I bought an electronic soil PH testing probe.. it says my soil ph is almost at 8 which suprises me since i am using 50% perlite and 50% coco....
So this has me thinking i must be seeing nutrient lock out.. which makes sense since i have been giving them nutes... so i need a way to reduce the ph in the soil... i think
Well this is my personal thing right here -
You are using a very fast wicking and dripping substrate. You really do not have to worry about the PH of the substrate. You worry about the PH of the water + nutes. So you want to test the water and the nutes to see if they are level.
Also people tend to worry way too much about PH and mess with it too much.
So if I were you I would water like normal and test the water plus the nutes to make sure that is about 6-7 and then feed as usual. Flushing at a critical time may stunt your plant and I really feel like it will so maybe you should just get the water and the nutes worked out.
Once you start feeding with water + nutes that are level then the substrate will fix itself BECAUSE it is fast wicking and dripping.
Your substrate has nothing in it that will change the PH. There is no compost or any fertilizer.
The only thing you have to worry about is the source of the fertilizer, compost, and the water - that will determine your PH.
Also I don't know crap about hydroponics. I know about soiless and I tested it maybe twice because I used bottled fertz that I purchased that were tested and true. I used bottled spring water to feed them.
Now that I am using my own compost tea - I test the water once brewed with the compost. The soiless mix already comes tested and true. If you mix your own substrate then you need to test that seperately but since you have a substrate that has no fert or compost in it then the likeliness of it being off is not really a worry although just to make sure for your reassurance and to be absolutely positive then you want to test the substrate mix before you start doing your thing. - SHIT actually come to think of it I have not tested my tea yet - my bad.
Also since your substrate is so fast wicking and dripping, anything at all that you feed will react very fast.
Shit like lime and epsom salt is good for soil or stuff with compost because it breaks down at a medium span of time. If you use that in your hydro/soiless mix it may do it way too fast and hard - know what I mean? Again this is my personal opinion and I have never used your substrate, I am just telling you what I know. Also you seem like you are going to figure it so no worries. Don't bug out too much about the PH when there are other concerns that you may want to address to help balance EVERYTHING out. PEACE.
