Gardeners warned against viral lemon hack as it can destroy your plants

10 September 2023 , 08:30

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This zesty trick might damage your plants (Image: Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Whether you're green-thumbed or a gardening novice, even the most low-maintenance plants can be tricky to take care of. There are a range of variables which might contribute to why your plants are struggling: you could be under or over-watering them, giving them too much or too little sun or it could just be a bad range of crops. It's understandable if you want to take on any advice which might make gardening easier.

There are plenty of unusual tips: using coffee grounds to fertilise your plants, cayenne pepper to ward off pests - and even strengthening seedlings with camomile tea. One tip gardeners will tell you to steer clear of, however, is the lemon water hack currently going viral online.

If you've not heard of the lemon water hack before, it's when you dilute some lemon juice in water and use it to water your garden or prized flowers. Sadly, according to HuffPost, if your soil is too alkaline, it can under-develop your plants. The theory behind this viral 'hack' is the acidity of lemon water can rebalance the pH of overly alkaline soil. While it makes sense in theory to lower the pH of your soil using diluted lemon juice, the reality is it could damage your plants.

You probably don't know exactly how alkaline your soil is, or how acidic any given lemon is, so you're unlikely to balance the pH exactly with these imprecise ingredients. In fact, you could very easily add too much acid to your soil, creating a completely different issue: overly acidic soil.

This can 'burn' the plants and create further nutrient deficiencies in the soil. Your plants may start to look yellow or 'splotchy', with cupped leaves. They might even appear scorched. They might not be able to absorb all-important nutrients, which can stunt their growth, and they may even die.

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Before attempting to neutralise your soil, the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) warns that "before adding any acidifying materials you need to check your soil pH to see how much (if any) you need to add." Once you've measured the pH of your soil, the RHS recommends sprinkling a calculated amount of sulphur on your soil, personalised to your specific garden. The earlier you place it in the soil before planting, the better, so avoid adding soil additions close to winter. Summer and spring are the perfect seasons to rebalance your soil.

Do you have any gardening tips you swear by? Let us know in the comments.

Bryony Gooch