Originally Posted by Richard

Our soil and water here is a bit alkaline: for many people the result of watering the native soil is a pH of 7.2 to 7.4. I've visited homes where they applied coffee grounds once per month on top of their mulch once per month. I think they were applying about a cup per plant per month. At some point several months later the plants begin to fry and upon testing the soil, I find the pH is 5 or lower. That was easy to correct with some liquid gypsum and the plants (most recently, roses) recovered in two months. But why torture your plants? Get a pH probe and test the soil once a month in between waterings. Your goal is to keep the pH between 6.0 and 6.5.

By the way, the Banana fertilizer you are using is acid forming, so definitely test the soil to see if additional acid is needed.