VMT wrote: I have the same issue with my tap water. The water comes out of the tap at around 8.5 pH; this is way too alkaline. This is what you need to do: purchase a $15 pH digital measuring tool (available in Amazon) and start testing your tap water and correct if needed. In my case I fill my watering can and test and I pour a little white vinegar to acidify the water, stir the water and retest. I do this until I reach a pH of 6-6.5 which is perfect for evergreens and azaleas...then water away. Cheap, simple, reliable solution.

My water is 8.5, too. How much white vinegar do you put to a gallon (or liter, I speak metric, too). I am about to go water the azaleas.

Actually very little. The pH drops like a hammer with white vinegar. Use perhaps half a teaspoon per liter. The best however is to measure the pH to be sure.

lol. With 120 trees, I use about 150 litres per watering cycle; this is not realistic.

leatherback wrote: lol. With 120 trees, I use about 150 litres per watering cycle; this is not realistic.

What I do starting now is water everything, sprinkle a little vinegar on the azaleas and water lightly to wash it down around the roots. If it is fertilizer day, put a couple of teaspoons in a gallon jug (about 4 liters), put the azalea fertilizer in, and fertilize well. All this is assuming no rain in sight.

The rest of the trees can tough it out. The strong will survive.

Water ph from the tap is not really giving justice to evaluate the water quality for watering. What you get from your tap is modified to be gentle to the distribution infrastrukture and to be Good for human consumption. Which in many case meens high ph and low hardness.

Place your water in an Open bucket and add a small air pump to airate the water för 24 hours, then check ph. Now you Will know if ph needs to be manipulated or not.

Tropfrog wrote: Water ph from the tap is not really giving justice to evaluate the water quality for watering. What you get from your tap is modified to be gentle to the distribution infrastrukture and to be Good for human consumption. Which in many case meens high ph and low hardness.

Place your water in an Open bucket and add a small air pump to airate the water för 24 hours, then check ph. Now you Will know if ph needs to be manipulated or not.

Like Leatherback, I have lots of trees. Not as many as he, but lots. One bucket, two gallons or eight liters, would water about 10% of them. I need a hose solution for watering. Right now watering is every day, and hand treating a bucket would not work. I can mix fertilizer in a bucket and pour it by hand once a week (weekends, usually) but the rest of the week the sprinkler on the hose is the only answer. Our water is pretty hard because the South away from the coast is pretty much build on limestone and water is full of calcium.

Like Said. Check your water ph after airating for 24 hours. You dont need to do this every time you are watering.

Hard water in the ground dont automatically mean hard water in your tap. Water infrastrukture just hate calcium buildup (and acidic water). That is why Most water plants treat for low hardness and high temporary ph. Make a call to your plant and ask.

Tropfrog wrote: Like Said. Check your water ph after airating for 24 hours. You dont need to do this every time you are watering.

Hard water in the ground dont automatically mean hard water in your tap. Water infrastrukture just hate calcium buildup (and acidic water). That is why Most water plants treat for low hardness and high temporary ph. Make a call to your plant and ask.

The water plant here publishes chemical analysis on a yearly basis. We are in the foothills of the Appalachian mountains, which means there is a lot of limestone in the ground and water percolates through it. The water is pretty hard, which means that fish tanks tend to have calcium buildup around the sides and that indoor plants tend to have calcium buildup since water doesn't pour through the way it does outside. I filled gallon jug with ground water once and let it sit. A week later there was a thin layer of sediment on the bottom.

Tap water here is not as hard as ground water, but it is still hard. PH coming out of the tap is 8.5 to 8.7 and rises slightly over 24 hours to 8.0. I have been through all this water chemistry with the fish tanks. The trees by and large don't seem to be affected by it, maybe partly because it rains pretty often. I started helping the azaleas a little this year and now I get a lot more flowers. Is that caused by the white vinegar? I don't know, but there are a lot more. I was watering them the other day and a hummingbird sat on the hose.

Ivan Mann wrote: My water is 8.5, too. How much white vinegar do you put to a gallon (or liter, I speak metric, too). I am about to go water the azaleas.

How much acid you need to decrease ph is dependent on the carbonate hardness in you water. Not on actual ph. The acid need to break down the buffering capacity before having any measurable effect on ph.

leatherback wrote: lol. With 120 trees, I use about 150 litres per watering cycle; this is not realistic.

You really measure your water? and acid?