Medium pH Correction (Soil and Coco)

DoubleAtotheRON

Well-Known Member
Those ph pens are sweet. I didn’t know they existed. I’ve got one of the glass bulb ones that I’ve never used and an old fashioned test kit for my feeding. That’s a big investment though. This seems to be the cheapest one and it’s still not cheap.

No, they are not cheap, and if you can help it, go for the best one you can afford. I didn't want to spend $440 for an Apera, but it's prob the most important piece of equipment I own (thank you @Renfro), and I would do it again without hesitation. Renfro educated me on how important this tool is for success, and I cannot stress that enough! The great thing about the Apera 8500 series, and there are some others out there, that can measure liquid as well and soil probe your PH to the 100th of a point. I use mine every single day. I'll take readings dry and ready to feed, and adjust my mix to bring the root zone to 6.8-6.9 soaking wet after feeding. I have a chart by experience for my particular soil medium to adjust. It just takes a good tool and good notes, and you'll never have to worry about it again... I don't care what scale you grow on, it's worth it.IMG_5078.jpeg
 

PadawanWarrior

Well-Known Member
No, they are not cheap, and if you can help it, go for the best one you can afford. I didn't want to spend $440 for an Apera, but it's prob the most important piece of equipment I own (thank you @Renfro), and I would do it again without hesitation. Renfro educated me on how important this tool is for success, and I cannot stress that enough! The great thing about the Apera 8500 series, and there are some others out there, that can measure liquid as well and soil probe your PH to the 100th of a point. I use mine every single day. I'll take readings dry and ready to feed, and adjust my mix to bring the root zone to 6.8-6.9 soaking wet after feeding. I have a chart by experience for my particular soil medium to adjust. It just takes a good tool and good notes, and you'll never have to worry about it again... I don't care what scale you grow on, it's worth it.View attachment 4629529
I wish there was a Love/Jealous button. My BlueLab is nice, but that Apera is on another level.
 

PadawanWarrior

Well-Known Member
I love it man!. How's your garden doin?
Not too bad. Nothing like yours or Rens, lol.

I'm working on learning no-till and I don't have everything figured out yet. I don't take many pics anymore either, but here's a few I took about a month ago. The flowering Green Crack just got harvested last week.

Veg tent
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Green Crack
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Green Crack closeup. Not ready of course.
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ComfortCreator

Well-Known Member
No, they are not cheap, and if you can help it, go for the best one you can afford. I didn't want to spend $440 for an Apera, but it's prob the most important piece of equipment I own (thank you @Renfro), and I would do it again without hesitation. Renfro educated me on how important this tool is for success, and I cannot stress that enough! The great thing about the Apera 8500 series, and there are some others out there, that can measure liquid as well and soil probe your PH to the 100th of a point. I use mine every single day. I'll take readings dry and ready to feed, and adjust my mix to bring the root zone to 6.8-6.9 soaking wet after feeding. I have a chart by experience for my particular soil medium to adjust. It just takes a good tool and good notes, and you'll never have to worry about it again... I don't care what scale you grow on, it's worth it.View attachment 4629529
I wanted to apologize for confusing your posts in that other thread with another poster. I can see I made an error and wanted to acknowledge it.

Great post Im with u and Renfro on this process. Cant wait to go through a whole cycle with it.

Cc
 

ComfortCreator

Well-Known Member
So im in supersoil which maybe complicates the discussion vs u hydro pros, but --

My cooked supersoil (ive got a garbage can full, the other garbage can full is in use) measures 6.5ph at the surface. Today i dug down a bit maybe another 4 or 5 inches
...6.2/6.3ph.

And yet my used up soil (late flower now, supersoil) is measuring 7.2 consistently. The soil and runoff.

I can see it ranging when i water. Id like to understand whats going on.

When i use up the nutrients in the soil, is the ph going up because the dolomite is buffering it up? Why is my used soil measuring 7.2 when my cooked soil is in the 6s?

Thoughts on this or questions are welcome. Supersoil grow, organic, but not in any way trying to be "green." Just doing what seems easiest while still being high quality as a newbie.
 

TerrapinBlazin

Well-Known Member
No, they are not cheap, and if you can help it, go for the best one you can afford. I didn't want to spend $440 for an Apera, but it's prob the most important piece of equipment I own (thank you @Renfro), and I would do it again without hesitation. Renfro educated me on how important this tool is for success, and I cannot stress that enough! The great thing about the Apera 8500 series, and there are some others out there, that can measure liquid as well and soil probe your PH to the 100th of a point. I use mine every single day. I'll take readings dry and ready to feed, and adjust my mix to bring the root zone to 6.8-6.9 soaking wet after feeding. I have a chart by experience for my particular soil medium to adjust. It just takes a good tool and good notes, and you'll never have to worry about it again... I don't care what scale you grow on, it's worth it.View attachment 4629529
Holy shit lol. That’s an awesome setup. Love those trellises. I’m sure the meter is totally worth it. I think I’ll have to spring for an entry level bluelab for starters, because I’m still somewhat of an entry level grower and I don’t have anywhere near that much canopy. I also need an AC in my grow room too. All in good time.

2AC0043D-8413-464C-954F-177A694C1AF8.jpeg44FF6CB2-AE15-4361-BDD1-DA9B5FE120C4.jpeg
 

TerrapinBlazin

Well-Known Member
So I didn’t buy that ph pen yet. I got distracted by analog man tube screamer mods and Cannarado gear. There went the money for the ph pen lol, but I did just do something I haven’t done yet, which is give my plants a good enough feeding for some decent runoff. I tested that the old fashioned way and it was 6.5, so even though that’s just the water going through the soil and not the actual soil, is it safe to assume I’m at least in the right ballpark?
 

ComfortCreator

Well-Known Member
So I didn’t buy that ph pen yet. I got distracted by analog man tube screamer mods and Cannarado gear. There went the money for the ph pen lol, but I did just do something I haven’t done yet, which is give my plants a good enough feeding for some decent runoff. I tested that the old fashioned way and it was 6.5, so even though that’s just the water going through the soil and not the actual soil, is it safe to assume I’m at least in the right ballpark?
I have no idea, but have found my soil ph closely matches my runoff so far.
 
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