Treeaddict
Treehouser
Interesting read!
Battery acid to lower soil pH
- Thread starter Treeaddict
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CurSedVoyce
California Hillbilly
Ummmmm. Just fuggen NO.
Treeaddict
Treehouser
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #3
Besides the possibility of the applicator getting chemical burns, I wonder the environmental impact (if any). The experiment was out of the box genius though imho.
CurSedVoyce
California Hillbilly
Just the friggen liability
Nutball
TreeHouser
I don't know what acid is found in car batteries, but it starts out as sulfuric acid available in plastic bottles for filling new batteries.
Maybe they should have used a fresh acidic mulch like oak, mixed with coarse sulfur pellets. Cleaning vinegar could have been used as a substitute for battery acid.
Maybe they should have used a fresh acidic mulch like oak, mixed with coarse sulfur pellets. Cleaning vinegar could have been used as a substitute for battery acid.
Marc-Antoine
TreeHouser
Ballsy to do that in the middle of an urban environment.
That could be a new market for all the junkyards
but you can get some unwanted effects with playing with the soil chemistry.
The soil is very good at buffering its PH, so it needs an huge amount of added substances to be effective. The PH rules the availability of the elements for the plants. It may be good for the plants, or not, but it affects physically the behavior of the soil too. The calcium binds with the minerals of the clay, brakes the compactness and makes the soil more granular, which is good for both the drainage and the atmospheric exchanges. The roots prefer that by a long shot. Take out the calcium, the clay returns to its compact state, the soil becomes impermeable and asphyxiating. Most of the plants wouldn't take the prank very well.
Beside, calcium carbonate (limestone) and sulfuric acid makes CO² and gypsum. The last one is more soluble than the limestone and is washed away quicker. The soil is depleted and the water loaded with the gypsum is deemed undrinkable.
I forgot one problem. The sulfuric acid in the batteries is heavily contaminated by lead. Many ones would object to dump it the environment.
That could be a new market for all the junkyards
but you can get some unwanted effects with playing with the soil chemistry.The soil is very good at buffering its PH, so it needs an huge amount of added substances to be effective. The PH rules the availability of the elements for the plants. It may be good for the plants, or not, but it affects physically the behavior of the soil too. The calcium binds with the minerals of the clay, brakes the compactness and makes the soil more granular, which is good for both the drainage and the atmospheric exchanges. The roots prefer that by a long shot. Take out the calcium, the clay returns to its compact state, the soil becomes impermeable and asphyxiating. Most of the plants wouldn't take the prank very well.
Beside, calcium carbonate (limestone) and sulfuric acid makes CO² and gypsum. The last one is more soluble than the limestone and is washed away quicker. The soil is depleted and the water loaded with the gypsum is deemed undrinkable.
I forgot one problem. The sulfuric acid in the batteries is heavily contaminated by lead. Many ones would object to dump it the environment.
Last edited:
Treeaddict
Treehouser
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #7
Yeah, the sulfuric acid/electrolyte solution I’ve added to a battery to bring it online is much different than the solution that comes out of a used battery.
Nutball
TreeHouser
Gypsum is bad? I thought it was a common soil amendment to help with water penetration, so that fertilizer can soak in better and seeds can take root more easily.
A week ago I added just a little bit of cleaning vinegar to a watering can with miracle grow to water someslow growing yellowish watermelon plants I recently planted. The next day they were getting greener, and a week later they are dark green and growing much faster.
A week ago I added just a little bit of cleaning vinegar to a watering can with miracle grow to water someslow growing yellowish watermelon plants I recently planted. The next day they were getting greener, and a week later they are dark green and growing much faster.
Altissimus
TreeHouser
Tom Dunlap ... love love loved it when Butch called him a Caulk Soccer
im sure ive called him worse lol
Altissimus
TreeHouser
Master Blaster Banned because of it ... it's really very funny
Marc-Antoine
TreeHouser
I looked at it and you are right. I wasn't aware of this use. I guess that the good/bad boils down to the amount involved and the soil's parameters.
Treeaddict
Treehouser
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #14
I believe the post was more detailing a one off experiment rather than advocating the use of battery acid to amend soil pH. I thought the results were interesting.
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