# Applying Citric Acid - A Different Way



## JLavoe (Jun 8, 2020)

Sharing my method of applying citric acid.

Just a little background: Common bermuda, Sonoran Desert, no rain, no in ground irrigation. I am at the mercy of my water hose. High pH with very high sodium levels.. obviously coming from my water supply.



I treat 2700sq ft in my front yard with 1lb/M (sq ft). So I weigh out the necessary poundage of dry citric acid.


Rule of thumb is no more than 4lbs dissolved in a gallon of water. I dump my citric into an old 1gal countertop dispenser, and fill it up with water.. mix thoroughly. (I know it's actually less than a gallon of water I'm putting in, but it's because less is needed for 2.7lbs.)





So now, this 1 gallon of solution will be sprayed in 4 rounds, by filling up my hose end 4 times. 1 fill up covers the entire area with 1 pass. Each fill up I walk in a different direction and cover as best as I can. I use the shower spray pattern.



A very important part of this is the output setting. 2oz/G setting is the safest considering the heat I deal with, greatly reducing the risk of burn compared to spraying from a tank/backpack. I have an Ortho, but I'm sure a Chapin or Chameleon would work well.. as long as you can adjust the flow as shown.


Once all of the citric acid solution is down, the real work begins. I stay an extra hour hand watering the area to help get the solution into the soil and off of the foliage. I estimate maybe a 1/4 inch gets put down throughout the 2700sq ft in the hour I'm out there. I highly recommend one of these Underhill Rainbow nozzles, does a great job of putting out water without restricting any flow. Perfect for residential water pressures.



After the hand watering, it's time to move sprinklers. I use a variety of different hose end oscillating and impact sprinklers to take care of my watering. It takes a few hours, but I put them out in a way where I can get down a full inch of water all over.

*Very important to put down at least 1 inch of water after citric acid applications.* Treating soil with citric acid liberates magnesium and calcium which can become toxic to the grass if not flushed down with plenty of water. In my case, it also gets sodium out of the cation exchange sites and into solution. Water leaches all of these out before it causes problems.

Ideally, you could hose end citric acid in the rain (sounds fun), or run your irrigation immediately after spraying. In my situation, this is the best I can do for applications. I understand this is time consuming, but it's only 2 or 3 times a month when I do this. I happen to always be watering, which helps. Spraying early in the morning before the sun is out definitely helps mitigate burn, however the 2oz setting seems to be enough to do that.

This is definitely a unique method to put down citric acid, but it has been working well for me. I hope it helps someone out there in a similar situation.

I need to install irrigation. pls halp


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## corneliani (Apr 2, 2019)

You seem to have this system down to a science bro. &#128077;

How often do you do this? Any measurable impact from it?


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## JLavoe (Jun 8, 2020)

@corneliani Thanks! I try to do it at least twice a month.. making sure I have the time to put down the necessary water. I've done a 1:1 paste test with litmus paper and it read 6.4 pH.. but it's only a temporary drop in order to allow the elemental sulfur to do it's thing in the soil. I'll end up taking another Melich test in the winter to see how much I've moved the needle.


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## Bbcamillo (Jun 26, 2019)

Thanks for posting this!

I had never thought of the 4 fill up/4 entire property passes application. Is there a reason not to break in up into sections or does this way just make more sense for your property layout?

Thanks


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## JLavoe (Jun 8, 2020)

@Bbcamillo This makes the most sense to me. If I were to break it up into sections, I'd have to measure and mix for each section I would be spraying.

Being that it's a long process, a 1 time mix of soltution is easier IMO.


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## Boy_meets_lawn (Sep 27, 2020)

Nice post and methodology. I put down 1/2 lb citric acid per 1k via 12 gallon sprayer and irrigated immediately after but I might try this next time. I'm definitely more concerned applying CA vs any of the other chems I spray on the yard.


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## JLavoe (Jun 8, 2020)

@Boy_meets_lawn Yes, the heat definitely plays a factor here. I guess you could theoretically "spoon feed" citric acid at lower rates more often.. but I'm not sure if that would change the amount of water needed to flush everything down. If it's still 1 inch, it wouldn't make sense to apply less than 1lb/M at a time.

@Greendoc thoughts on this?


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## TheLawnSauce (Jun 21, 2021)

Thanks @JLavoe for directing me here from Thirsty Thursdays . I use an orhto for my CA apps also. I have 1200 sqft. Of zoysia in Hawaii with a soil pH 7.8 pH tested back in April 2021. I dump a lb of CA, fill up the ortho w/ hot water, and stir it up. I set the dial to 6oz and disburse to my lawn evenly. Right Afterwards I irrigate about 3/4"-1" of water and for the next couple of days. My soil is high in magnesium, and mostly everything else.
I also have a lot of inherent sulfur in my soil, however earlier this year I applied approx 5lbs of powdered sulfur (with the ortho dial-n-spray). I've been applying CA once a month for the majority of this year however I just stepped up my CA apps to ever two weeks. I'll be doing another soil test in early Jan 2022 to measure my progress. Meanwhile I just bought some pool test strips to monitor the pH of my water supply.


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## JLavoe (Jun 8, 2020)

helloitsmeagain

Just here to provide an update on my pH adjustment program. Below is a test from this year with last year's test side by side.



Biggest things to note are 0.5pt pH drop and Sodium is cut down by almost half. Magnesium down 12ppm and Calcium is up a few hundred.. this is due to the solubilized Ca being removed from the CEC sites and still sitting in the soil, waiting to be leached out.

HOLLA!


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