And Sour Dirt Sweet and Sour Dirt A little understanding of pH to help you use biochar better Sweet...

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Sweet and and Sour Sour Dirt Dirt A little A little understanding of pH understanding of pH to help you use to help you use biochar better biochar better Sweet Sweet and Sour Sour Dirt Dirt Contains animation Contains animation. View in Slide Show mode

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Page 1: And Sour Dirt Sweet and Sour Dirt A little understanding of pH to help you use biochar better Sweet Sour Dirt Sweet and Sour Dirt Contains animation Contains.

Sweet andand SourSour DirtDirt

A little understanding of pH A little understanding of pH to help you use to help you use biochar betterbiochar better

SweetSweet and SourSour DirtDirt

Contains animationContains animation.

View in Slide Show mode

Page 2: And Sour Dirt Sweet and Sour Dirt A little understanding of pH to help you use biochar better Sweet Sour Dirt Sweet and Sour Dirt Contains animation Contains.

Soils Have Flavors!

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• Acidic soils taste sour• Basic (alkaline) soils taste

slightly sweetMike Lieberman of UrbanOrganicGardener.com

We don’t recommend this!

We don’t recommend this!

It’s possible to taste a difference between different types of soil

It’s possible to taste a difference between different types of soil

• The flavor of a soil affects…– How well different plants grow– What kind of microbes thrive in the soil– How well the solid holds on to various minerals

• We talk about soil’s “flavor” as pH

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What Exactly is pH?

• Water allows some hydrogen ions to escape from their molecules

• pH tells the concentration of H+ in the solution• pH is a logarithmic (not linear) scale

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pHpower of… …hydrogen ions (H+)…

Concentration of H+ vs. distilled water

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14neutral more acidicmore acidic more acidicmore acidic more basicmore basicmore basicmore basic

10X100X

1,000X10,000X

100,000X

1/101/100

1/1,0001/10,000

1/100,000etc. etc.

…in water

compare with compare with

distilled waterdistilled water

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Finding the pH (without tasting)

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Hydrangeas’ colors reflect soil pH

Litmus paper colors shows pH

Meters read pH directly

Do-it-yourself

home test kits

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Strength of pH• AcidsAcids release H+

• BasesBases suck up H+

• AcidsAcids and basesbases neutralizeneutralize each other

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Biochar Biochar is is basic (alkaline)basic (alkaline). .

It can It can neutralizeneutralize acidic soil. acidic soil.

Acids

Acids

acidic

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Soil’s Natural pH Varies

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Soil pH

Strongly Acidic

Mildly Acidic

Mildly Alkaline

Neutral

Heavy Heavy rainfall rainfall

& forest & forest acidic soilsacidic soils

Light Light rainfall & rainfall & prairie prairie

neutral soilsneutral soils

Drought & desert Drought & desert

alkaline soilsalkaline soils

Natural Natural limestone limestone bedrock bedrock

alkaline soilsalkaline soils

Cultivated & developed soils often differ from native soils

But soils can also differ from one yard to another.

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Different Plants Like Different Soils

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lilac

ash

blueberry

white birch

eucalyptuspomegranate

geraniumazalea

hydrangea

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Soil is a Living CommunitySoil Ecology and pH

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Resident What it does Effect of pH

FungiFungi • Decompose dead plants, animals, and bacteria into nutritious molecules• Some live in plant roots to help plants take up nutrients

Prefer slightly acidic pH

BacteriaBacteria • Decompose dead plants, animals, and fungi into living molecules• Exude nutritious molecules• Become food for higher organisms

Prefer slightly alkaline pH

Insects & Insects & wormsworms

• Excrete plant fertilizer• Open spaces in soil to let in air and water to support soil life• Become food for bacteria and fungi

• Don’t like extreme pH• Worms avoid acid pH

Supports Plants

Supports Animals

Unbalanced pH upsets the whole

community

Unbalanced pH upsets the whole

community

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Source: Colorado State Extension CMG, GardenNotes #222

pH

Mineral availability in solution

Soils and Mineral Availability• Plants need many minerals

to thrive• Plant roots only absorb

minerals dissolved in water. • If solution is too acidic or

alkaline, H+ chemistry locks up some nutrients.

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Examples: pH < 6.00

Mg deficiency Fe, Zn, Ma deficiency

Near neutral pH is Near neutral pH is

best for most best for most

mineralsminerals

Nitrogen

Phosphorus

Potassium

Sulfur

Calcium

Magnesium

Iron

Manganese

Boron

Copper and Zinc

Nitrogen

Phosphorus

Potassium

Sulfur

Calcium

Magnesium

Iron

Manganese

Boron

Copper and Zinc

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Most Plants Like Near-Neutral Soils

~10~

Best forminerals

Best for fungi

Best forbacteria

Most plants

grow in this

range.

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Neutralizing

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Because pH scale is not linear, neutralizing different strengths takes very

different quantitiesEqual distances from neutral,

use equal concentrations

One pH number further from neutral, use 1/10th

as much of the strongerTwo pH numbers further from neutral,

use 1/100th as much of the stronger

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14neutral more acidicmore acidic more acidicmore acidic more basicmore basicmore basicmore basic

acid base=

acid base= acid base=

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How to Modify Soil pH

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Adding organic matter to the soil

makes both acid and alkaline soils more neutral.

Add one of the following:Ground limestone lasts a long timeHydrated Limeworks quickly

easy to over-doWood Ashes fast-acting

a little goes a long way

Raise Soil pH(improve acid

soils) Add one of following:Granular sulfur

slow actingAluminum & Iron Sulfate

fasterneed a lot

Acidifying fertilizerDoesn’t work well for pH >

7.5May contain a large amount

of calcium carbonate

Lower Soil pH (improve alkaline soil)

***** ***** ALWAYS FOLLOW DIRECTIONS ****ALWAYS FOLLOW DIRECTIONS ****

First – Test First – Test Your Your

Soil !!!!!Soil !!!!!

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Biochar and pH• Biochar is usually alkalinealkaline• Biochar pH depends on the

pyrolysis temperature

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typical typical formation formation

temperature temperature rangerange

typical typical pH pH

rangerange

biochar acidic soil

neutralizes

NOTE: ash created by pyrolysis is strongly alkaline strongly alkaline (pH 12-13)

Biochar’s neutralizing power diminishes after a few years.

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Using Biochar to Change Soil pH• If your soil is already alkalinealkaline, don’t use biochar!don’t use biochar!• Because biochar is a pretty

strong basestrong base, use it sparinglysparingly

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First – Test First – Test Your Soil !!!!!Your Soil !!!!!

• To keep pH moderate, add small amounts of biochar every few years, not all at once.• If your soil is strongly acidicstrongly acidic (<ph 5), you can mix a small amount of ashash into the biochar.

– Ash adds important minerals (calcium, sulfur, potassium, phosphorus, magnesium)

2%

by volume

per

application

strongly acidic