How Do I Dye My Hydrangeas Pink?

The color of hydrangea flowers depends on the availability of micronutrient aluminum and soil pH. The more aluminum the plant can absorb from the soil, the closer the pigment molecules in the bracts move together, thus turning the color blue. To make your hydrangea bloom pink, start by ensuring you have bigleaf hydrangea in the pink or blue variety. To change the color of your hydrangeas, dilute vinegar in water before pouring it around the base of your hydrangeas.

Soil pH can be adjusted to affect the bloom color: Soil pH below 6.5 = Blue; Soil pH above 7.5 = Pink/purple; Soil pH 6.5 to 7.5 (neutral) = Purple, or both blue and pink. To make sepals bluer, add crushed eggshells to your soil and mix well. As the eggshells slowly break down, they release calcium carbonate, which slowly raises the pH.

To turn your hydrangea flowers pink, apply lime to your soil, following the recommended dose for the product you purchase. The dose can vary depending on your current pH and the type of soil you have. Sandy soils require less lime than clay soils, so to produce pink hydrangeas, the pH of the soil needs to be high.

Crushed eggshells may also help turn your hydrangeas pink by adding them to your soil and mixing them in well. To change the color of hydrangeas, adjust soil pH levels using fertilizers or organic matter like fruit peels, lawn clipping, and peat. Pink-and-red hydrangeas perk up their color in a soil with a higher pH of about six. To lower the pH, add lime to the soil for pink blooms and add aluminum sulfate for blue blooms.