Honestly, I had to laugh when I read this! Some of the gardening "tips" published online defy comprehension. I have no idea what the author was thinking but there is nothing in pickle juice that would encourage any plant to bloom. And at a 20 to 1 dilution, it won't even acidify the soil! Table vinegar - the primary ingredient in pickle juice - is at most only a 8% solution, usually less, so you do the math at that dilution rate. And any slight residual acidity it may contain will dissipate rapidly once in contact with the soil.

https://www.housedigest.com/1349499/pickle-juice-garden-hack-secret-to-thriving-hydrangeas/

I stand by my initial comment. Pickle juice - even undiluted - will not increase soil acidity to any measurable degree and will do nothing to help hydrangeas "thrive". The article is nonsense.

btw, vinegar is typically used as an herbicide in the garden. If you are going to play around with this bogus claim, keep it off the foliage.

" Watering with vinegar is not a recommended method for lowering soil pH for a couple of reasons. First, you would need a large amount of vinegar to move the pH of a large garden bed from 7.5 to 7.0 and because you would not want to apply vinegar to the soil without diluting with water, this could take a while. The second reason is that applying vinegar only changes the pH of the water solution in the soil and it does not create a reaction to change the pH of the mineral portion. As soon as you started watering with regular water, the soil pH would soon return to the higher pH."

oh I'm well aware of the dangers of vinegar in the garden and I wasn't meaning to appear to argue, I just realized I hadn't included the link to the source article. Dealing with lawn and garden problems as part of my job I am more than familiar with the issues people run into when they decide their saltwater/vinegar mixture is safer and healthier for their soil than herbicides that have little to no residual.

What the article fails to explain is how difficult it is to alter soil pH to any significant degree. And because most soils will buffer that effect, any change will be temporary at best. Even adding peat to your soil to lower pH will be a temporary fix as the peat will continue to decompose and lose acidity in time. Using vinegar to achieve this same result is just not feasible as it is not nearly acidic enough to have an impact and will rapidly be neutralized in contact with soil and regular irrigation water.

Using garden sulfur is the recommended method to lower pH and it too will need to be reapplied at least annually.

And finally, hydrangeas do not require acidic soils. Only a couple of species have flowers with colors that are influenced by soil pH but the genus itself is quite adaptable to a range of soil conditions. What they need to thrive is an organically rich and well draining soil and plenty of water. Not pickle juice!!

The title caught my eye but I'd be more concerned not about acidification but the sugars that would invite ants and such

I wonder if pooches would be interested in "taste checking" and digging in the new smelly area.