What Can You Use for Homemade Soil Acidification?

Compost

• Homemade compost, created from yard debris, vegetable trimmings, coffee grounds and the like, is naturally on the acidic side. Mix it generously with the soil at planting time or plant directly into finished compost.

Sawdust

• Sawdust mixed with soil at planting time also helps acidify it. Once the plant is planted, use sawdust as mulch around its base to keep the soil acid and to conserve moisture and reduce weed growth.

Wood Chips

• Using wood chips as mulch around the base of the plant helps keep soil acid. Don't mix wood chips with the soil when planting, however, as the process of decay requires nitrogen, something the plant needs, too. A simple solution, if you wish to use wood chips in the soil, is to add extra nitrogen fertilizer.

Peat Moss

• Sphagnum peat moss, which is gathered from sustainable bogs, helps acidify soil. Soak peat moss in a bucket to wet it thoroughly before mixing it half-and-half with the soil.

Pine Needles

• Use pine needles as a mulch around acid-loving plants. They will help acidify soil as they decompose.

Sulfur

• Add sulfur at planting time or use it as an ongoing acidifier each year by sprinkling it on the surface of the soil and watering it in. Soil bacteria oxidize the sulfur, creating sulfuric acid.

Fertilizers

• Fertilizers formulated for acid-loving plants will also help acidify the soil in which they are growing. They have lower phosphorus -- the middle number in NPK listings -- and higher potassium -- the last number -- than all-purpose fertilizers.