Do you check ph in soil?

C

chronnie49

Well-Known Member
I have always made sure to check ph for my water and nutes and adjust accordingly. I live in europe now and a lot of people here say that isnt necessary to adjust ph in soil.

I am using biobizz light mix with megacrop nutes and decided to see if not adjusting ph would make a difference. Unfortunately Ive had some deficiencies which doesnt happen to me often so I am pretty sure its caused by some nutrients being locked out due to improper ph.

So do you guys adjust ph in soil or peat based mixes with synthetic nutes or no?
 
tiltswitch

tiltswitch

Well-Known Member
Bio bizz is not soil its a soil less mix.i use it and always ph but I know people who dont ph without detrimental effects
 
Moflow

Moflow

Well-Known Member
I don't bother adjusting pH in Biobizz light mix or any peat based mixes and they grow just fine.
My tap water has a PH of around 7 - 7.2 Ec around 0.3
There shouldn't be any need to.

The pH and EC values
Biobizz® products only contain natural organic elements rather than mineral salts such as magnesium or sulfates that you might find in synthetic fertilizers. This gives Light·Mix® a medium Electrical Conductivity (EC) value. And while its organic elements are impossible to measure, they do have a self-regulating system, which helps maintain the pH values at the correct level.

This incredibly light nutrient content makes a perfect potting soil for seedlings and cuttings. With an EC of 1.2 and a pH of 6.1 – 6.3 BioBizz Light-Mix is ideal for raising your young plants, other mixes may be too strong for your young plants and subsequently, may cause transplant shock, this does not happen with BioBizz Light-Mix.
 
C

chronnie49

Well-Known Member
Does the ph of lightmix change over time? The bag i used had been sitting around for quite a few months so im thinking maybe that was the issue.

Next run im definitely going to start checking ph again since i dont have any problems that way.
 
R Burns

R Burns

Well-Known Member
If you do not check and know what your ph is in any medium and you do not have any issues, you are growing by accident. You have a decent range to work with, and alot of people get by without worrying about it. But if you want great results you need to nail ph. Using microbes can help widen that range too. One of the biggest benefits to using microbes is ph correction.
 
C

chronnie49

Well-Known Member
R Burns said:
If you do not check and know what your ph is in any medium and you do not have any issues, you are growing by accident. You have a decent range to work with, and alot of people get by without worrying about it. But if you want great results you need to nail ph. Using microbes can help widen that range too. One of the biggest benefits to using microbes is ph correction.
Click to expand...

Yea it was just something I was trying and wont be doing again. I only have a few weeks left in flower and I can tell the yield will be less than the last run with the same strains.
 
tiltswitch

tiltswitch

Well-Known Member
I have used bbizz thats been sat around for months without any problems. I use orca/great white is better if you can be bothered with powder and I definitely recommend using bacteria additives as above post mentioned
 
JavaCo

JavaCo

Well-Known Member
A good soil mix will keep the PH in range. Basically you want a good ph up to balance all the acidic amendments you feed the soil like oyster shell flour or lime are good buffers. Life is too short to PH water all the time. For soil you want to keep an eye on the PH but do that with a meter made for soil. I use a hose from the house water supply to water my plants. I do run a whole house 2 stage filter system here so it gets a good bit of the chlorine. But if you are using organic bottled nutes you have to ph up that stuff it is usually very acidic. Soil might take more time in preparation and planning but much less time consuming while growing. Just top dress once a week and keep her moist not wet and watch her grow. Day 28 of flower no PHing of water. I take a soil PH reading once a week to make sure all is good. 1031190002.jpg
 
tiltswitch

tiltswitch

Well-Known Member
Id grow in soil if I could but its just not practical for me.i think id always ph no matter if I needed to or not, old habits etc.but just knowing I've checked it and got it where it should be has a calming effect.
 
R

RangiSTaxi

Well-Known Member
I would say no, soil or potting mix has buffers which will return the PH to a stable good PH after time, there no point in trying to adjust PH in soil or potting mix, your more likely to cause more harm than good than if you just left it alone, if the growing medium is good when you started as most potting mix is.

I say leave the PH alone. drying out between watering will swing PH slightly, enough that all nutrients will be readily available.

If you feed with a balanced liquid nutrient PH wont change unless you really fuck up your feeding, in that case soil has buffers which will correct your fuck up to a point.
 
Last edited:
Renfro

Renfro

Well-Known Member
RangiSTaxi said:
I would say no, soil or potting mix has buffers which will return the PH to a stable good PH after time, there no point in trying to adjust PH in soil or potting mix, your more likely to cause more hard than good than if you left it alone.
Click to expand...
Well at least test it out the bag because I have had bad bales ruin runs until I started checking. Getting bales at 8.5 pH is no bueno.
 
R

RangiSTaxi

Well-Known Member
Renfro said:
Well at least test it out the bag because I have had bad bales ruin runs until I started checking. Getting bales at 8.5 pH is no bueno.
Click to expand...
If that is the case Dont use that Potting mix, change it rather than ph adjust it, Im a horticulture consultant and its highly unlikely a potting mix will ever be a PH of 8.5 without a overdose of lime blended in it, even then the buffers, generally are always acidic which will correct that potting mix down over time.

its more likely a potting mix bag will be a Lower PH than a High PH. Almost always they buffer at 6.0 -6.7 range with the average 6.4

With all due respect , check you ph tester, that doesn't seem right to me.
 
Renfro

Renfro

Well-Known Member
RangiSTaxi said:
If that is the case Dont use that Potting mix
Click to expand...
I agree, but if you don't check and it's potted youre stuck so thats why I say it's good to check before using.

That aside I have seen soil test good out the bag and after a period of about a month crash on the pH dropping into the 4's. Seeing the plants I tested the soil and realized I had to get it back up.

I am a firm believer that it's a good idea to have a soil pH meter thats reliable. It can pinpoint a problem or eliminate pH as the cause. I have helped others with this issue @DoubleAtotheRON can testify.
 
Renfro

Renfro

Well-Known Member
I should also note that the Apera PH60S that I use to test soil will also test liquid so you don't need a second pH meter.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top