Killed my sweet potatoes, how to make soil acidic??

[Amanda]

So, I got my sweet potatoes from steeleplantcompany (they actually doubled my order for free), and I planted them the day after they arrived. They looked fine when they arrived, but as soon as I planted them they basically died. I think the problem was that I forgot to check the pH --my soil is 7 and sweet potatoes apparently like acidic soil.

Does anyone know how to make soil acidic?

[ImaCannin]

I could never grow sweet potatoes. They always died on me! ��

[woodman]

I have read that coffee grounds are effective. I also see that elemental sulpher and high nitrogen fertilizers such as urea will do it. You can get test kits at garden shops.

[Amanda]

Yes, I have a test kit, but forgot to use it until after the fact.

Yes, saw that about coffee grounds, and even more for diluted coffee--I watered them with coffee/water all yesterday. I'll check again today, but I think it's impossible to save them. I'll just have to work on the soil. I've also seen that about sulphur- so I'll have to try that.

[hoarder]

Not an expert here, but i think most people use peat moss to make soil more acidic. My regular taters are growing in some now.

[Amanda]

Sweet potatoes came back to life (they seriously looked dead). I think it was a combo of the soil not being the right pH and the weather (it wasn't too warm when I planted them). They seriously looked dead, but I was too lazy to dig them out. Even though they looked completely dead, I decided to water them with 50/50 water/coffee (I read somewhere that that is a way to make the soil more acidic). Anyway, once the weather got warmer, they came back to life.

[woodman]

Sweet potatoes came back to life (they seriously looked dead). I think it was a combo of the soil not being the right pH and the weather (it wasn't too warm when I planted them). They seriously looked dead, but I was too lazy to dig them out. Even though they looked completely dead, I decided to water them with 50/50 water/coffee (I read somewhere that that is a way to make the soil more acidic). Anyway, once the weather got warmer, they came back to life.
Well, I can tell you this: I water myself every morning with 100% coffee and it brings me back to life.

ETA: I am told I am already too acidic.