Acidifying the soil - what are my options? (Miracle Fruit)

[Delilah]

Hi

I want to prepare the soil for my new Miracle Fruit plant. Apparently they prefer pH 4.5. What are my options for creating this acidic environment?

I certainly want to do better than my last effort... I had two 2" Miracle Fruit plants growing in a big pot with my Blueberries for about 3 months, until they both suddenly crashed at the same time - turned brown and died. I'm not sure why. The Blueberries are still fine.

The only thing I did to prepare that soil was mix pine needles through it, and I added a tiny bit of apple cider vinegar to their water. They were fine on that until 3 weeks ago Any ideas?!

Thanks!

[Pippin Limbertwig]

Delilah,

I don't know miracle fruit. But easy things to acidify soil are elemental Sulfur - at your garden center or feed and seed or fertilizer formulated for azaleas. My extension horticulturalist throws a "handful" of sulfur at the base of each acid-loving plant annually.

Do you have a way to test your pH? It's possible that was not the issue? Is miracle usually a container plant?

Vinegar in its concentrated form - acetic acid - is used as a contact herbicide. It's immediate availability might have shocked the plants?

Black tea is full of tannic acid - dilute tea is a nicer acid.

I think the pine needles would be better as a mulch than mixed in the soil - more like the forest.

Good luck,

[WatchMeShove]

If you want your soil to be acidic then grow your plants in peat moss. I believe that peat moss's ph is actually 4.5, but it can vary. Peat moss is great for growing anything that likes acidic soil. You must know that peat moss retains a lot of water, so you do not want to grow the plant in 100% peat moss. Do a 50/50 mix of peat moss and perlite for drainage. This should be a perfect mixture for a plant that likes acidic soil. You could also add lava rock or any number of things that don't retain water for proper drainage purposes.