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To encourage blue hydrangea flowers, grow the plant in soil that has a pH of 5.2-5.5. If your soil is more alkaline, you can lower the pH by applying Soil Acidifier at the rate specified on the package. Soil pH can also be lowered (more gradually) by applying an acidic organic mulch, such as pine needles or pine bark.
Do coffee grounds make hydrangeas blue?
Some gardeners report success in turning their hydrangeas blue by applying coffee grounds to the soil. The coffee grounds make the soil more acidic, allowing the hydrangea to more easily absorb aluminum. In addition, fruit peels, lawn clippings, peat moss and pine needles, are thought to have a similar effect.
How do I make my hydrangeas blue?
The easiest way to acidify your soil and turn those babies blue is with aluminum sulfate, which can be found at almost any garden center. Mix ¼ oz aluminum sulfate with a gallon of water and soak the soil surrounding your hydrangeas in the spring, as soon as the plant begins to grow.
Will vinegar turn hydrangeas blue?
There is one more trick up the apple cider vinegar sleeve: You can actually change the color of hydrangea flowers from pink to blue. Hydrangea flowers will be pink in alkaline soil, but change to blue in acidic soil. So, mix up some apple cider vinegar and water, and give all the acid-loving plants a treat.
Does Epsom salts make hydrangeas blue?
Epsom salt comes from the reaction of magnesium metal and sulfuric acid. Since the blue color of a hydrangea is formed by aluminum made available in acid soil, adding Epsom salt would not make your flowers change color.
Does baking soda make hydrangeas blue?
Will it Make my Hydrangeas Flowers Change Color? Baking soda is one of the recognised ways to change the color of hydrangeas. This is because baking soda is at the high end of the alkalinity scale. It will alter the pH level in the soil and therefore change the bloom color.
How do I make my hydrangeas purple?
Generally speaking, acidic soil, with a pH lower than 6.0, yields blue or lavender-blue hydrangea blooms. Alkaline soil, with a pH above 7.0, promotes pinks and reds. With a pH between 6 and 7, the blooms turn purple or bluish-pink. To lower your pH, add garden sulfur or aluminum sulfate to your soil.
How do you take care of a blue hydrangea?
Hydrangea Care Tips Water at a rate of 1 inch per week throughout the growing season. Add mulch underneath your hydrangeas to help keep the soil moist and cool. Apply fertilizer based on your specific hydrangeas. Protect against pests and disease by choosing cultivars with resistant traits.
How do you turn green hydrangeas blue?
A high pH makes the soil more alkaline, which will color the hydrangea blooms pink. A low pH makes the soil more acidic, which turns the hydrangea blooms blue. You can change the color of some varieties of hydrangea by adding aluminum sulfate to make the flowers more blue, or by adding dolomite to make them pink.
Do rusty nails make hydrangeas blue?
A rusty nail changes the pH of soil so it is more acidic. This is why rusty nails, saw blades, tin cans or other forms of tin buried among the roots of the hydrangea shrub seem to change the color of the hydrangea to blue.
Can you turn pink hydrangeas blue?
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.
How do I make my endless summer hydrangea blue?
Color Me Blue™ gives you the ability to produce blue hydrangea blooms by adding the natural minerals that acidifies your soil to produce the big blue blooms that you love. Simply add the Color Me Blue™ soil sulphur pellets to your soil around your plants, and enjoy the blue blooms!.
Why is my blue hydrangea turning white?
If your soil is more acidic, pH around or less than 5.5, then your blue hydrangeas stay blue or bluer. White hydrangeas stay white. Don’t even try to alter the soil pH to change the color.
Do coffee grounds help hydrangeas?
If you’re growing hydrangeas, use coffee grounds to affect their color. Coffee grounds add extra acidity to the soil around hydrangeas. Seedlings thrive off the nitrogen content in coffee, so give them a boost by making a natural fertilizer from the grounds.
Why is my endless summer hydrangea not blooming?
There are a few main reasons that you may not see blooms on your hydrangea bushes: sun exposure, over-watering and over-fertilizing. Endless Summer® hydrangeas prefer morning sun and afternoon dappled shade. Also, over-watering and over-fertilizing your plants can inhibit bloom production.
How do I make my hydrangeas green?
With less hours of day light the hydrangea has less energy and the pigments in the flowers that are responsible for the hydrangeas bright colors start to fade which turns the flowers green. Heat and Humidity: In higher temperatures and with greater humidity, hydrangea flowers appear more likely to turn green.
How do you make a hydrangea pink?
How to Turn Hydrangeas Pink. To change hydrangea flowers from blue to pink, you need to remove the aluminum from the soil. The only way to do this is to add garden lime to soil to help raise the pH. Sprinkle 1/2 cup of garden lime per 10 square feet.
