Concur with Wisner, our LA soil is more often on the acidic side.

Adding leaves would help to eventually break down the clay. Leaves also tend to make the soil more acidic.

I use bagged leaves collected in the Fall as a mulch. They are great for weed control and also help to build up the soil organics. I till them in after they decompose. I usually will add lime every 2 or 3 years to help keep the counter the acidity of the leaves.

I agree, the soils in Louisiana are generally acidic. Perhaps something caused the soils to be abnormally alkaline. Wood ash will do this.

Adding pine straw to the soil does a great job of 1. adding organic matter; and 2. lowering pH of the soil. And yes, you can lower your soil pH with iron sulfate. It lowers pH quicker than other methods, but I have not heard of an organic source of iron sulfate.

Coffee grounds are acidic and will quickly turn an alkaline soil around. They are also fantastic for helping break up clay soil. Our local PJs Coffee would give me a 5-gallon bucket of coffee grounds a day, if I could use that much!

You could have a very large compost heap, very quickly, by using coffee-shop grounds and other organic material. By far the best compost I ever had was mostly horse-stable gleanings and coffee grounds.

ditto on the grounds.
i can get like 20lb a week from Starbucks here in Kenner
its too cold to compost, so i cant use all i have now

suggested reading...

diatomaceous earth is cheap, and helps keeps bugs down. also adds minerals

mycorrhizal fungi seems to have helped me condition my soil,
Rock dust , could help as well

most of those dont affect the PH a lot, but some dust might at higher levels

This post was edited by greenman62 on Mon, Feb 3, 14 at 11:41

There are many soils in LA that are above pH 7, mostly along the Mississippi river and down into Acadiana. Also along the Red River Valley, see the link.

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:1014077}}

You are right our soil is too alkaline. I am also trying coffee and got my mother in law's magnolias to finally produce flowers. I have been doing this for a year and seen my alkaline levels even out more.