How to make soil acid for purple hydrangeas?

Question

How to make soil acid for purple hydrangeas?

Answer 1

It's hard to turn a soil into either acidic or alkaline permanently, but you CAN ammend it with additives.  You can buy that stuff from garden centers.  I use ACE acid-loving fertilizer.

Coffee grounds and pine needles also helps acidify the soil a bit, and so does sulphur powder ($3 a two-pound bag).

Answer 2

You can make you soil acid by digging a hole in which to put your hydrangea and putting in plenty of peat at the bottom and arround the sides. That will keep your hydrangea growing but will not make it blue/purple. To do that you need to mix the peat with iron, or water it regularly with an iron compound. You can buy it in a Garden Centre. If you don't do this it will revert to it's original colour - pink. I think in bygone days the old chaps used to chuck handfuls of iron nails in the bottom of the hole. The Garden Centre option is more reliable. Good Luck with it, it will look great.

Answer 3

Add miracid to the soil which is made by miracle grow.

Answer 4

you don't need to make soil acid there is a powder you can buy from garden centres called Hydrangea colourant follow instructions and good luck.

Answer 5

Eco-friendly method.Rinse the soap from wire wool wash up pads,buried in the soil the iron oxide will colour the hydrangea flowers.

                        and/or

Feed with sequestered iron in solution.

                           or

Purchase a plant with purple flowers first.Hydrangea colours range from white to pink,through all shades of blue to purple.Trying to change the natural colour is never as satisfactory as starting with the one that's wanted.

Answer 6

My grandmother used to place nails around hydrangeas to produce pink blooms.  According to one of my gardening books, you can raise acidic level by applying acidic peat or acidic mulch made of pine needles. Use a fertilizer that promotes acid-loving plants which will creat reactions that lower soil pH.  You can also apply ordinary powdered sulfur to correct alkalinity, but you must strictly regulate the reate of application according to your soil's needs. You can also use commercial aluminum sulfate instead of powdered sulfur.  

I would be careful and add minimum amounts until you get the change in color.  I'm fortunate I guess, my plants have such a beautiful, deep, deep purple color.  I've been tempted to try and play with the color, but afraid I'll mess up and kill the plants....

good luck though

Answer 7

Only hydrangeas that are naturally blue or pink will change their color.  If a hydrangea is naturally white, it will not change to blue or pink no matter what you do.

The hydrangeas that can be persuaded to change from blue to pink or vice versa are the Pee Gees, Big Leaf, Mopheads and Lacecaps.

To turn a pink hydrangea blue, add aluminum sulfate to the soil around the plant.  Your local garden center will sell aluminum sulfate.  Apply by watering in one tablespoon of aluminum sulfate per gallon of water, and reapply throughout the growing season.

Answer 8

Here is pertinent post that will explain flower color and how to amend your soil to bring out the blue/purple color.

http://naturehills.com/gardening/blogs/c...

Answer 9

I don't know about the colorant thing, however knowing what the current Ph of the soil is might be important. Any number of things can change Ph, knowing how much to change it helps. Fertilizers can alter soil chemistry significantly, but these following amendments documented at www.wikipedia.org will "acidify" soil by themselves.

The pH of an alkaline soil is lowered by adding sulphur, iron sulfate or aluminum sulfate, although these tend to be expensive, and the effects short term. Urea, urea phosphate, ammonium nitrate, ammonium phosphates, ammonium sulfate and mono potassium phosphate also lower soil pH.

You might ask your local county extension agent, from the Department of Agriculture on recommendations, as they would be more knowledgeable of soil conditions in your area, and what amendments would be most appropriate.

Cheers, and enjoy your garden.