water Who else has high PH public water?

[AMG4heat]

My public water here in Alexandria VA is on the 8+ side of the equation. (Not what they report, but home testing and observation don't lie). Every year at this time I get lockout due to a build up in my soil. Just did a test with my Lamotte soil testing kit and sure enough, deep purple!. Tell tell signs are lack of flower development and pale green growth. Just hit the containers with a a citric acid amended feeding and some sulfur for the longer term.

Question is this. Anybody have good ideas to address this in early season? I am hesitant to go with something earlier in the season (sulfur ph down) for fear of dropping down to low to early. The soils are right on target to start out with, but over time I get the issues. Ideas?

I am on a drip system and do have an EZ Flow, so I could add an amendment to lower PH, but don't think it's wise to have the EZ flow always up and running.

 

[TOAW]

Try MgSulfate aka Epsom Salts 1table spoon per gallon. It seems to help here in the midwest with the combo of hard water and alkaline glacial till soils. I mix in some of the salt in the soil in spring and if I need to water the garden alot during the grow season I'll add some more.

 

[AMG4heat]

Hmm. Wiki seems to think that Epsom is PH neutral, so not sure how much that will help.

 

[Balduvian]

i live in BC canada and our water here is like best in the world, so fresh and good, almost perfect ph nothing added..

 

[Dave2000]

Try mixing some pine needles into the soil as well as a mulch on top.
 
Another option is a rain barrel, if you have a roof or tarp you can use to collect rain.

 

[Al-from-Chile]

sawdust (of var. granularity) also brings ph down - and will probably be beneficial for the soil-structure as well ...