Acid

Okay, looked up a few places as alternative sources for sulfuric acid. 

OReilly auto parts have a 5 gal container for under $25 before tax. That's a good price, long as it's not recycled. (Recycled battery acid has lead contamination, no good for gardening.) pick one of those up next paycheck. It may have to be ordered. The iPad version of their site is pretty buggy and I couldn't determine if they keep it in stock.

I let the sprinklers run for a long time today, until both worked sides of the garden were completely saturated. Completely necessary after all the tilling to be sure the sodium is leached out of the very top soil and hopefully much deeper than that. Think the gypsum and acid treatments will also help with that. But the water is still necessary or the salt doesn't really go any place. Gypsum may do some good near the surface but the acid also needs water to spread through the soil.

I have read some postings online that say sulfuric acid does not last very long in the soil. Probably some truth to that, in and of itself. That is, if that is the only step you are taking to increase acidity. However, when coupled with increasing organic material, gypsum, sulfur and iron, the result tends to be increasing the beneficial environment for microbes and worms which produce more acid on an ongoing basis. Even just considering the effects of dissolving clay and leaching salt improves conditions. So it's not as simple as the acid being there and then gone. It's also helpful in my case to kill weeds while simultaneously treating the soil. (Note that it does kill some weeds while just making soil more fertile for other weeds. Those have to be dealt with separately.)

Okay, that's enough for one day. Going to get to bed. I will be working tomorrow, so won't be writings so much.