Need help understanding soil ph

RolledUhhp

Active Member
I haven't had a meter for the first month of my grow. I threw some bagseed in buckets to try to get a feel for things in my new room.

I've only ever done a few outside, years ago.

I've been reading my ass off, and I think I hit a wall where I need to take a break for a day or two - all the info I've been packing in over the last day or so seems to need time to process. I've been getting info overload.


This is probably a dumb question, but I would appreciate it if anyone had time to answer.

My well water is ph 7.7 and my runoff is coming out at about 6.2 - I'm having some pretty nasty nute problems on my smaller plants. I halfed the recommended dose of Jungle Juice and have only fed twice so far. (I have been adding a bit of tea I bubbled to their "clean" waterings, and I've been foliar spraying them with that tea a bit, which I'm told was a mistake...) The bigger plants seemed to like it, but they also show some signs of stress. The little ones took a hard dive.

I'm confused, and I kind of know what I want to ask, but I'm having a hard time putting it into words. From what I gathered, changing the ph of the soil this late in the game isn't going to happen, and since it's coming out around 6.0 I don't know that I'd even want to.

If I water with a ph closer to 6.5, I'm not going to get runoff at ~5.0, right? It's still going to be running off closer to the 6.2 that it is now, right?


I think what is happening is that the soil is adjusting the ph of the water as it flows down, so although it's coming out okay, it's incorrect for most of it's journey through the bucket, which is effecting those roots. Am I way off here?


It has been quite cold this week, dipping my grow room into the low 50's, which is a huge swing from the 90 it reached a few weeks ago when I had exhaust problems... Am I blaming ph on something temp might be causing?

Pics for reference:
 

Lordhooha

Well-Known Member
I haven't had a meter for the first month of my grow. I threw some bagseed in buckets to try to get a feel for things in my new room.

I've only ever done a few outside, years ago.

I've been reading my ass off, and I think I hit a wall where I need to take a break for a day or two - all the info I've been packing in over the last day or so seems to need time to process. I've been getting info overload.


This is probably a dumb question, but I would appreciate it if anyone had time to answer.

My well water is ph 7.7 and my runoff is coming out at about 6.2 - I'm having some pretty nasty nute problems on my smaller plants. I halfed the recommended dose of Jungle Juice and have only fed twice so far. (I have been adding a bit of tea I bubbled to their "clean" waterings, and I've been foliar spraying them with that tea a bit, which I'm told was a mistake...) The bigger plants seemed to like it, but they also show some signs of stress. The little ones took a hard dive.

I'm confused, and I kind of know what I want to ask, but I'm having a hard time putting it into words. From what I gathered, changing the ph of the soil this late in the game isn't going to happen, and since it's coming out around 6.0 I don't know that I'd even want to.

If I water with a ph closer to 6.5, I'm not going to get runoff at ~5.0, right? It's still going to be running off closer to the 6.2 that it is now, right?


I think what is happening is that the soil is adjusting the ph of the water as it flows down, so although it's coming out okay, it's incorrect for most of it's journey through the bucket, which is effecting those roots. Am I way off here?


It has been quite cold this week, dipping my grow room into the low 50's, which is a huge swing from the 90 it reached a few weeks ago when I had exhaust problems... Am I blaming ph on something temp might be causing?

Pics for reference:
Never even check ph of anything in good soil. It looks over watered to me .
 

RolledUhhp

Active Member
2 parts perlite, 2 parts peat, 1 part coir. I eyeballed the additives. You can always add more, so I went on the light side. Earthworm castings, blood meal, bone meal, alaskan fish fert, epsom salts, a handful of local soil. I'm pretty sure that's it, I'll check the shelf when I get back around there today.


I bubbled a tea containing a super-small amount of the above listed, as well as some fruits and veggies I had at home. I added in a bit of blackstrap and have been adding aquarium water to the bucket once a week or so. TDS meter is reading my well water around 80ppm, the tea is showing around 750ppm.
 

Renfro

Well-Known Member
 

RolledUhhp

Active Member
Renfro said:
6.5 minus 5.74 = 7.26. I adjusted my next feed accordingly and it measured 7.25.
Left a line of math out lol Those cookies I made last night had me baked! bongsmilie :dunce: :lol:

Should read:

6.5 - 5.74 = 0.76
6.5 + 0.76 = 7.26


I'm so glad I kept going before I started googling fancy ph math lmao, I thought you pulled some wizardry.
 
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