Gypsum - stop putting chemicals in your soil!!

[min0r]

I've seen in the past 24 hours atleast 10 posts asking how to down/up your ph.
gypsum is used as a soil amendment, you mix it in with your soil, and you're good to go. it provides calcium, sulfate and is also a soil stablizer. this means that you won't have to ph your water anymore, once you amend.
why is phing a bad thing you may ask?
most the time when you're using phup/down youre causing a problem, rather then fixing one. the ph up/down reagents are not-reliable, and inconsistent alot of the time.
gypsum is organic, as well.
if you hadn't put gypsum in your soil when you first started, that's okay. you can sprinkle it on your topsoil, give her a nice heavy water and you'll be on your way to gypsum heaven.
i HIGHLY suggest anyone that finds ph/up/down confusing, use this product!! it will save you SO much time.

 

[xtsho]

I've seen in the past 24 hours atleast 10 posts asking how to down/up your ph.
gypsum is used as a soil amendment, you mix it in with your soil, and you're good to go. it provides calcium, sulfate and is also a soil stablizer. this means that you won't have to ph your water anymore, once you amend.
why is phing a bad thing you may ask?
most the time when you're using phup/down youre causing a problem, rather then fixing one. the ph up/down reagents are not-reliable, and inconsistent alot of the time.
gypsum is organic, as well.
if you hadn't put gypsum in your soil when you first started, that's okay. you can sprinkle it on your topsoil, give her a nice heavy water and you'll be on your way to gypsum heaven.
i HIGHLY suggest anyone that finds ph/up/down confusing, use this product!! it will save you SO much time.

Another thing is many people are measuring pH from runoff which is completely unreliable. Then they think they have to adjust and then start chasing pH, flushing, etc... Usually there is nothing wrong but for whatever reason they check runoff pH, it's not in the range they think it should be in, they start needlessly worrying about pH. I'm done even talking about that nonsense.

 

[min0r]

Another thing is many people are measuring pH from runoff which is completely unreliable. Then they think they have to adjust and then start chasing pH, flushing, etc... Usually there is nothing wrong but for whatever reason they check runoff pH, it's not in the range they think it should be in, they start needlessly worrying about pH. I'm done even talking about that nonsense.

exactly, a bunch of nonsense for no reason, when you can simply put an amendment in there and never have that problem, or even have to think about ph.

 

[xtsho]

exactly, a bunch of nonsense for no reason, when you can simply put an amendment in there and never have that problem, or even have to think about ph.

Most decent soil already has gypsum or another amendment that does the same thing already in it to begin with.

 

[hotrodharley]

I've seen in the past 24 hours atleast 10 posts asking how to down/up your ph.
gypsum is used as a soil amendment, you mix it in with your soil, and you're good to go. it provides calcium, sulfate and is also a soil stablizer. this means that you won't have to ph your water anymore, once you amend.
why is phing a bad thing you may ask?
most the time when you're using phup/down youre causing a problem, rather then fixing one. the ph up/down reagents are not-reliable, and inconsistent alot of the time.
gypsum is organic, as well.
if you hadn't put gypsum in your soil when you first started, that's okay. you can sprinkle it on your topsoil, give her a nice heavy water and you'll be on your way to gypsum heaven.
i HIGHLY suggest anyone that finds ph/up/down confusing, use this product!! it will save you SO much time.

Applying lime to a soil will raise the pH. The other product we think of with respect to calcium is gypsum, a hydrated form of calcium sulfate (CaSO4 ). Gypsum is neutral in pH, and since it has no carbonate ion as part of its makeup, it will not neutralize acidity.Jun 2, 2014

 

[hotrodharley]

So much for magic gypsum which is only a part of a good mix.

 

[injinji]

You still need to make sure your soil is kinda sorta PH balanced going in. I use lots of coffee grounds in my mix, so I have to offset it with lime. But I do add a goodly amount of gypsum. Used to add powdered sulfur. Now I don't have to. Gypsum is crazy cheap for the amount of good it does. 10 bucks for a 40 pound bag.

 

[dubekoms]

Applying lime to a soil will raise the pH. The other product we think of with respect to calcium is gypsum, a hydrated form of calcium sulfate (CaSO4 ). Gypsum is neutral in pH, and since it has no carbonate ion as part of its makeup, it will not neutralize acidity.Jun 2, 2014

Exactly, its the calcium carbonate in lime that neutralizes the acidity of soil. Gypsum is still a great amendment but won't do shit for ph.

 

[xtsho]

The bottom line is that any good soil pH shouldn't be a problem. If it does become a problem then the grower needs to look at what they're doing. More than likely they're overfeeeding and upsetting the balance of the soil.

You can't just dump a bunch of P & K in flower thinking it's going to give you huge buds and not expect to offset the balance of the soil. I've seen beautiful grows go bad because the grower thought they could get "Massive" increases on yield by dumping a bunch of stuff on the plants. In the end all they did was cause a bunch of stress to their plants and cried about the yellow leaves falling off.

 

[Richard Drysift]

I think a lot of growers don't quite grasp what ph is or actually means. Peeps just want to grow decent bud but don't realize that once your plants are given stuff from a bottle they no longer can feed themselves naturally. Adding nutrients with high numbers can swing ph wildly and piss off the natural fungi that helps absorb what is in the soil through symbiosis. Like everyone is saying a properly limed and fertilized soil will not have absorbtion problems. Plants in a ph balanced soil feed themselves what they need when they need it through cation exchange as opposed to having everything all at once whether it's needed or not. For mostly water only soil growers ph is hardly an afterthought.
I believe it is a side effect of the modern consumer mentality; many of us have become accustomed to simply buying a product to fix a certain problem. For every issue you may have with your plants some asshole has come up with a solution in a bottle.

 

[min0r]

I think a lot of growers don't quite grasp what ph is or actually means. Peeps just want to grow decent bud but don't realize that once your plants are given stuff from a bottle they no longer can feed themselves naturally. Adding nutrients with high numbers can swing ph wildly and piss off the natural fungi that helps absorb what is in the soil through symbiosis. Like everyone is saying a properly limed and fertilized soil will not have absorbtion problems. Plants in a ph balanced soil feed themselves what they need when they need it through cation exchange as opposed to having everything all at once whether it's needed or not. For mostly water only soil growers ph is hardly an afterthought.
I believe it is a side effect of the modern consumer mentality; many of us have become accustomed to simply buying a product to fix a certain problem. For every issue you may have with your plants some asshole has come up with a solution in a bottle.

you're absolutely right on all of that, i appreciate the reply.
a good example is the flushing additives, you don't need them to flush out your system, unless you're in hydro. there's alot of mix up between hydro and horti, which is where people get their information mixed up. there's so much false information all around the internet talking about how much ph/up/down will help, but in reality, it does more harm then good.

 

[Richard Drysift]

you're absolutely right on all of that, i appreciate the reply.
a good example is the flushing additives, you don't need them to flush out your system, unless you're in hydro. there's alot of mix up between hydro and horti, which is where people get their information mixed up. there's so much false information all around the internet talking about how much ph/up/down will help, but in reality, it does more harm then good.

Very true. When someone decides to start growing seems like the last thing they want to do is read a book about it. The internet is designed for little tidbits of information to be exchanged and that's great if you just have a Q or 2 or want to compare results. If peeps really want to know what they are doing go buy a book on growing; & not one you can find someone posted online for free...ya fuckin cheapskates!

 

[min0r]

Very true. When someone decides to start growing seems like the last thing they want to do is read a book about it. The internet is designed for little tidbits of information to be exchanged and that's great if you just have a Q or 2 or want to compare results. If peeps really want to know what they are doing go buy a book on growing; & not one you can find someone posted online for free...ya fuckin cheapskates!

it's not even that they just have to read a book even, the information is way more then freely availible online. especially on these forums, there's alot of great experienced members who have reached out to help me, and actually taught me about all this stuff when i first started back in march. it's all about dedication, when it comes down to it.

 

[toomp]

This thread is reason why you read a book and not go online for info.

Gypsum is not for pH

 

[Kipn]

I've seen in the past 24 hours atleast 10 posts asking how to down/up your ph.
gypsum is used as a soil amendment, you mix it in with your soil, and you're good to go. it provides calcium, sulfate and is also a soil stablizer. this means that you won't have to ph your water anymore, once you amend.
why is phing a bad thing you may ask?
most the time when you're using phup/down youre causing a problem, rather then fixing one. the ph up/down reagents are not-reliable, and inconsistent alot of the time.
gypsum is organic, as well.
if you hadn't put gypsum in your soil when you first started, that's okay. you can sprinkle it on your topsoil, give her a nice heavy water and you'll be on your way to gypsum heaven.
i HIGHLY suggest anyone that finds ph/up/down confusing, use this product!! it will save you SO much time.

i say stop using soil in a indoor grow out side is for soil inside is hydro but i guess people enjoy spending 3 months vegging a plant and wasting allot of power in the process

 

[min0r]

This thread is reason why you read a book and not go online for info.

Gypsum is not for pH

it's not for ph specifically, i'm just stating one of the things it does.

i say stop using soil in a indoor grow out side is for soil inside is hydro but i guess people enjoy spending 3 months vegging a plant and wasting allot of power in the process

i've considered this, but i dont take interest in growing in water. just isn't my thing. i like playing in the soil, it's more natural.

 

[Kipn]

it's not for ph specifically, i'm just stating one of the things it does.


i've considered this, but i dont take interest in growing in water. just isn't my thing. i like playing in the soil, it's more natural.

fair enough

 

[Kingrow1]

I echo what was said on ph by those that know.

Most new growers confuse what is otherwise well known info here.

 

[min0r]

fair enough

i plan to switch over to hydro next grow, not sure if i'm gonna do coco or rdwc, we'll see where the path takes me.

 

[injinji]

This thread is reason why you read a book and not go online for info.

Gypsum is not for pH

It's the fact it is PH neutral that is what makes it so great. You can add it without worrying about how it will change your soil. It is used heavily in peanut growing. It is easier for me to get a ton of it than finding a 40 pound bag.