Plant ph problem

Hey guys i am having some PH problems with my plants and i was just wondering if you guys could give me some opinions on my soil mix i will leave the recipe in the thread, for the past month or so i have had some yellowing going on and some other problems, i believed that it was a mag deficiency because i thought i had left out the Epsom salts from the mix when i first made it. I added Epsom salts and molasses to the water for a few weeks and the symptoms on the white Russian got better and more less disappeared, it now has some other kind of problem going on though, the blue cheese had some symptoms go away and the yellowing slowed down but it has never gone away completely.
For the longest time i had not been able to check the PH because i packed my soil to loose and these air pots let massive amounts of water out when i watered, so i transplanted to bigger air pots and the problem has gotten much better, i can now get an accurate reading on the PH so i watered earlier today with 5.8-5.9 water that had not been adjusted i checked the run off and the PH of my blue cheese was 7.3-7.4 and the run off of the white Russian was 7.7.

I am making this thread because i have had a few people tell me that my soil is bad and i just wanted to get your opinions on it, i would also like to know how i can lower the PH of my soil to a reasonable level i am very worried about adding something and fucking things up even more, any feed back would be greatly appreciated.

Here is a link to my grow journal and the plant problem thread in case you guys need more info,
https://www.rollitup.org/grow-journals/559980-my-first-grow-400-watt.html
https://www.rollitup.org/marijuana-plant-problems/560464-plant-problem-progressing-rapidly.html

2.8 cu ft promix
1.0 cu ft ffof
8 cups Bone Meal 0 10 0
4 cups Blood Meal 12 0 0
25 lb pure worm castings 1 0 0
7.3 cups green sand 2 tbsp per gal
4 cups powdered dolomite lime
4 cups kelp meal 0.6 0 1.5
Epsom salts
25% perlite
8 cu feet total

i would double the lime and you should be good with ph. azomite would be another great thing to add.

Farmer Joe might be right, but to me that mix just seems to hot for containers. I would have used lots of potting soil and maybe add perlite or vermiculite if I needed the medium to breath more. I would have then work blood and bone meal into the top layer of potting soil as needed throughout the grow, instead of trying to make a Subcool like super soil.

Worm castings and kelp meal would be a good alternatives to blood and bone meal, since it could be used more often and it's less likely to burn. Plus it helps that worm castings provides a lot more beneficial microorganisms, but its also a lot pricer.

I would add some perlite for aeration and oyster shell to help with calcium and ph - flour will act quicker and granular will last longer if you are recycling soil. You might also want to consider crab shell meal which is a good source of NP, calcium and magnesium.

Did you "cook" your soil prior to using it?

farmerjoe420 said:

i would double the lime and you should be good with ph. azomite would be another great thing to add.

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Really? I was told i used way to much lime and i figured that might have been why my PH was so high.

Vindicated said:

Farmer Joe might be right, but to me that mix just seems to hot for containers. I would have used lots of potting soil and maybe add perlite or vermiculite if I needed the medium to breath more. I would have then work blood and bone meal into the top layer of potting soil as needed throughout the grow, instead of trying to make a Subcool like super soil.

Worm castings and kelp meal would be a good alternatives to blood and bone meal, since it could be used more often and it's less likely to burn. Plus it helps that worm castings provides a lot more beneficial microorganisms, but its also a lot pricer.

Click to expand...

I decided to go with vic's super soil because this is my first grow and i wanted it to be as easy as possible so i could get the hang of things, but yeah the soil is a bit hot for seedlings i germed in jiffy starter soil and waiting about 3 weeks to drop them in and i dont believe the soil has burned them, thanks for the info on the worm castings and kelp meal i still have a little bit of each that i might add if i see some deficiency's but i was told not to fertilize because i would burn the plants.

jcmjrt said:

I would add some perlite for aeration and oyster shell to help with calcium and ph - flour will act quicker and granular will last longer if you are recycling soil. You might also want to consider crab shell meal which is a good source of NP, calcium and magnesium.

Did you "cook" your soil prior to using it?

Click to expand...

Thanks for the info on the oyster shell i will have to see about picking some up i don't have any gardening or hydro shops around here so i will probably have to get some online, as far as cooking the soil goes i kind of did and kind of didn't, the soil is made up of 2 different batch's of the same soil i started the plants in 16 o/z of jiffy starter soil then i transplanted the seedlings into a 2.4 gal container of soil that had previously been used for a few grows that had to be cut short because of life circumstances. Then i started having problems so i decided to transplant into 4.5 gallon containers and i used soil that was kept separate and had never been used this soil mix is about 2 years old and has never been cooked, it has been stored in rubber made tubs for a few years.

Thanks for the responses guys i appreciate it but i still have a few more questions, should i be balancing the PH of the water that i use on the plants? I use RO water and have been bringing the PH up to 7.0 but i am wondering if i have been fucking things up by doing this? Last week week i balanced my water to 7.0 and i went off and did some stuff when i came back to the water an hour or so later i checked it before i watered and the PH had risen to 8.5 so i am wondering if i am what has caused the PH in my soil to climb... Also the only answer i got on lowering the PH was oyster shell and i don't know how much to use to bring it back down to 6.5 i also don't know what effects it will have on the plants should i be worried about adding to much, if so how much should i add and how quickly would it take effect?

Thanks again for all the responses

I've never really had a problem not pHing my R/O water. One thing I have noticed is that I have to add more dolomite, as there is no cal/mag already in the water such as you'd find in tap water.

i would also add some humus. alot of benefitial bacteria to give your soil a good kick start.

Okay so i just looked up oyster shell and found out that it is used to de-acidify soil and that is not what i am looking to do, i found that sulfer and gypsum are good for lowering the PH though can anyone tell me how much i could use to safely bring down the ph in each of my 4.5 gal air pot containers?

psillysimon said:

I've never really had a problem not pHing my R/O water. One thing I have noticed is that I have to add more dolomite, as there is no cal/mag already in the water such as you'd find in tap water.

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Thanks for the info man, and yeah i have heard that cal and mag need to be supplemented when you are using RO water that is part of the reason i thought i had a mag deficiency.

dank smoker420 said:

i would also add some humus. alot of benefitial bacteria to give your soil a good kick start.

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Thanks for the info man i will look in to that.

I just tested the PH of my medium last night i added 1/2 cup of soil from the top and 1.5 cups of water, after lots of mixing and 2 hours the ph came out to be 7.1 what do you guys think would be the best and safest amendment to bring the soil down to 1.5, or do you guys think the PH might naturally fall now that i am not using PH up to adjust my water.

psilocybindude said:

Really? I was told i used way to much lime and i figured that might have been why my PH was so high.

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yeah really. i use 1 cup per cu ft, and i have not had a problem with ph nor ph adjusted anything. been about 2 years now.

Okay, i wasn't trying to be a smart ass or anything i just wasn't sure since my soil alkalinity was already to high, i didn't think adding more dolomite lime would be a good idea, i used about 4 cups of dolomite lime and had 4 cu. feet of soil before i added all of the perlite, what do you guys think about flushing the soil to lower the PH would there be any point or would it be futile since its a supersoil?

so anyways i flushed the soil with 5 gallons of non PH adjusted water 5.6 to be exact, i am hoping my plants are only running high on the PH scale because of all of the PH up i have been adding to the water, if things crawl back down to 6.5 after this flush i will be so happy, i haven't flushed yet so i am looking forward to seeing what happens.

I never ph my ro water. all that ph up and down will totally mess with your microbes. with all that lime in there you want your ro to have its natural acidity. I use way less lime and don't ph my ro water. my soil is usually around 6.5, and remember, molasses has calcium in it too.

Thanks for the info man, things are looking much better since the flush but i am not sure if it has completely corrected the issue.

add some sulfur to your soil to lower ph

Alright man will do i just bought some and its on its way, you wouldn't happen to know how much i should add to each 4.5 gal pot to bring the ph down .6 or so would you?