LIfe or DEATH!! PH problem..JUST CLICK ON MEplease!!

Ok so this is my first grow. I think im pretty up to pair on what i need to be doing. Diags, proper vent, all that jazz. I am alittle confused about watering now that im in week 4 or veg. My plants are healthy but there is alittle N Deff on acouple of my plants.


HERE IS THE BIG problem/QUESTION.
my organic soil drops my ph 3 points. So when watering it brings my ph 2.5-3 points lower once added. Should i make the ph of watering 8.5-9.5 before water so it drops to 5.5-6.5 when in the soil? or should i just keep the water at 5.5-6.5?


use fox farm ocean somthing soil and some organic grow fert i dont remember off the top of my head what it is.

adjust your water after you add nutes before you actually feed the plant..

the run off of from the plant doesnt mean anything at all...

and the ph of the nute solution has little to do with soil ph.... so as long as your nute solution is in range.. and your soil ph is right.. then your fine...

simpsonsampson420 said:

adjust your water after you add nutes before you actually feed the plant..

the run off of from the plant doesnt mean anything at all...

and the ph of the nute solution has little to do with soil ph.... so as long as your nute solution is in range.. and your soil ph is right.. then your fine...

Click to expand...

Ya..What he said.

so the ph of soil doesnt matter

kotten148 said:

so the ph of soil doesnt matter

Click to expand...

Ph of runoff is not Ph of soil.

ok thanks for everything guys

nute solution ph is nute solution ph

run off ph is run off ph

soil ph is soil ph


all three have little to do with one another....

soil ph matters... but most of the time it stays within range.. if you are worried about it get a soil ph test kit and test it... if its out of range your dolomite limestone to raise it... limestone has a fixed ph of 7.0 so using it will eventually level your soils ph to 7.0 or close to it... if you need to lower it you can use sulfur, but rarely will you have to lower it...

normally nutes will lower it naturally... if you have an over abundance of nutes, and they arent being used by the plant fully, you can get salt build up in the soil... the salts and other build up can, over time, lower your ph to an undesired range... this can cause lock out of nutes within the soil.. which can cause more salt build up from excess nutes, which can lower the ph more... in this way nute solution can affect soil.. but its rare (you'll have signs of nute burn or deficiencies far before this would become an issue)....

run off is a waste to ph test.. it tells little of whats going on in the soil itself...

I'm using fox farm ocean forest too and I think my ph is between 5-6 out of the bag, a bit low? no nutes added yet. Only watered twice. Is this possible? I thought potting soil is ph-balanced?

I was thinking about adding some baking soda to my next water. How much should I add?

pueo said:

I'm using fox farm ocean forest too and I think my ph is between 5-6 out of the bag, a bit low? no nutes added yet. Only watered twice. Is this possible? I thought potting soil is ph-balanced?

I was thinking about adding some baking soda to my next water. How much should I add?

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thinking the ph is 5 to 6 out of the bag is a lot different than knowing it is...

yes, it could be possible if the soil is hot.. but fox farms is not a company i would expect to sell soil that is that low in ph... if you think its low test it to be sure...

soil is not ph balanced.. nothing really is ph balanced... there are ph buffers you can use that will help to keep the ph stable.. but it will still fluctuate some..

and why were you thinking about adding baking soda to your next watering??

Well I say that with little confidence because I'm testing with a $12 soil meter from OSH. But my plants have warped leaves, so I was thinking that might be due to ph. I read somewhere baking soda neutralizes ph, but maybe I should get some limestone.

Baking Soda raises the PH. I think it has a PH of 8 or 9, cant remember which. Lime has a 7 PH and is a good "neutralizer".


Sampson, I have a question for you. I have a soilless mix ( a little worm castings added to peat, perl, and verm) and I want to know the PH of it. I have a water PH meter. Whats the best way to find out the PH of my medium? So far, I have been comparing the run off PH to the PH of the original nute water and assuming that the PH of the medium is a little more (for example: runoff is 6.1, original water is 6.4, soil is probably somewhere around 5.8?). Is this a proper way to test the PH of my medium?

Thanks for any help.

pueo said:

Well I say that with little confidence because I'm testing with a $12 soil meter from OSH. But my plants have warped leaves, so I was thinking that might be due to ph. I read somewhere baking soda neutralizes ph, but maybe I should get some limestone.

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baking soda raises the ph of the solution you are using.. not the soil itself...

Krack420 said:

Baking Soda raises the PH. I think it has a PH of 8 or 9, cant remember which. Lime has a 7 PH and is a good "neutralizer".


Sampson, I have a question for you. I have a soilless mix ( a little worm castings added to peat, perl, and verm) and I want to know the PH of it. I have a water PH meter. Whats the best way to find out the PH of my medium? So far, I have been comparing the run off PH to the PH of the original nute water and assuming that the PH of the medium is a little more (for example: runoff is 6.1, original water is 6.4, soil is probably somewhere around 5.8?). Is this a proper way to test the PH of my medium?

Thanks for any help.

Click to expand...

well... to start out

perlite - inert medium.. wont affect ph
vermiculite - ph ranges from aroun 6 to 9
peat moss - acidic ph
worm castings - neutral ph

so it sounds like, for the most part, your mix balances itself out...

testing the run off says little... the run off is mostly the solution you just used to water, plus the addition of whatever decides to wash out... so that wont help...

to test the ph of this type of mix get a ph tester with a probe...
http://www.wormsway.com/detail.aspx?t=prod&sku=CWS510&AC=1
http://www.wormsway.com/detail.aspx?t=prod&sku=EST500&AC=1
http://www.wormsway.com/detail.aspx?t=prod&sku=SPM500&AC=1