"Runoff pH is useless" or "Keep an open mind"?

OneMoreRip

OneMoreRip

Well-Known Member
PadawanWarrior said:
The actual pH was around 6.4-6.5 the whole time I'm pretty sure. I didn't have my BlueLab soil probe then though.

The runoff gave me an idea of the soil pH, but when I added citric acid it kinda had the opposite effect than I was anticipating, but it makes sense when you think about it.

My main point is I think it can give you an idea, but it can also be misleading, so be careful using runoff to check pH.

This was an organic grow though. Might be more unpredictable with chemicals. I don't know.
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yeah, that would have been my guess. The soil influences the ph of run off more so than the in put water. From everything I have seen anyways
 
OneMoreRip

OneMoreRip

Well-Known Member
DoubleAtotheRON said:
It is true that 3 things are different. 1. What PH mix you put in. 2. What does your soil buffer that mix at? 3. Runoff and slurry tests are useless. I don't have much experience in Coco, but in soil, I've had to feed in as high as 11.5 ph to correct 5.1 PH to get it to buffer at mid 6's... I've found that you need to double the PH, PLUS! how ever much you want to raise it at the root zone. The only way you'll know what's going on in the root zone is to actually measure the root zone. I use an Apera 8500 Swiss glass direct soil probe at about 5 inches into the soil. This gives me a digital reading within a 100th of a point. And yes, you do need to check at least 3 spots in the pot to get an average. But... that's just me. I've only done it to 100's of plants, and I can tell you that what comes out is not what's going on in the root zone. We do get quite a bit of runoff every feeding, (and we feed every time. .. no plain water breaks from clone till harvest)...and I suppose this keeps the salts flushed, which is why your run off reading is going to be inaccurate.
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Id say you’d notice a major problem any method you used to test medium ph and I’d also say fix your medium so your not watering it with ph up
 
hotrodharley

hotrodharley

Well-Known Member
OneMoreRip said:
Being the bum I am, while mixing soil not to long ago and noticing that something was not making sense with my blue lab soil ph pen, I just started (gently), pressing a regular ph pen (for liquids), into my soil and it works very well for getting ph.

I have been hesitant to advise because not sure how long your pen will be okay doing this and if it will work for others as well as it works for me but it seems like everything should be fine if your not an animal about it.

haven’t tried with ec pen and am organic now, so i don’t think I will be, I imagine it would work well too

@ mick I just blew you a kiss, I have a feeling you a lacking love in your life and forgot how to behave decent.

and wazup you too, one dedicated towards helping you not be so sad all the time.

you are both on ignore, so no need to respond to me and expect me to be able to see it
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What a cuck this one is.
 
simpleleaf

simpleleaf

Well-Known Member
OneMoreRip said:
Just to not edit last post in case someone is responding, wanted to say.

to me, if I water a soil with 7.0 ph water and the run off is also 7.0 ph then I’m pretty confident the soil itself is very near 7.0 and that goes for any ph you want, not just 7.0.

I think that makes sense, until I see something saying otherwise.
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That should be testable. Maybe someday I'll decide to go to the trouble of a slurry test.
 
OneMoreRip

OneMoreRip

Well-Known Member
simpleleaf said:
That should be testable. Maybe someday I'll decide to go to the trouble of a slurry test.
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I bottom feed soil so no run off. Run off test just good to get an idea of something may be off, then take further steps for a more accurate reading.

the best/only good thing about run off test imo is convince, water your plant normally, test the run off. Quick easy look onto the medium, near no effort required. Assuming no other reliable soil ph tester on hand
 
OneMoreRip

OneMoreRip

Well-Known Member
PJ Diaz said:
Just use garden lime and EWC in soil and you should be good to go.
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I have both in my medium (organic soil),but could still have mixed my soil from 4s to 6.5(ish), I went with 6.5(ish). Actually went 6.3-6.4 since watering with 7.0 tap water.

I think lime runs out over short time which is why I’m starting to think it’s best to have good ph medium without it.
 
PJ Diaz

PJ Diaz

Well-Known Member
OneMoreRip said:
I have both in my medium (organic soil),but could still have mixed my soil from 4s to 6.5(ish), I went with 6.5(ish). Actually went 6.3-6.4 since watering with 7.0 tap water.

I think lime runs out over short time which is why I’m starting to think it’s best to have good ph medium without it.
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You are always going to have to re-ammend organic soil over time, no way around that.
 
Bukvičák

Bukvičák

Well-Known Member
OneMoreRip said:
p.s. sorry blue lab but you’re soil ph pen sucks
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Can you explain why? I have completely opposite feeling since I was doing the same shit with slurry and runoff untill I bought that pen. Everything got clear immediately. Their pH pen for liquid sucks since it takes eternity for stabilization. You are wrong about whole pH thing but not in sense of importance. pH is crucial for proper uptake. You are confusing growing methods as well as ranges of pH which are much more wider especially in potting mix which is not soil. If you accept this fact and you see the plant is thriving in new fresh mix which is ussually 5,5 (yes there is nothing wrong about Bluelab saying those number because its true actual pH in the root zone) than you stop blaming pH as a culprit of every leaf oddity you will notice on your plant. Than you can move further. You have to be under 5,0 or have overlimed mix to get into troubles with pH. True is that sources of nitrogen have huge influence on pH especially urea…
 
hotrodharley

hotrodharley

Well-Known Member
Bukvičák said:
Can you explain why? I have completely opposite feeling since I was doing the same shit with slurry and runoff untill I bought that pen. Everything got clear immediately. Their pH pen for liquid sucks since it takes eternity for stabilization. You are wrong about whole pH thing but not in sense of importance. pH is crucial for proper uptake. You are confusing growing methods as well as ranges of pH which are much more wider especially in potting mix which is not soil. If you accept this fact and you see the plant is thriving in new fresh mix which is ussually 5,5 (yes there is nothing wrong about Bluelab saying those number because its true actual pH in the root zone) than you stop blaming pH as a culprit of every leaf oddity you will notice on your plant. Than you can move further. You have to be under 5,0 or have overlimed mix to get into troubles with pH. True is that sources of nitrogen have huge influence on pH especially urea…
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He's a fucking idiot focused on one thing. You need to know medium pH GOING IN! You have to be a putz checking pH trying to explain why you can't grow anything worth a damn. He's a broken record.
 
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