That greenhouse guy in Boise gave me bad pH advice, lost 12 seedlings

A retired grower at the Boise farmers market told me to stop testing my tap water pH and just add lime to everything. I trusted him because he had this huge setup of tomato plants. Within 3 weeks, 12 of my 16 pepper seedlings showed yellow streaks and stalled out. I finally bought a $14 meter and found my water sits at 8.2, so the lime made it worse. Has anyone else gotten confident but totally wrong tips from older gardeners at markets?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_charlie21d ago

“Just add lime to everything” is one of the wildest things I’ve ever heard, and I’m genuinely shocked a guy with a huge tomato setup would say that. Lime is not a fix-all, it’s a slow release that raises pH even more, and your water at 8.2 is already on the high side. That’s like telling someone to add salt to a dish that’s already too salty, it’s just gonna ruin the whole batch. I get that older growers have experience, but a lot of them got lucky with their local water or soil and never had to adjust for anything else. You spent $14 on a meter and saved your future grows, that’s the real lesson here. Sorry about the 12 seedlings, that’s a rough start but at least you caught it early.

terrybennett20d ago

Honestly, I used to be one of those guys who thought lime was the answer to everything. My grandpa swore by it and I just never questioned it, figured pH was pH. But reading you break down the slow release thing and how it makes high water worse, that actually clicked for me. I never thought about it like salt on a salty dish, that's a perfect way to put it. I've definitely been lucky with my tap water all these years, never had to deal with 8.2. Sorry about your seedlings, that's a harsh way to learn, but you're right, that $14 meter probably just saved you a whole season of headaches.