Overheard two plant nerds arguing about soil pH at the nursery

I was at Armstrong Garden Center in San Diego last Saturday and this couple was going back and forth about whether blueberries need 4.5 or 5.0 pH. They were getting pretty heated over a $12 bag of sulfur. It made me think about how we all get obsessed with tiny details while forgetting to just enjoy the plants, you know? Has anyone else had a weird argument like that in public about something really specific?

3 comments

3 Comments

hugos467d ago

Haven't we all gotten way too worked up over something that literally grows in dirt? I once spent a solid ten minutes arguing with my neighbor about whether you should water succulents from the top or the bottom. We were both wrong, by the way, the real answer is just don't look at them too hard or they'll drown. It's funny how we turn gardening into this competitive sport when the plants themselves are just trying to survive our nonsense.

ross.lily7d ago

Competitive sport" is accurate, but I think the real winner is whoever cares the least. I mean, I've seen people in gardening groups get genuinely nasty over the proper way to prune a tomato plant. Like, is anyone really keeping score here other than the plant itself? @hugos46 you're right that they're just trying to survive our nonsense, but I think half the drama is people wanting to feel superior over something they barely understand. At the end of the day, most of my plants are only alive because I forgot to kill them, not because I followed some internet debate.

finleyl397d ago

Bottom watering works fine, succulents just need the soil to dry out completely between waterings.