In Pots

1. Turn lath house sprinklers on April 1.

2. Turn lath house sprinklers off in October.

3. pH water…our well water is currently at 6.5 with alkalinity of 3.7 meq/L

4. Would like target pH of 5-5.2 with acid injection

5. Use 35% sulfuric acid (battery acid)

6. For a 1:100 injector use 64 ml acid/gallon of water to make concentrate (this is calculation for pH 5). 

When you mix concentrated sulfuric acid and water, you pour the acid into a larger volume of water. Whether you add acid to the water or water to the acid is one of those things I know it’s important to remember, but always have to puzzle out. Sulfuric acid (H2SO4) reacts very vigorously with water, in a highly exothermic reaction. If you add water to concentrated sulfuric acid, it can boil and spit and you may get a nasty acid burn. Water is less dense than sulfuric acid, so if you pour water on the acid, the reaction occurs on top of the liquid. If you add the acid to the water, it sinks and any wild and crazy reactions have to get through the water or beaker to get to you.

7. In addition to liquid feed you can add slow release osmocote 14-14-14 to the pots. For large breeding pots add 2T in early March, then 1T three months later (June). For small pots add 1t in March and 1/2t in June. Then liquid feed in summer but stop in mid July so that the plants set floral buds rather than continuing to grow vegetatively.

8. With water pH at 5.2 it should still be okay to do propagation. But it might be possible to remove the acid during the prop season….maybe.