Do you have to ph test your water when growing in soil?

cowboylogic

cowboylogic

Well-Known Member
Gorillabilly said:
Its chlorine.... and I never plan that far ahead. Lol
Click to expand...
Get yourself a few Homer buckets and get with the program. Fill them. Leave the lid off a few days. Pop the lid on. And you have a usable water source when you need it. And I'll say it again, encapsulated worm castings or EWC in your mix will be you and your plants new best friend. I can promise you that brother.
 
Kushash

Kushash

Well-Known Member
cowboylogic said:
And I'll add this. Over use of pH up over time can cause issues in container grows. They are usually potassium carbonate. Which over time will build up in the medium, especially peat based mixes. Yes the sweet spot is 6.5-6.8. But plants can do very well in a much larger range. I personally think the majority of problems new growers run into is chasing pH. Creating their own drama and issues. That otherwise may not even occur if they would just leave things be and allow nature to take its course.
Click to expand...
I totally agree new growers mess up by adjusting PH when growing in soil.
Here is a constant in the plant problem section.
My plant looks like shit and I don't know what's wrong I PH my water to whatever.
The most important question that should be asked in post #2 but rarely is:

What type of PH pen do you use?
Do you calibrate it often with 2 different solutions?
Do you keep the pen stored in a solution when not used?

Newbie: Huh!
 
Gorillabilly

Gorillabilly

Well-Known Member
Kushash said:
I totally agree new growers mess up by adjusting PH when growing in soil.
Here is a constant in the plant problem section.
My plant looks like shit and I don't know what's wrong I PH my water to whatever.
The most important question that should be asked in post #2 but rarely is:

What type of PH pen do you use?
Do you calibrate it often with 2 different solutions?
Do you keep the pen stored in a solution when not used?

Newbie: Huh!
Click to expand...
Hoc pen, store b in distilled water and calibrate with 4 and 7 solution
 
Gorillabilly

Gorillabilly

Well-Known Member
cowboylogic said:
Never store a pH pen in distilled or RO water. It damages the bulb. ALWAYS use a proper storage solution.
Click to expand...
Hoc rep recommended that, said that was true of most pens but its what they reccomended. Admittedly I didn't look into it at all, I just complied. Meter is 5 years old now and maintains cal good, readings been on point.
 
Gorillabilly

Gorillabilly

Well-Known Member
ive run boilers for years and we used to follow the procedure as you described. But when we switched chemical companies, he switched b our meters to hoc. This is what the guy said use. I got the same meter here as at work. Now, our water purification is different than most, we actually got DI water, rather than just plain ro. Rather than 40 microseiemen water,, its 10 megaohm.
 
90'sStoner

90'sStoner

Well-Known Member
cowboylogic said:
Most likely the alkalinity was due to carbonates. The pH down neutralized the carbonates. Any nutrients issues were occurring in the nutrient solution before it even was introduced into the medium.
In layman terms it's know as hardness of the water. 99% of the time anything under 200ppm from the tap is fine for growing. There are certain cases where even a hardness level of 100ppm can cause issues.
And in your case the problem could have been caused by water contacting the tank itself. Assuming it was an older metal tank. Even older galvanized pipes in a structure can taint a perfectly good water source.
Click to expand...
It's on open plastic tank, the pipes in town are old as fuck tho! Yup ppm out the tap is about 200ppm and the tanks slightly higher.
 
Gorillabilly

Gorillabilly

Well-Known Member
I would really like to do a living soil, organic grow. I just aint smart enough on how yet. I'm pickin up a few things here and there.
 
Shape Shifter

Shape Shifter

Well-Known Member
cowboylogic said:
No matter what you pH your feeding water to in soil. It will buffer to the mediums within an hour. You cannot alter the mediums pH by pHed water alone.
Click to expand...
This is false. If the water is high in bicarbonate, it can certainly raise the pH of the media into the lockout zone regardless of input pH. That was explained in this link I already provided that you apparently didn't read.

How to Maintain the Proper pH of a Growing Medium | PT Growers and Consumers

Maintaining pH 5.6-6.2 in growing medium requires more than water pH adjustment. Find out what other factors need to be taken into account.
www.pthorticulture.com www.pthorticulture.com
 
cowboylogic

cowboylogic

Well-Known Member
Shape Shifter said:
This is false. If the water is high in bicarbonate, it can certainly raise the pH of the media into the lockout zone regardless of input pH. That was explained in this link I already provided that you apparently didn't read.

How to Maintain the Proper pH of a Growing Medium | PT Growers and Consumers

Maintaining pH 5.6-6.2 in growing medium requires more than water pH adjustment. Find out what other factors need to be taken into account.
www.pthorticulture.com www.pthorticulture.com
Click to expand...
You actually have confirmed pretty much everything I have said in this thread. Thank you,
 
Gorillabilly

Gorillabilly

Well-Known Member
cowboylogic said:
You actually have confirmed pretty much everything I have said in this thread. Thank you,
Click to expand...
Same here. OP, good luck man, I hate when people get contrary info, its a tough call.

My final word, PH matters no matter the growing medium. It is more disastrous in hydro and coco, soil is a little more forgiving. Nutes and water should be 6.5 to 6.8 goin in and soil should be the same. Good luck man.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top