How to Make Soil Acid for a Lemon Tree

Overview

Lemon trees like many citrus plants perform best when grown in a mildly acidic soil. They do not enjoy overly acidic soil, however so finding the sweet spot on the pH scale is important. Amending your soil at planting time and/or topdressing the soil once each year thereafter can help to maintain the optimal soil pH for your lemon tree irrespective of the natural soil conditions in the area.

Step 1

Provide a soil pH for your lemon trees that fall between 5.5 and 6.5 pH. If you are in doubt about the content and pH of your soil mail in a sample of your soil to a testing service and they will give you a thorough analysis so that you understand the baseline conditions you are dealing with.

Step 2

Amend the soil to be more alkaline and less acidic (bring down the pH) by tilling in the package recommended amounts of ground limestone, dolomite or hydrated lime.

Step 3

Amend the soil to be more acidic and less alkaline (raise the pH) by tilling in the package recommended dose of ground sulfur or iron sulfate.

Step 4

Water in soil amendments well at application time and keep the soil evenly moist to allow the movement of the particles down into and through the soil.