Well since the beginning of my grow my soil has been keeping a ph of about 7.8-8. I'll add ph down to my waterings and over a couple days its back to 8. I'm going to try buying a better soil ph tester to see if thats the problem. Weird bc my plants look great and have been growing fast. I started flowering today so hopefully I get good buds. My next white widows are going into coco so I can control ph and nutrients more closely. im switching to organic apple cider vinegar to lower ph now. how much should I be adding to each gallon of water to lower the ph a point.
soil ph problem
- Thread starter vein5
- Start date
wyteboi
Well-Known Member
what kind of soil do you use ?
your not gonna be able to change the ph of your soil by just adding ph'ed water/food. Thats why you say that it goes right back to 8..... because the soil is gonna buffer the ph to what it wants to, you cant change that with water despite what the internet tells you. soil is a very good buffer an it only takes a few hours to buffer your food right back to 8 or wahtever it really is.
second, if your plant looks healthy it is, period. im willin to bet your ph is under 7 and your plant is growing just fine, so there is NO need to add anything to your food/water to try an change the ph.
now lime is a good buffer too , so if you were to replant into a mix with lime added then the lime would help to keep the soil buffered , but since a healthy soil is so good of a buffer by itself then why not just thrive to keep the soil healthy (lots of reading) an put your ph meter at the top of the closet an let the soil worry about the ph , not you.
if she is dark green , just keep doin what your doin minus the ph additives and read on how to keep her green.
sounds like your doin a good job vein. keep it up an dont stray too far away from the common sense practices.
soil
skunkushybrid01
Well-Known Member
throw the soil tester away, you don't need it. it's just making you confused... those meters are unreliable at best.
wyteboi
Well-Known Member
with soil all meters are unreliable at best. with out getting into detail, the digital ph meters read by the way of metals or some shit , an in a good soil all the metals are bound up in the dirt. (chemical bonds an shit) So you really cant get a correct reading on ppm or ph of soil. (you'll get a reading , but its not correct , even if you get lucky an its close)
soil
skunkushybrid01
Well-Known Member
hey soil... good to see you still around.
wyteboi
Well-Known Member
SplifMcGee
Active Member
i agree with what everyone is saying about not testing the ph of your soil. but i would test the ph of everything that you water in. except organics. i have found after talking to many nutrient companies and trying different organic nutrients that they seem to adjust themselves due to the nature of the biology in the organic nutrients.
skunkushybrid01
Well-Known Member
All nutrients are the same... doesn't matter whether organic or not.
What nutrient companies have given you this idea?
wyteboi
Well-Known Member
i will agree , food is food.
if you do hydro , you have to have meters. no nute company can change that.
organic food will adjust itself in real dirt but so will instant foods. the dirt decides the ph , not the food or water.
a plant can not really tell the difference in any food if givin right.
"organic" is a taste preference thang. (an most of the time lower yields .... until you really get the diet dialed in to your species.)
soil
SplifMcGee
Active Member
Well food is not food. synthetic nutrients do provide the same things to the plant but the difference is plants have to breakdown organic nutrients because they are not readily available for the plant to use. When you give you plants synthetic nutrients, they are able to uptake them very quickly. this is why you should ph your syntheic nutrients before you feed, so that the solution is at the proper ph for your plant to uptake them and not cause lock out. organic nutrients are broken down by your plants and the micro biology present in your medium.during this process the ph of the nutrient solution is changed to a level in which the plants can uptake it.Several organic nutrient companies recommend to not ph your nutrients due to the process that occurs that i mentioned before. I am basing my information after using roots organics and general organics and talking to their reps. so feel free to give them a call and then get back to me and tell me i am right. It would also be foolish to run organics in hydro fyi.
SplifMcGee
Active Member
sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo wrong.what nutrients do you use? i hope you dont say fox farm
SplifMcGee
Active Member
you are also wrong about the soil adjusting the ph. you need to have buffers in your soil so the ph will adjust itself. the soil will not do it magically. Also good luck trying to test the ppm of your organic nutrients. tell me how that goes.
skunkushybrid01
Well-Known Member
this isn't where you ask me what nutrients i use, as it has no relevance anyway, this is where you explain yourself properly.
explain in what way organic nutrients differ chemically from man-derived versions?
bomb hills
Well-Known Member
I have found those soil ph testers to be misleading. Check the ph of your runoff water to get a better understanding of your soil. Ph your next watering to 7 and see what happens as it flows through the soil.
SplifMcGee
Active Member
i explained it in my last post. the plant has to break down the organic matter in order to uptake. once it has been broken down enough it is at the same state that the synthetic nutrients are in.
skunkushybrid01
Well-Known Member
So once those unavailable nutrients are made available they become the same as available synthetic nutes, yes. LOL. If a nutrient is unavailable then it isn't really a nutrient is it. Chemically they do not differ, they are the same thing. Which is the question I asked you. There is no difference at the chemical level which amounts to the same thing to a plant. Doesn't mantter what you think, to a plant nutrients are nutrients.
Now where were we again?
I like your shit on pH, that's good stuff. Did you also know that the plant can change the pH directly around the rhizosphere... so the pH in the medium could be 7.0, but around the rhizosphere it could be 6.0 and you would never know. pH is not as important as people believe it is. I never use pH adjustment in my grows, i grow in coco and hydro, and i use synthetic GH nutes. Just micro and bloom.
wyteboi
Well-Known Member
where in the hell did you learn this stuff ? the soil IS a buffer. do you put lime on your grass ? does it still grow ?
you kids are crazy ..... how about just asking questions or debateing without the "your wrong" bullshit ?
you are just barley breaking the iceburg with soil , you still have a LOT to learn.
so how does this happen if the soil cant buffer ? you should really read what your writing.
chems go in , the plant eats them....... organics go in , the microbes eat them an shit out chems. either way the plant gets the same chems. (exactly the same)
just because you can tell the difference in chems an organics does not automatically mean the plant can.
now go call the AN team an cross reference this info with theirs an see whats different........ i'll wait.......
an why do i need luck to test ppm of organics ? i dont need or care to know the ppm of my mix.
oh yea i need to mention this one too .... earthjuice mixed has a ph of 4.0-4.5 , how come my plant dont die or lock up ? i dont use ph up or down an i dont use lime either , so how is that possible ? ...... the magic dirt
whats wrong with fox farm ? thats a good food.
soil
wyteboi
Well-Known Member
exactly right skunk.
soon as the soil (biology) breaks down the organic matter and turns it into food , its the exact same chem thats in the synthetic bottles. period.
and your right , its all just organic matter until the microbes change that.
soil
SplifMcGee
Active Member
I want to say we are trying to say the same thing. They are different in the rate in which they can be uptaken but once uptaken they are the same. Also i have found that it takes more to flush out organic nutrients, if applied at the same time as synthetic nutrients. It does work out sometimes where the mixture of the base nutrients and additives ends up being perfect ph.