Check PH run off

Anon618

Anon618

Well-Known Member
For everyone growing in soil, please check your PH of the run off water. Once you get your soil PH dialed in you will solve a majority of your plant problems.
 
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Danque

Member
What does the soil runoff tell us exactly? I am trying to figure this out at the moment.

I wanna measure my water going in and my runoff, but how do I make adjustments, and more importantly WHEN should I adjust?
 
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Tim1987

Well-Known Member
It doesnt do SQUAT

Amend your soil.
It ain't hydro!

Waste tells you nothing. Besides if ph is consistent or not.
Any horticultural resource will tell you this too.
 
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Danque

Member
Tim1987 said:
It's not a question of "what ph should my water be".
It's "what's in the soil"?
What are it's amendments?
What was the ph of the SOIL when you planted?
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Okay, So I can do a slurry test on the unused soil, and slurry test on some of the potted soil and then we have something to work with?
 
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Tim1987

Well-Known Member
Danque said:
Okay, So I can do a slurry test on the unused soil, and slurry test on some of the potted soil and then we have something to work with?
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Hell yeah!
That's a great idea.
It's exactly what I would do too.

If you have been phing your water. Ph it the same. Because your test will be more accurate.

TBH I think you may find the ph in your pot. A fair bit lower than the soil, out of the bag.
 
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Danque

Member
Okay, from the bag the soil slurry was 5.7 BUT that's without the extra pumice added.

The soil from the top of the pot was 5.9 and the soil from the bottom was 6.0.
 
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Tim1987

Well-Known Member
Danque said:
Okay, from the bag the soil slurry was 5.7 BUT that's without the extra pumice added.

The soil from the top of the pot was 5.9 and the soil from the bottom was 6.0.
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Plain water man.
No acidic crap.
You didnt need it, in the first place.
You probably needed to lime as well.
It wouldnt be bad scratching some in now.
 
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Danque

Member
It's as plain as I can get it! Distilled from the supermarket. pH 7.5 out of the bottle.

Won't the soil to added drainage ratio change the amount of soil that's dissolving in the water?

Thanks so much for your help!
 
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Tim1987

Well-Known Member
Danque said:
It's as plain as I can get it! Distilled from the supermarket. pH 7.5 out of the bottle.

Won't the soil to added drainage ratio change the amount of soil that's dissolving in the water?

Thanks so much for your help!
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Theyll love the fresh water. Dont worry.

Not a problem.

Good luck.
 
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Tim1987

Well-Known Member
Danque said:
It's as plain as I can get it! Distilled from the supermarket. pH 7.5 out of the bottle.

Won't the soil to added drainage ratio change the amount of soil that's dissolving in the water?

Thanks so much for your help!
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Sorry.
Yeah the lime will be fine.

Say if its a 5 gallon. Top feed it 2-3 tblsp of lime. Water it in.
Possibly do it again, a week or, two later.

Shouldnt affect drainage, or aeration much at all.
By the sounds of the pumice etc. There should be plenty of drainage.

Good luck.
Make sure you update the thread.
 
xtsho

xtsho

Well-Known Member
Anon618 said:
For everyone growing in soil, please check your PH of the run off water. Once you get your soil PH dialed in you will solve a majority of your plant problems.
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Checking the Ph of runoff in soil is pointless. The amendments being washed out of the soil and concentrated in the runoff are not necessarily representative of the Ph at the root zone. Worry about what goes in and you shouldn't have any issues. The problem comes when people dump numerous bottles of additives/junk on their plants creating a toxic environment in the soil that locks out nutrients. Chasing PH of the runoff isn't going to solve the root cause of most peoples problems which is over feeding with too many unnecessary additives.
 
Anon618

Anon618

Well-Known Member
xtsho said:
Checking the Ph of runoff in soil is pointless. The amendments being washed out of the soil and concentrated in the runoff are not necessarily representative of the Ph at the root zone. Worry about what goes in and you shouldn't have any issues. The problem comes when people dump numerous bottles of additives/junk on their plants creating a toxic environment in the soil that locks out nutrients. Chasing PH of the runoff isn't going to solve the root cause of most peoples problems which is over feeding with too many unnecessary additives.
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I dont really know how you can say this. If your plant is showing issues and you dont know that the soil you are using has a low PH how will you solve the problem. If your showing a deficiency in Ca , P or K and you throw more at it not knowing your roots are locked out, all you will do is make the problem worse.

Sometimes i find that people just want to go against what is said on this board. I had this issue, and adding dolomite lime to my soil helped balance the PH.

Before checking my run off, i had no clue my ph coming out was 5.2 , so throwing 6.5 ph water at it did zero and the problem continued until i added dolimite lime to the soil to raise the PH. Once i did i noted that PH runoff was around 6.2 and now i have happy plants.
 
Anon618

Anon618

Well-Known Member
Im not growing in professional soil that is made for marijuana plants. These plants are tough as hell, you can bend and break them and they will shake it off like its nothing, but if your PH is off, you are screwed.
 
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Tim1987

Well-Known Member
Anon618 said:
I dont really know how you can say this. If your plant is showing issues and you dont know that the soil you are using has a low PH how will you solve the problem. If your showing a deficiency in Ca , P or K and you throw more at it not knowing your roots are locked out, all you will do is make the problem worse.

Sometimes i find that people just want to go against what is said on this board. I had this issue, and adding dolomite lime to my soil helped balance the PH.

Before checking my run off, i had no clue my ph coming out was 5.2 , so throwing 6.5 ph water at it did zero and the problem continued until i added dolimite lime to the soil to raise the PH. Once i did i noted that PH runoff was around 6.2 and now i have happy plants.
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Use a soil specific test kit. They're cheap too.

Man was growing in soil way before water.

Id say testing ph of soil has been around for centuries.
Would you like me to do a search for you. To prove it?
Or you can search yourself.
 
Anon618

Anon618

Well-Known Member
Tim1987 said:
Use a soil specific test kit. They're cheap too.

Man was growing in soil way before water.

Id say testing ph of soil has been around for centuries.
Would you like me to do a search for you. To prove it?
Or you can search yourself.
Click to expand...
idk what you are trying to say. you are agreeing with me that soil ph is important, but i feel like now your are talking down to me. big surprise on this board. ill move on.
 
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