Part 6
The Importance of Soil pH

A chemical analysis of soil when done is infinitely valuable but still does not give anything resembling a complete picture of the soils worth, for chemistry deals primarily with the dead, not the living.

Soil pH is very important in as much as few plants survive in soil more acidic than pH of 4 or more alkali than pH of 8, this factor is generally ignored in soil testing. The pH of soil is important in a number of ways. It controls availability of phosphorus for as soil acidity increases, phosphorous becomes insoluble and unavailable to plants. On the other hand when soil becomes too alkaline, phosphorous combines with iron and aluminum to form another, different, but still insoluble compound. Thus, you can spend thousands of dollars on fertilizer compounds and do little for production. Soil pH affects many things including soil texture, creatures, microorganisms, and perhaps most important, the quality and quantity of food production. As previously mentioned in part 2, Soil-Aid has a neutralizing effect on soil pH.