Fox Farm Ocean Forest PH issue HELP

Ok so basicly I have nothing to test my soil at the moment so I'm testing the run off and it's like 5 .... So I feel like I bout Ph down for nothing now. The runoff was 5 when I watered with tap which is usually like 7.5. So should I be raising the ph in the tap water to get the right runoff? I'm using fox farm ocean forest soil. I'm just worrying that if the run off is as bad as I think that my plant is gonna freak when I get it right so I'm waiting to feed nutes until I figure this out. HELP!!!!!

Now I have this one leaf that has these peachy spots on it.... fuCK

Unless your plant looks fucked, it's probably not. Keep an eye on it but I'd be far from worried at this point. Even a plant that's tip-top can get blemishes from time to time. I've never had a pH problem with Ocean Forest myself. How old is the plant and how long has it been in the soil? Have you been spraying with water frequently at all? Water droplets can act as magnifying glasses to the light above.

Actually it turned out to be back splash from the fox farm big bloom concentrate .. I wiped off. No I do not spray them now that it is in the second week of flower. Yeah so the plant Looks fine. But I just wonder is it absorbing all the nutrient? Because since the run off is 5 I imagine that the soil is 5 when is should be higher to absorb the nutrients properly... Am I wrong and everything is fine?

look nice to me. ffof has plenty of nutes for a month or so. did you mix anything with your soil before planting - if not, may think about a little lime top dressing.

Everyone keeps suggesting lime but won't explain what it does... Why is the lime good for this?

i'm not a pro!!

i've heard it acts as a "buffer". it does bring the ph back up from the acidic soil.
my first grow(with str8 ffof) was going great for around 35ish days, started seeing signs of defs(yellowing,stunted growth,sad looking). top dressed & started using a tea mixture - pulled 9 zips from 3 <3' gurls!!
have started mixing garden lime, along with other stuff,in my ffof before i plant, now.

upnsmoke13 said:

i'm not a pro!!

i've heard it acts as a "buffer". it does bring the ph back up from the acidic soil.
my first grow(with str8 ffof) was going great for around 35ish days, started seeing signs of defs(yellowing,stunted growth,sad looking). top dressed & started using a tea mixture - pulled 9 zips from 3 <3' gurls!!
have started mixing garden lime, along with other stuff,in my ffof before i plant, now.

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I'm gonna have to get my hands on some before harvest

I grow both soil and hydro. Just recently i bought a Hanna Spectrometer for checking nutrients levels in my water. Everything I ever read about nutrients was wrong. Everyday for a week my calcium level went to 0. I would bring it up to 30-40 ppms and the next day back to 0. You hear about phosphorous and magnesium being critical in bloom. I don't know where those people get their information from but my hydro systems were NEVER short on Mg or P. I added a well balanced nutrient at the start and for weeks the P and Mg levels maintained acceptable levels. Only after weeks of growing and vegging did the levels of Phosphorous and Mg start to go down and even then is was slowly and managable. My calcium levels on the other hand dropped to 0 daily. So my point is, the lime if nothing else will keep your calcium level up hopefully. After trial and error i got into the habit of PHing the water for my dirt grow to a healthy high 6.5 or so because it always seemed to get so acidic later on. I also now add tons of calcium compared to previous grows. Low calcium makes your stems weak and skinny. Also by the time you see Ca defficiencies in your leaves, the levels of Ca are very low and have been that way for awhile. I am a calcium fanatic now. Buy a Spectrometer and test your water yourself.
Oh and a side not on your FF soil. I quit using it because the last 20 bags i bought were literally half bark filler. Bark makes your soil acidic. I posted something about this some where else on the forum. NO more FF for me, waste of money. It was wonderful stuff until they sold out and now changed the formula to make more profit.

Blkdragon said:

Everyone keeps suggesting lime but won't explain what it does... Why is the lime good for this?

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Lime is important because it acts as a pH buffer. As organic processes are going on in the soil the pH will fluctuate. If the pH tries getting too high or too low, the lime will put it back in its place. As you know, cannabis in soil wants a pH of about 6.5-7 tops.