by: Charlene Rennick
Have you ever wondered why the “p” in “pH” is a lower-case letter while the “H” is capitalized? What does it mean?
The “p” stands for potential and the “H” stands for Hydrogen. Okay, so that makes it as clear as mud. What is potential Hydrogen? A scientific explanation would state that pH refers to the plant’s ability to attract hydrogen ions. A less scientific explanation says pH is the acid/alkaline balance.
Translated into a language those of us without the Ph D can understand, pH level refers to the amount of acid and alkaline contained inside of both the water and the growing medium or soil. If the environment is too acidic, that means the plant will not attract enough hydrogen, while an environment that is too alkaline will attract too much hydrogen. An environment that continually fluctuates from one extreme on the pH scale to the other is unhealthy for the plant.
Hydrogen is one of four elements any living plant needs to survive. Without hydrogen, the plant would wilt and not be able to take in nutrients. Because the plant contains hydrogen, it continues to absorb hydrogen through the water via a process called osmosis. This hydrogen-osmosis cycle is what keeps the nutrients traveling from the water into the plant. Once a plant has died due to lack of water, there is no amount of water that can be added to it that will cause the plant to be revived.
The level of pH is measured on a scale of 0 to 14 with 0 representing the highest concentration of acid and 14 representative of the most alkaline. Seven is the magic figure for pH because it means that there is a balance of acid and alkaline in the solution and is often referred to as pH neutral. It is usually sufficient to say that a pH neutral environment is perfect for most plants, but some vegetation requires water or a growing medium that is more acidic than alkaline in order to flourish or have the right colour of blossoms, while other plants prefer the opposite. Testing strips for pH can be purchased to determine exactly what the acid/alkaline balance is in your water, growing medium or soil. This makes it easy to adjust the level for home gardeners or for mixing nutrients for your own hydroponic garden.