Organic Soil ph issues

M

MikeyP4-20

Active Member
Hi guys !

Right , I have run into a bit of a situation and I’d like some peoples opinion on this. I am new to organics but that being said ,I have been buying and using on my current run , dry feed from livingsoils uk,now the grow was steady all the way up until I fed the bloom2 and then my plants started to yellow ,severely. I test the soil condition of my 9 plants that were cannibalising themselves ,and the ph was at 4.9 to 5.6.. which is clearly why the yellowing was so bad. Now I spoke to the people at livingsoils and asked them if they use dolomite lime in their feeds and they said they do ,in the Grow and bloom ,but not the bloom2 … now ,I just do not understand why they wouldn’t use a ph stabiliser in their bloom2…. And they’re excuse was that I have nitrogen toxicity and that I need to flush them…. And they sent me out free worm castings,oddly enough. And they said they would send me some dolomite lime also . They also said that they will look into incorporating lime into their bloom 2…. So I think they have got this issue coming up a lot with their customers for them to say that ,they must have . I might add that Bio bizz ph up wouldn’t even work on this bloom2 stuff when i let it sit in water for 24hours , the crap was fighting hard to drop in ph ,and that is that. Got to ask people out there ,has anyone in the uk that reads this post tried Dr forest nutrients at all? Or does anyone know of a good source to buy ready mixed dry feed 444/284 etc in the uk? Or maybe somone knows of a good way to learn to make your own feed from organics? Looking forward to your ideas here guys . Mike
 
Hiphophippo

Hiphophippo

Well-Known Member
I don’t use all of those except the gaia green 284 during flower are use the dolomite lime all the way up until my last feeding because too much dolomite lime will neutralize your soil and create more problems that are harder to take care of because the line takes so long to break down and if you are growing organic you really shouldn’t have to worry about pH the microbial life and your soil will help your plant uptake all the nutrients it needs and pH really won’t be an issue for instance I use water that’s probably about 7.8 on the pH scale and I do not adjust could you post some pictures of what your plans are doing very sorry for the extremely long sentence I am driving and speaking this to my phone
 
M

MikeyP4-20

Active Member
Thanks for the reply pal! I’m not sure I could pick up on what you said ,but you mentioned Gaia who are very reputable,but I can’t get that stuff here sadly. So does Gaia use dolomite in there 2-8-4 bloom then? There is somthing in my second faze bloom2 which is driving ph right down,and I do get that growing organically you don’t have to worry to much about ph fluctuations,but this soil is very much on the low side ,to low for the plants to handle I’m sure . I fear that continuing to use the bloom2 and lime also will just be a battle and is no way to continue. I am gutted
 

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Hiphophippo

Hiphophippo

Well-Known Member
When I get home I’ll message you A more detailed message I’m driving right now and can’t use punctuation and my phone doesn’t hear me well
 
PadawanWarrior

PadawanWarrior

Well-Known Member
MikeyP4-20 said:
Hi guys !

Right , I have run into a bit of a situation and I’d like some peoples opinion on this. I am new to organics but that being said ,I have been buying and using on my current run , dry feed from livingsoils uk,now the grow was steady all the way up until I fed the bloom2 and then my plants started to yellow ,severely. I test the soil condition of my 9 plants that were cannibalising themselves ,and the ph was at 4.9 to 5.6.. which is clearly why the yellowing was so bad. Now I spoke to the people at livingsoils and asked them if they use dolomite lime in their feeds and they said they do ,in the Grow and bloom ,but not the bloom2 … now ,I just do not understand why they wouldn’t use a ph stabiliser in their bloom2…. And they’re excuse was that I have nitrogen toxicity and that I need to flush them…. And they sent me out free worm castings,oddly enough. And they said they would send me some dolomite lime also . They also said that they will look into incorporating lime into their bloom 2…. So I think they have got this issue coming up a lot with their customers for them to say that ,they must have . I might add that Bio bizz ph up wouldn’t even work on this bloom2 stuff when i let it sit in water for 24hours , the crap was fighting hard to drop in ph ,and that is that. Got to ask people out there ,has anyone in the uk that reads this post tried Dr forest nutrients at all? Or does anyone know of a good source to buy ready mixed dry feed 444/284 etc in the uk? Or maybe somone knows of a good way to learn to make your own feed from organics? Looking forward to your ideas here guys . Mike
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How are you testing soil pH? And what Grow and Bloom are you using?
 
Hiphophippo

Hiphophippo

Well-Known Member
Alright the dolomite lime isn’t used in every feed. because it’s a soil stabilizer and will neutralize your soil if used in excess. meaning it won’t hold microbial life which you know is good. that’s why I don’t use it in my last sometime 2nd to last top dressing. I use some different amendments but I was saying your ph really doesn’t matter in good living soil. Your microbial life in your soil Will help your plant take up any nutrients it wants. Do you use any rock dust earth worm castings or anything like that to create life in your soil? How do you build your soil
 
M

MikeyP4-20

Active Member
This is livingsoils basic feed plan which Iv abided ,Iv added microbial teas bloom teas every now and then .
I use blue lab soil ph pen and I test run off . I do get that dolomite lime in the later feeds will neutralise ,but seeing as that the bloom2 is used for nearly the whole of the bloom faze ,I just don’t see it working without some lime or soil ph stabilisers . My thinking was that soil ph can deal well in a wider spectrum of ph when growing organically ,but a drastic change and drop in ph isn’t the consistency the plants were used to.
I might add that I did put this bloom2 into water to make a tea ,and the ph dropped down to the 4s ,which is just never going to work when feeding my plants on it for 5-9 weeks ,I was always going to end up with a drastically low soil ph early to mid flower . These plants were growing rapidly and they were very healthy before the bloom2 . Then they halted ,as if they just froze …
 

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PadawanWarrior

PadawanWarrior

Well-Known Member
MikeyP4-20 said:
This is livingsoils basic feed plan which Iv abided ,Iv added microbial teas bloom teas every now and then .
I use blue lab soil ph pen and I test run off . I do get that dolomite lime in the later feeds will neutralise ,but seeing as that the bloom2 is used for nearly the whole of the bloom faze ,I just don’t see it working without some lime or soil ph stabilisers . My thinking was that soil ph can deal well in a wider spectrum of ph when growing organically ,but a drastic change and drop in ph isn’t the consistency the plants were used to.
I might add that I did put this bloom2 into water to make a tea ,and the ph dropped down to the 4s ,which is just never going to work when feeding my plants on it for 5-9 weeks ,I was always going to end up with a drastically low soil ph early to mid flower . These plants were growing rapidly and they were very healthy before the bloom2 . Then they halted ,as if they just froze …
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Don't trust the runoff pH. Especially when you're adding such low a pH solution. Are you bubbling the tea?

If it was me I'd stop adding more lime.
 
M

MikeyP4-20

Active Member
PadawanWarrior said:
Don't trust the runoff pH. Especially when you're adding such low a pH solution. Are you bubbling the tea?

If it was me I'd stop adding more lime.
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I haven’t added any lime yet, they add lime to their nutrients ,well, all nutrients except the bloom2 ,where the issues started happening.
yeah I bubble the teas for 24 hour
 
Hiphophippo

Hiphophippo

Well-Known Member
I would take a cup of dolomite lime mix it in with about 5 cups of soil and two or 3 teaspoons of Epsom salt mix accordingly for how many plants you have and how much you have to top dress but that’s what I would do to help bring that pH up a little bit and stabilize it I would add it all day with that bloom 2 I would just cut it out completely on my last two or do feedings it should bring your ph back to normal
 
myke

myke

Well-Known Member
Ok so let’s get one thing first. Domo lime takes weeks to do anything. You add when you cook then 6 weeks later it does its thing.
What exactly is your Bloom2 food??? Liquid or dry? And exactly what is the strength of ea?
Your plants ran out of Nitrogen is what it looks like to me.
If your adding compost or ewc every other week then your ph is fine.
Quit making tea. Waste of time.
 
myke

myke

Well-Known Member
Oh ok I read the sheet. Very common problem. Plants use up all the N during stretch. A lot of everything in fact as you can see the red leaves.
Easy fix when growing organic. You feed all purpose food until week 3 of flower. Then mix 50/50 veg bloom the rest of the way. That bloom2 mix it with your veg food.
Making teas I find just drops ph
So add some veg food with some ewc water in and you should see improvement
 
M

MikeyP4-20

Active Member
Their bloom1 and Grow has dolomite lime to keep soil
PadawanWarrior said:
Sounds like Neptune's Harvest Fish and Seaweed.
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myke said:
I use a fish mix. It’s liquid at 2-3-1. I top water it over top of my dry food. Gaia 444.
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Bio bizz fish mix? I used all of bio bizz products on my last run and I have to say ,they are good. I wanted to keep away from bottled nutes though on this run and do something else ,challenging . I definitely got my challenge ‍♂ And learned a lot more ,which is awesome . Wish I could use Gaia ,I can’t get it in the u.k .
 
M

MikeyP4-20

Active Member
Hiphophippo said:
I would take a cup of dolomite lime mix it in with about 5 cups of soil and two or 3 teaspoons of Epsom salt mix accordingly for how many plants you have and how much you have to top dress but that’s what I would do to help bring that pH up a little bit and stabilize it I would add it all day with that bloom 2 I would just cut it out completely on my last two or do feedings it should bring your ph back to normal
Click to expand...
One cup of lime ,5 cups of soil and some Epsom per 20litre pot??
 
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