how much lemon juice/water ratio to acidify ph please hurry!

Schotzky

Well-Known Member
the title pretty much says it. my ph is 7 and it needs to roughly 5 or 6ish right?
how much lemon juice to water should i use to lower it this much?
please hurry im pretty sure my plants in nute lockout the sooner the better.
im thinkin a tablespoon to a halfgallon of distilled water? or a whole gallon?
 

Uncle T

Active Member
Your best bet is to use a commercially made product specifically for lowering Ph.
I've heard home remedies can work in a pinch, but can cause other issues.
A liter of Ph down is only around $10 and lasts a long time.
Oh, and I wouldn't bring it all the way down to 5 either. Everyone tells you a different Ph range, but to quote the Marijuana Garden Saver book....it says "marijuana has been grown in hydroponic solutions as low as 5.5, but it does best when grown in soil or water within a Ph range of 6.0-6.5, slightly acidic. When the Ph is out of this range the nutrients do not dissolve well and are not as available to the plant"
Hope that helps : )
 

kevin

Well-Known Member
how are you measuring your ph? just add a little of your juice and check the ph. start off in small amounts to give you an idea of how much you need to add. are you growing in water or soil?
 

Nitegazer

Well-Known Member
The option that I use for ph down is phosphoric acid (aka automotive battery acid). It's damn cheap, readily available, and as an added plus, contributes to available phosphorus. Be sure to make a diluted solution-- the stuff is strong.
 

Cali chronic

Well-Known Member
Your best bet is to use a commercially made product specifically for lowering Ph.
I've heard home remedies can work in a pinch, but can cause other issues.
A liter of Ph down is only around $10 and lasts a long time.
Oh, and I wouldn't bring it all the way down to 5 either. Everyone tells you a different Ph range, but to quote the Marijuana Garden Saver book....it says "marijuana has been grown in hydroponic solutions as low as 5.5, but it does best when grown in soil or water within a Ph range of 6.0-6.5, slightly acidic. When the Ph is out of this range the nutrients do not dissolve well and are not as available to the plant"
Hope that helps : )
this guy here is right---also never swing your ph more then 1 pt at a time you will fry the nutes in the soil.
go get buffered ph down do not waste your time with Lemon or vinegar TRUST ME!!
 
HOLY MAN! HOLD OFF WITH THAT TABLESPOON! YER GONNA NUKE THE POOR THINGS!

I have ph 8.3 and use .3 ml per litre, in ancient 'Imperial' which uses non-sensical 'gallons and pints' and so on, I'm not exactly sure how to communicate this to you. Okay. 4L = 1 US gal (approx). Therefore 1.2ml of lemon juice per gal. That would be about 1/4 tsp. And that's to correct from 8.3, whereas you are at 7. So, try 1/8th tsp per gallon.

Buy ph test strips at your local pet store, for aquariums. Or your garden center might have them, mine did not but I live in a very small and isolated town. Or a pool and spa shop.

Test the water before and after, it is easy and takes 15 seconds.
 
PS, 1 cc = 1 ml, so if you can get a syringe, you can easily draw off 1.2 cc or 0.6 cc to squirt into 1 gallon of water. Mix it up with a stick or whatever, and test it.

I too thought, 'oh, this is going to take a lot of lemon juice', and put in a half cup (125 ml). The test strip went off the charts into acid and I played and played until I got it right. It amazed me how LITTLE lemon juice it takes to dramatically acidify the water.
 
what are the problems with using lemon juice? I thought it sounded natural and good. I am a first time grower so am listening if you have some specifics.
 

bigbillyrocka

Well-Known Member
Just thought I'd bump this with some of my own findings. . .

Over night my PH went outta whack (high 8's) and needed something to bring it down. I don't have a car at home at the moment as my wife took my car and hers is in the shop. I used lemon juice to quickly bring it down and now I'm sitting just a hair under 7. These are in 5 gallon dwc pots and used a total of 1 teaspoon (5ml).

I've read that LJ chelates and in my experience that's a good thing. So is it bad to use? So far, as of right now I'm going to say no. Ill be flushing them tonight once I go buy several gallons of bottled water. The water here is highly, highly chlorinated to the point it smells of pure bleach!

Anyways...
 
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