabaster, as well as powdered eggshells.

Siderata

These plants have a lot of advantages: they enrich the soil with useful microelements (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 condition on 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 should you do deoxidation?

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

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

Dosage

Sandy or sandy loam(light) soils. Give 3 to 6 kg of deoxidizer per one hundred square meters of land.

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

You need to "dance" from specific acidity numbers - the higher they are, the more deoxidizer you use.

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

Let's summarize

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

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

Acidity is the ability of the soil to utilize the properties of the acids it produces. Every gardener meets this term when working in a summer cottage or a separate agricultural area. Control of this soil property is mandatory, since it directly affects the vital activity of plants. To achieve the best results in horticulture, it is necessary to carefully study a number of properties of the earth.

The benefits of soil deoxidation

Soil deacidification affects the germination and productivity of various crops. In fact, this process is the creation of favorable conditions for growing garden and other types of crops. Monitoring this property and adjusting it increases the frost resistance of plants, increases the rate of vital activity 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) acidity before planting depends on a number of checks. For garden crops, low acidity will be needed, because microorganisms prevailing in acidic soil do not allow them to develop, and for certain types of flowers this state is not enough, and often the earth needs additional fertilization.

Deacidification is carried out not so often as it seems at first glance. The minimum period of carrying out is 1 time in 3 years, but the time of application of deoxidizers depends on their type and test results.

Effect on plants

Such a soil characteristic as acidity affects the ability of solubility, assimilation and extraction of the necessary plant substances.

If an increase in acidity occurs, then the growth of roots stops, conditions arise for plant diseases due to a lack of nutrients, and this contributes to a decrease in yield or flowering.

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

After long-term experiments, the best range of soil acidity was revealed - pH = 6.0-7.0.

Determination of acidity level

Determination of an acidic environment is not a laborious process and is not so diverse, so it will not mislead novice gardeners. Despite the frequency of soil deacidification measures, it is better to test for acidity 2 times a year (in early autumn and early spring).

Methods for determining the level of soil acidity:

Deoxidation methods

Several methods are known to reduce the level of acidic soil conditions, such as:

Liming... The most popular and effective way. The idea is to add limestone (fine grinding is recommended) to the soil. Limestone increases the development of beneficial microorganisms that help reduce weed growth. This process is carried out every few years. More frequent application will result in soil oversaturation.
The use of dolomite (lime) flour... The soil becomes less harmful. The material is much more expensive than limestone, but it can be used once every 3 years. The effect of flour is not beneficial for all plant species.
... The use of this assistant is a tradition in gardening. The action is long-term, but the result is clearly observed. Wood ash can be replaced with materials such as marl, chalk-junk, alabaster, egg shells, cement, plaster (used).

Period of procedures

The period of application of soil deoxidation depends on the method used and the goal pursued. There are many characteristics of deoxidizers for the seasons.

In autumn, the deoxidation process consists in the use of wood ash. Since there is no vegetation of plants in winter, the long-term productivity of 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 that affects acidity neutrality.

In the spring, liming or the use of dolomite flour is used. The main task of the material for deoxidation is saturation of plant organisms with the necessary nutritional elements i, as well as they are difficult to remove from the ground, which increases the duration of their exposure. Deacidification of the soil in the spring is also done with chalk. In winter, such a 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. The doses applied to each variety are different. For the first, a dose of 3 to 6 kg is recommended, and for the second - from 6 to 10 kg per 1 hundred square meters, but the higher the acidity level, the greater the dosage.

Plants in an acidic environment

The variety of vegetation that prefers soil with high acidity is not so great. Plants such as cinquefoil, fern, lupins, rhododendrons, heathers, hydrangea are especially fond of acidity. All representatives are mainly ornamental plants. However, highly acidified soil contributes to the yield of other plants:

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

Table of soil acidity by types of garden crops

Soil acidity is a big chunk of knowledge about nature. The study of this characteristic is mandatory, since the main part of horticultural processes depends on this parameter. If large yields and good plant growth are needed, a thorough study of acidity, deoxidation methods and periods of use of deoxidizers is necessary.