Organics and PH

wetdog hit it on the head. I usually get my soils ph in line and every rarely do I every worry about checking my ph of anything after that. The only time I every check my ph is if I start to see problems. The only thing I do is mix my water/nutes/tea whatever your using and bubble it for 24 hours. Other than that I do nothing with ph unless a problem comes up!!!

Wetdog said:

It's called lime, derived from limestone, NOT the fruit. Dolomitic (dolomite lime), or Calcitic (garden lime, or agricultural lime). Farmers and gardeners have been using it forever, especially since they got the equipment to crush it.

You get the soils pH right and that's it, not anything that's dumped on the soil, like water, nutes, etc. Liquid's pH has at best a temporary effect on the soils pH.

Baking powder, lemon juice, pH up/down is stoner science at best and generally used by inexperienced growers who have never gardened, farmed, or have a clue as to actually what's happening with their soil.

A 40lb bag cost less than $5 and one application/grow is all that's necessary.

Of course that eliminates all the complicated pH crap that is only necessary in hydro. The noob growers seem to love it though.

Wet

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btw i'm no noob, and i know wtf lime is. if your gonna give info try not to be a bitch about how you do it. but thx anyway.

In order to understand this you'll have to get your mind around pH, what it is, and how it affects soils/organics. (It's a real bitch to understand) Certain ompounds are considered "buffers" which mans they resist change. Ca will resist a downward change, while sulfur and aluminum compounds (not reccommended) will resist an upwars swing. when we lime soils, the purpose is to stabilize the ph to what ever value we choose, in this case between 6.8 and 7. In order for that to change, ALL of the liming agent must be washed out.
I have a tutorial on the proper method of checking pH in soil in my Journals, so no need to repeat that here. What you are concerned with is the pH of the SOIL, NOT the pH of whtever concoction you re putting in. As tht concoctopn sits in contact with the buffered soil,the ph will be brought up or down to that of the soil. Run-off is no indicator, as it hasnt sat in contact with a buffer long enough to be affected/changed.
Hope this helps.
Tht is not to say you should throw away your meter/pen. I alwys periodiclly check the pH just for peace of mind. See my journal entry on checking pH.

that is not true. I have poured 7.0 solution into a pot and 5.0 solution came out. Therefore there was chanch in ph in that very short time. And With the hundreds of plants i have grown the ones with a ph runoff of 6-7 were always in way better shape. run-off is an indication in some cases even in mine. I was using silica blast before which i know is a quick fix but it was working keeping my ph' where i want them, and i only check ph every once in a while at that .. but please explanin what you mean by the lime needs to be "washed out"

Aye but in nature plants simply woulnt grow in soil that is not optimum (or within a range) for them. Its not like they are adapting to grow in any pH.

TrynaGroSumShyt said:

i need something to up my ph, it's low now around 5.0 .

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TrynaGroSumShyt said:

btw i'm no noob, and i know wtf lime is. if your gonna give info try not to be a bitch about how you do it. but thx anyway.

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??????????

First off, I wasn't calling you a noob. That was directed more at the 'baking soda', 'vinegar', pH up/down and other silly responses (not only in this thread), that do absolutely nothing for a soils pH.

Second, if you know what lime is, why did you have a pH of 5.0?

Sorry you got your panties in a wad and yes, I was being a bitch. I just get frustrated with wrong convoluted advice that doesn't address the problem from people who really don't know what they're doing but 'read it on the internet'. Like I said, it wasn't directed at you.

On another note, give the lime a couple of weeks to do its thing and I guarantee you'll never make up another batch of soil without it. Just add it to the mix before use next time and make sure you use enough.

Peace.

Wet

TrynaGroSumShyt said:

that is not true. I have poured 7.0 solution into a pot and 5.0 solution came out. Therefore there was chanch in ph in that very short time. And With the hundreds of plants i have grown the ones with a ph runoff of 6-7 were always in way better shape. run-off is an indication in some cases even in mine. I was using silica blast before which i know is a quick fix but it was working keeping my ph' where i want them, and i only check ph every once in a while at that .. but please explanin what you mean by the lime needs to be "washed out"

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Then you had some highly soluble acidic ingredients that changed the waters ph so radically. Lime dissolves SLOWLY. as you water. miniscule amounts of lime are dissolved and go into solution, thereby stabilizing the pH. Lime dissolves extremely slow, and therefor resists change to pH.