Thanks for the reply. Plants are mostly doing well, but there's some yellowing that's characteristic of high pH which is why I started testing. I'm hoping the home kit was off, and maybe only have to deal with the blueberries and fruit trees which are the most worrisome right now.

Thanks again.

Soil pH is a measure of the free Hydrogen ions, and an alkaline soil has few. To lower a soils pH you need to put in something that will add, or free up, those H ions and elemental Sulfur does that best, and longest, though not quickly. Some advocate putting vinegar as a short term fix, about a month from what I have been able to determine, although I have seen nothing that tells me if salad vinegar (about 5 percent Acetic Acid) or horticultural vinegar (about 20 percent Acetic Acid) is to be used and how much. I have seen suggested mixes ranging from 1 tablespoon to 1 cup vinegar to 1 gallon water. Citric Acid is a mild acid and I have not, yet, found anything to indicate how much is needed to lower a soils pH by any amount.

Some sources suggest using Sulfuric Acid, a dangerous method at best.

I'd wait for the soil test, not trusting the home pH tests, which if a good soil testing lab has done the work should have amounts of product to lower the soils pH if that is necessary.

kimmq is kimmsr

Thanks Kim. I've read that the best way to do vinegar or citric acid is make a solution to pH 3.5-4 and water with that. Like you say, battery acid sounds dangerous.

Also trying to work in some peat moss around the blueberries which are my main concern. Our hard soil makes it tough.

If I need to do sulfur, I will have to hire someone. Too much work.

Also, I confirmed with safegro that the citric acid requires monthly application. I imagine vinegar is similar.

"If I need to do sulfur, I will have to hire someone. Too much work."

Not
really. Get a bag of the granular sulfur from a nursery, not the
powdered mix from a BB store. It looks like pea halves. Scatter it by
hand on the surface and it will get worked in over time. There’s no rush
with this stuff and nothing says it has to be dug deep. It will
eventually get covered and it’s effects (metabolites?) will leach down.
Those liquid amendments are all short term highly temporary treatments
and soil needs long term work.

I thought I needed to work the granules in to make it work. Remember, they will be sitting on top of a couple of inches of mulch in most places

Vinegar, Acetic Acid, has a pH of about 2.0 to 2.4 according to most sources although some go as high as 3.4.

kimmq is kimmsr

Rake the mulch away, sprinkle the sulfur and spread the mulch back. This is the same method you would use for granular fertilizer applications as well.

Fine grained sulfur will work faster than the coarser 'popcorn' type. Once in the soil, bacteria converts the sulfur to sulfuric acid.

I've attached a link regarding growing blueberries under alkaline soil conditions and how to correct. Acidifying the irrigation water is essential and acetic or citric acids are common and easy to obtain. Any impact they have on soil pH will be temporary but in areas with high pH irrigation water (as in SoCal, where I assume you are located), acidification of that water is essential to prevent it neutralizing your efforts to acidify the soil.

blueberry acidification guide

Thanks. I already saw that guide but sulfuric acid scares me, and raking away the mulch is an all-day job, since if the readings were accurate, I will need to apply everywhere, not just on the blueberries, though they are of greatest concern. Applying anything dry is a real pain in the ass for me, which is why I tend to stick with liquid fertilizers and amendments.

Anyway, my plan, assuming the soil tests come back the way I expect, is to use either vinegar or citric acid as a temp solution and hire some guys to help me with the sulfur for long term.

AFA irrigation water goes, it always tests to 7 (yes, So Cal). If I wanted to acidify, would I need an injection system?

Nothing liquid is going alter pH to the degree you need......provided the pH readings are accurate. Acidifying irrigation is a stop-gap method at best. It is intended more as a supplemental step to insure high pH irrigation water doesn't negate the attempts to lower soil pH.

If you have an inground irrigation system, you might need to check with your supplier (or a qualified irrigation contractor) as to how to accomplish the acidification. Otherwise, you can do it manually with a watering can or bucket.

Thanks to everyone for helping. I will likely do the sulfur late fall before the rain (if we get any) starts.