Understanding ph.

Worth1 · August 3, 2014

It has came to my attention that maybe not everyone quite understands the ph scale and how it effects growing things.
It is also very important in home canning.
The ph scale is logarithmic.
In other words a ph of 3 is ten times more acidic than one of 4 and 100 times more acidic than one of 5.
And if I am right 1000 times more acidic than one of 6.

So with this in mind lets go out in the garden and take a soil sample.
I did a while back and it was around 8.5.
Tomatoes like 6.5.
So this told me that my soil was 100 times more alkali than it should be.
That is a lot.

Now lets look at canning, to safely can in a hot water bath you need a ph of 4.6.
If you add enough citric acid to bring it down to 3.6 you now have ten times more acid than you need.
Here are a couple of links to help you better understand what I am getting at.
http://www.sciencebuddies.org/scienc...spHScale.shtml
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sourc...gGVFz6TDiFH9Cg

I hope this help clear up any confusion and please check to see if I made any mistakes.

Worth

August 3, 2014	#1
Worth1 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Den of Drunken Fools Posts: 38,539	Understanding ph. It has came to my attention that maybe not everyone quite understands the ph scale and how it effects growing things. It is also very important in home canning. The ph scale is logarithmic. In other words a ph of 3 is ten times more acidic than one of 4 and 100 times more acidic than one of 5. And if I am right 1000 times more acidic than one of 6. So with this in mind lets go out in the garden and take a soil sample. I did a while back and it was around 8.5. Tomatoes like 6.5. So this told me that my soil was 100 times more alkali than it should be. That is a lot. Now lets look at canning, to safely can in a hot water bath you need a ph of 4.6. If you add enough citric acid to bring it down to 3.6 you now have ten times more acid than you need. Here are a couple of links to help you better understand what I am getting at. http://www.sciencebuddies.org/scienc...spHScale.shtml http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sourc...gGVFz6TDiFH9Cg I hope this help clear up any confusion and please check to see if I made any mistakes. Worth Last edited by Worth1; August 3, 2014 at 09:35 PM.