Correct PH for growing in soil

Tim Fox

Well-Known Member
my grow box was sitting empty while I have been caring for my sick wife ( she has lyme), and some friends here on rollitup who live near me gave me these 2 little plants that had already been started in flower, they were gifts so i named them the orphans and I have finished flowering them, sure my next grow I will veg and maybe scrog to fill the grow box, I have some donkey kong clones on order and I am told they are about ready, but they will be in the same fox farms soil, and I wanted to make sure I didnt screw those up , so better to ask soil questions now and hopefully with everyones good advice I can have a really good run on the next go around, years ago when i grew it was in hydro and that is what I remember well, this dirt stuff I like the stealth of it and i like not carrying gallons of water around the house, so I thank you in advance for helping me
 

old shol4evr

Well-Known Member
fox farm ocean forest is a great choice friend,you shouldnt need any nutrient for 3 or 4 weeks,what have you decided for after that,just mt opinion but i use kelp4less grow pack,has a grow and bloom pack start to finish in what ever medium you choice, easy as shit 1 tabelspoon per gallon ppm is already adjusted for what ever the stage your in,i have dealt with them a lot ,if you look them up,you will see what im talking about and if you order use coupon code oldskol4evr for 10% off .
what i like about them is the grow pack is for veg and bloom every week ,what ever week your in the ppm is dead on ,i dont know about you but less problems is good for me,i keep my room and enviroment the same it keeps condition stable and no hermie problems.you have a good grow friend hope every thing works out great for you however you go
 

JellyJaguar

Well-Known Member
I live in Oregon and well water is typically hard. Meaning high levels of dissolved solids. Calcium to be specific.
Type of lighting doesn't dictate weather you need more or less nutrients. So that was bad advice.
At 8 weeks just water with tap water for a week or two and harvest.
I could be wrong on this but don't leds need 1/2 or 1/4 the nutes?
 

Semper.Fi

Well-Known Member
Nice 1 . . .. do NOT feed them anymore . . . . . make 4 times the volume of 6.6ph water to your pot size and flush it through . . . .try to leave it as long as possible till you harvest, a drier root ball when you chop = slightly more even and shorter drying times . . . ..

Thanks Man, the next time around is about to happen, these ones are so very close to getting hung up, and the new clones are rooted and ready for delivery
 

Tim Fox

Well-Known Member
Thank-you, I think your right on with the flush advice, they really could go another week what I really needed to know you and another guy here have said is the pH for this fox farm needs to be 6.6 so my 5.8 out of the tap is to low
Nice 1 . . .. do NOT feed them anymore . . . . . make 4 times the volume of 6.6ph water to your pot size and flush it through . . . .try to leave it as long as possible till you harvest, a drier root ball when you chop = slightly more even and shorter drying times . . . ..
 

Tim Fox

Well-Known Member
I'll get a ppm on my nutes, and a soil pH reading if I can in the morning, I won't feed them anymore of the nutes though but I can dig up the data , for those who asked, I have a ppm meter just have not used it yet
 

Semper.Fi

Well-Known Member
That's all good m man. . .

If you have a hydro store near you and they have a flushing agent:

GH Florakleen or Cannaflush, it'll assist in the removal of the salts that have caused the lock out in the first place, probably weeks ago . . . .


Would love to see a pic of your run off . . . .


Thank-you, I think your right on with the flush advice, they really could go another week what I really needed to know you and another guy here have said is the pH for this fox farm needs to be 6.6 so my 5.8 out of the tap is to low



Note to all, there are other good flushing agents on the market, I only have experience in the ones I type about . . . .
 
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Semper.Fi

Well-Known Member
Any chance of talking in EC please?? It's universal, ppm is a calculation based on EC; I simply can not be bothered to work it out, in order to assist you . . . .

I'll get a ppm on my nutes, and a soil pH reading if I can in the morning, I won't feed them anymore of the nutes though but I can dig up the data , for those who asked, I have a ppm meter just have not used it yet
 

Dr. Who

Well-Known Member
@Tim Fox
Did you ever say WHAT you were feeding it?
How much?
How often?

The plant looks like an Auto with it's shown problems (common in auto's).
Auto's can be quite fussy. I don't do auto's and even give away the freebie auto seeds......I don't have time for them..

Wow, The answers for pH in soil are not the best....

First off you listed Si as being used....That is a powerful pH up...Not only that, Si is already IN your soil.....The use of Si in soil is not a big need....It's more a Hydro thing as 98% of all nutrient lines for hydro don't have enough, they can't. Si must be separately bottled. Si reacts with the bottled nutrients and creates lock outs (I suspect that is where yours came from. By adding what was not really needed/ causing an excess-blocking out Ca, Zn, Mg and allowing too much P. You MUST add Si first to your water and mix well before the nutrients as this will many times cause those lock outs).

If cared for right, even synthetic runs do not need to be pH'ed in soil. Soil self pH's.

The pH of the run off is NOT the pH of the soil! It is the pH of the run off and while you can learn to GUESS the pH of the soil from the run off....it will be a hit or miss thing for several reasons. pHing soil accurately is not easy with the low end meters you get in a grow shop.....The REAL pH meters used by those who REALLY need them cost over 1.2 - 4K each! Getting the same reading every day is next to, if not impossible!
When you water soil grows. The pH will swing sharply one way. As the soil dries it swings back the other. (Natures way of allowing for the best uptake of available nutrition from that pH scale above). Now then, to get that "same reading" day to day. You would have to take it at exactly the same time and water at exactly the same time. The temp would have to be exactly the same as would the RH in the grow......Each of these factors effect the soil's pH from small to large amounts.....How do you get consistency in soil? The soil it's self supplies it to the plant as it needs it by bio interaction between the plant and the soil.....

Do not "flush"....You can cause more problems faster then fixing a pH lock out....Simply water it out by watering plain Ph'ed to 6.5 water with some of that "zyme" in there for a week to 10 days in veg or early to mid bloom. You will look for the "fix" in the new growth being healthy and normal......Damaged leaves never revert to normal. Only N problems in leaves "recover".

Unfortunately, your near the finish. Your best bet is to simply water it with that 6.5 water till harvest and call it good.

When you transplant the seedling into your chosen soil. Add some Myco's to it. Use a "zyme" product like from Canna or Hesi. Most nutrient makers have one. They will keep that micro heard of bio's in the soil there.....This will help the soil pH it's self.

If you feel you must pH feeds and waters......simply pH all ingoing to 6.5 and forget the pH of the soil!

FFOF is a fair soil....I don't like it.....to many pests come with it sometimes.....They do make it from wild forest soils and add things.....The wild part is were the pests come from...not all the time,,but to damn much for me.....I make my own water only SS and go from there.

If you do choose FFOF,,,,,add some Oyster shell at like 1/4 cup per cubic foot and mix in well, as I don't feel the dolomite they add lasts long enough. Dolo is HIGH in Mag and fast release. So let your plant dry out pretty good between watering/feeding to help reduce the Mg uptake a tic...Oyster is a bit more long term and will help better with pH control..

FFOF is light on Perlite. Add about 1/8 to 1/4 by volume...

Doc
 
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Tim Fox

Well-Known Member
@Tim Fox
Did you ever say WHAT you were feeding it?
How much?
How often?

The plant looks like an Auto with it's shown problems (common in auto's).
Auto's can be quite fussy. I don't do auto's and even give away the freebie auto seeds......I don't have time for them..

Wow, The answers for pH in soil are not the best....

First off you listed Si as being used....That is a powerful pH up...Not only that, Si is already IN your soil.....The use of Si in soil is not a big need....It's more a Hydro thing as 98% of all nutrient lines for hydro don't have enough, they can't. Si must be separately bottled. Si reacts with the bottled nutrients and creates lock outs (I suspect that is where yours came from. By adding what was not really needed/ causing an excess-blocking out Ca, Zn, Mg and allowing too much P. You MUST add Si first to your water and mix well before the nutrients as this will many times cause those lock outs).

If cared for right, even synthetic runs do not need to be pH'ed in soil. Soil self pH's.

The pH of the run off is NOT the pH of the soil! It is the pH of the run off and while you can learn to GUESS the pH of the soil from the run off....it will be a hit or miss thing for several reasons. pHing soil accurately is not easy with the low end meters you get in a grow shop.....The REAL pH meters used by those who REALLY need them cost over 1.2 - 4K each! Getting the same reading every day is next to, if not impossible!
When you water soil grows. The pH will swing sharply one way. As the soil dries it swings back the other. (Natures way of allowing for the best uptake of available nutrition from that pH scale above). Now then, to get that "same reading" day to day. You would have to take it at exactly the same time and water at exactly the same time. The temp would have to be exactly the same as would the RH in the grow......Each of these factors effect the soil's pH from small to large amounts.....How do you get consistency in soil? The soil it's self supplies it to the plant as it needs it by bio interaction between the plant and the soil.....

Do not "flush"....You can cause more problems faster then fixing a pH lock out....Simply water it out by watering plain Ph'ed to 6.5 water with some of that "zyme" in there for a week to 10 days in veg or early to mid bloom. You will look for the "fix" in the new growth being healthy and normal......Damaged leaves never revert to normal. Only N problems in leaves "recover".

Unfortunately, your near the finish. Your best bet is to simply water it with that 6.5 water till harvest and call it good.

When you transplant the seedling into your chosen soil. Add some Myco's to it. Use a "zyme" product like from Canna or Hesi. Most nutrient makers have one. They will keep that micro heard of bio's in the soil there.....This will help the soil pH it's self.

If you feel you must pH feeds and waters......simply pH all ingoing to 6.5 and forget the pH of the soil!

FFOF is a fair soil....I don't like it.....to many pests come with it sometimes.....They do make it from wild forest soils and add things.....The wild part is were the pests come from...not all the time,,but to damn much for me.....I make my own water only SS and go from there.

If you do choose FFOF,,,,,add some Oyster shell at like 1/4 cup per cubic foot and mix in well, as I don't feel the dolomite they add lasts long enough. Dolo is HIGH in Mag and fast release. So let your plant dry out pretty good between watering/feeding to help reduce the Mg uptake a tic...Oyster is a bit more long term and will help better with pH control..

FFOF is light on Perlite. Add about 1/8 to 1/4 by volume...

Doc
General hydroponics bloom nutes, cal mag liquid, silica liquid, following directions on bottles for one gallon, pH of nutes tested in the one gallon jug after mixed together, pH comes out to 5.8 After ymixing
 

Tim Fox

Well-Known Member
I am using a moisture meter and only watering feeding when meter shows the soil has dried back out somewhat, usually every 4 days sometimes there days
 

whitebb2727

Well-Known Member
That 5.8 is your problem. At most make sure water going in has proper pH. Run off pH will not give you the proper pH of the soil. Testing run off can be misleading.

I would do as already stated. Get a container with four times the amount of water to soil, pH it and flush.

A proper soil will buffer pH. Just make sure the water you are putting in is not one extreme or the other.
 

Dr. Who

Well-Known Member
I am using a moisture meter and only watering feeding when meter shows the soil has dried back out somewhat, usually every 4 days sometimes there days
Water less.....staying wet too long. No run off!
Refer to my first post...don't "flush" - water it out.

Doc
 
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