How do I change my pink hygragea blue?

Question

When I was a kid I'd always heard you could put a penny in the ground, but I just googled it and found nothing.
Can anyone tell me the easiest way, or have you ever had success with a penny?
Thank you.

I just found some soil acidifier, says it lowers ph and is for all acid loving plants, hygragea is one that is listed on the box, would that do it?

I like the epsom salt idea, I've never seen directions on the box though. Will I just sprinkle it on or put in a watering can? How often?

Answer 1

Hydrangeas will turn blue if you give them a more acid soil. Try Miracid plant food.

Answer 2

You need to find out what your soil pH is. An acidic soil is what you need. Flower color is determined by soil acidity. You can buy a "bluing additive" at a garden center or use Epsom salt (magnesium sulfate). The directions are on the box. Both lower the pH of the soil, the Epsom salt is much cheaper.

Answer 3

Michael Dirr, professor of Horticulture at University of Georgia : “Although pH is often listed as the agent of color change, it is actually an instigator of (a precursor to) the process. If soils are acid, aluminum is available; if more alkaline, then aluminum is tied up in insoluble forms and not readily available for uptake. So the true story is that high acidity, i.e., low pH, solubilizes (or makes available) aluminum; the reverse occurs at low acidity (high alkalinity), i.e., high pH.” He says that in his opinion, any Hydrangea with a blue or pink sepal color can be changed. (1)Adding lime to your soil to help raise the pH & turns hydranga pink. White hydrangeas stay white whether the soil is acid or basic.

Several sources say you can replenish minerals that have been leached out of the soil with aluminum sulfate, ammonium sulfate, epsom salts and iron sulfate.

If your hydrangea is not turning blue as fast as you would like, try adding aluminum sulfate to the soil around your plant, and make sure that you water it in well. To make the aluminum available to the plant, the pH of the soil should be low (5.2-5.5). Adding aluminum sulfate will tend to lower the pH. Another method for lowering the pH is to add organic matter to the soil such as coffee grounds, fruit and vegetable peels, grass clippings, etc.

The choice of fertilizer you use will affect the color change. Fertilizer low in phosphorus and high in potassium is helpful in producing a good blue color. A fertilizer with a ratio of 25-5-30 is good (potassium is the last number). (2)

One source says to add "Two tablespoons Epsom Salts around each plant every 6 weeks during the growing season". (3) Another source says to use a granular fertilizer with a tablespoon of Epsom salts. (4)

"The name "Epsom salts" comes from a bitter saline spring at Epsom, England. The water there contains magnesium sulfate in solution. "Salt" is just a chemistry word for the product of a reaction between an acid and a base.
When the ions of Epsom salt disassociate, they have a negligible effect on the pH of the soil. Since the blue color of a hydrangea is formed by aluminum made available in an acid soil, adding Epsom salts would not make your flowers change color. Alum (aluminum sulfate) is acidifying and would give the effect you want at 2 tablespoons per gallon per plant per year."(5)

So start out by adding some pine needles & acidic matter to your soil, give it a fertilizer with a ratio of 25-5-30 (low in phosphorus and high in potassium) & if that doesn't work...add aluminum sulfate.

Go ahead & use the soil acidifier that you've found. Follow the directions on the box. If it's also a fertilizer, that might be all you need for now, along with giving your soil some acidic organic matter (like pine needles &coffee grounds), & some ground up banana peels (to increase the Potassium).

Answer 4

If you want a cheap way to change your pH in the soil, try using left over coffee, or coffee grounds, I just throw my leftovers onto my acid loving plants and I don't have to mess with buying any amendments to the soil.

Answer 5

Q. How can I change the color of my hydrangeas.

Hydrangeas are fascinating in that, unlike most other plants, the color of their flowers can change dramatically.

It would be nice if one could change the color of hydrangeas as easily as it changes in this little picture. But it is NOT easy. The people who have the most controll over the color of their hydrangeas are those who grow them in containers. It is much easier to control or alter the pH of the soil in a container than it is in the ground.

On the other hand, hydrangeas often change color on their own when they are planted or transplanted. They are adjusting to the new environment. It is not unusual to see several different colors on one shrub the next year after planting.

It is much easier to change a hydrangea from pink to blue than it is from blue to pink. Changing a hydrangea from pink to blue entails adding aluminum to the soil. Changing from blue to pink means subtracting aluminum from the soil or taking it out of reach of the hydrangea.

That said, I'll give the best information that I have on this subject and let you take it from there.

Answer 6

The easiest way is to mix blue dye with water and dose it! It may be cheating but bill clinton was a president and he cheated! If the ex prime minister for USA can cheat then it must be ok... (ok thats a crap rationalisition but i couldnt think of anything funnier)

Answer 7

they like acidy soil, the more acidic the bluer they will get.

Answer 8

IT DOES HAVE TO DO WITH THE SOIL AND HOW MUCH ACID YOU HAVE, DIFFERENT SOIL, DIFFERENT COLORS***