Using lemon juice to lower PH - is it safe?

Cillit_Bang

Cillit_Bang

Well-Known Member
Heard lemon juice lowers PH - i couldn’t get hold of fresh lemons so got some of this, looking at the ingredients it says lemon juice from concentrate, lemon oil and preservative potassium metabisulphite.. is this safe to be added to water and then added to my soil ? 7460E1D2-127C-426F-A481-8BE1B6CE75A2.jpeg
73EC7FF0-553C-47B0-85B0-CF12420FC1C7.jpeg
 
Cillit_Bang said:
View attachment 4497345
Apparently so? Haha just the lemon oil in this I’m not sure if that’s safe for a plant
Click to expand...

I do not want to speak to the lemon juice being used, but I do want to point out that using baking soda (ie. Sodium Bicarbonate) is not good as a pH up over the long term. The salts (sodium) will build up in the soil, and can cause all manner of havoc.

Use it only in a rare pinch.
 
Moflow said:
What is the pH of your water?
Ppm will rise
greenupside.com

Does Lemon Juice Lower pH? (How It Can Hurt Plants) | GreenUpSide

Adding lemon juice (which has a pH of about 2) to water will lower pH. However, doing so may harm your plants in a hydroponic or traditional gardening system. Lemon juice acts as an antimicrobial agent, which means that it kills bacteria and fungi. This includes beneficial bacteria in water...
greenupside.com greenupside.com
Click to expand...

I’m growing in soil, but fresh water out the tap has a PH of 7.6 - I’m using a digital PH tester for that. Ideally I want to lower the PH to around 6-7PH. Heard lemon juice works. Didn’t know it could potentially harm the plant don’t want that!
 
I can't see the label properly but I'd imagine that soil is buffered to around 6.4 ish so really no need to be lowering your water PH unless it's super high.
The plant magic is 5.5pH
 
Last edited:
I don’t want to have to buy proper PH down to get to that 5.5 - 6.5 lol does vinegar have the same negative effects as lemon juice do you know?
 
Cillit_Bang said:
I don’t want to have to buy proper PH down to get to that 5.5 - 6.5 lol does vinegar have the same negative effects as lemon juice do you know?
Click to expand...
Either should be fine in soil; the microherd feeds on them.

Big no-no in hydro; you risk a massive bacterial bloom.
 
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