Renee; UR: Lets talk acid! ...Soil acidity that is...

I know that last week I mentioned such things as graphs being blogged about this week; however, I thought that the wonderful question that I received concerning soil pH deserved a thorough answer.
... it was also a very busy week and I hate to admit but sieving my samples to send to UF was all I was able to get done So far as project based work is concerned.

Q. Jacob sec. 65. 
why are you soils so acidic? That seems really low to me like nothing should be able to live there. Are Florida soils typically this acidic?

A: I love this question! The diversity of kingdom Plantae is one of the things that has captivated me about plants and is well illustrated in how plants have adapted to live in pretty much every sort of soil on earth.

Please be aware that this map was created in 1998. It is a
beautiful map and I included it because I did not find
anything recent that was significantly different.
(click for bigger image, it's totally worth it!)

First, most soil in the southern US is indeed acidic. Perhaps not always as acidic as we see in my samples but still under 7.0pH.

A huge contributor to the acidic soil in the south is the decay of organic material which produces hydrogen ions which in turn lower soil pH. This is very true at my site which has been thick with pine trees which continually shed and renew their needles for over a century. The sphagnum moss which grows thickly in the wetland soil also contributes to the high amount of decaying organic mater at my site location.
For a more in depth but easily understood explanation of acidic soil causes check out Jeff Ball's article on The Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation website. The article is about both soil acidity and "correcting" it with lime. If the acidity explanation was not so good I wouldn't recommend it... Please note that I do NOT condone liming(the practice of adding lime to soil to raise the pH for the purpose of growing plants that do not tolerate acidic soils particularly grass and food) 

Here in Florida where a lot of our native flora (plants) prefer our naturally acidic soil the habits of various farmers and home owners working hard to change the soil to fit their needs have put added stress on our native friends. Which is totally not cool.

Moving on, Sarracenia minor(hooded pitcher plant) is recommended to be potted in a sphagnum moss and perlite mix of between 5.0pH and 3.0pH by Plant Delights nursery who have some of the best exotic plant overviews I've ever seen on the web. As we saw last week in my blog the acidity hovered in the 3pH block dropping as low as 2.87 making this rather acidic.

Keep in mind that the 5-3pH recommended by the nursery is for potted plants. Natural soils are effected by a wider range of pH changing factors so such as leeching. Also projected preference zones are subjective to some degree. Plants like all life are often surprising and will persevere in conditions outside preference parameters.

Now for a fun, fascinating and thought provoking cluster of facts:

The hooded pitcher plant is not the only plant whole likes acidic soils. The long leaf pines for which the preserve where my site is located was named also love the acidic conditions.

The magical hydrangea! The colors are NOT
different varieties but different pHs! 

Other plants get complicated with their soil pH. The hydrangea is a fantastic example! Their preferences are broad: any pH between 4 and 7 makes for very happy hydrangeas; however, the owner may prefer hydrangeas in acidic soil which produce blue flowers while the neighbors may prefer pretty pink flowers grown in basic soil. 

I personally prefer the lovely shades of purple in the 5/6pH area.

Before I head to bed I'd like to issue a thought challenge:

All of you clever Oceanography and Aquatics students out there who have grass google the pH preference of your grass variety. Write that down. Now considering the soil map above and the pH guidelines from Plant Delights for pitcher plants think about two questions:

How natural might the soil beneath your grass be? Why do you think this?

And based on the pH criteria alone could pitcher plant grow successfully in your yard? Again, why?