I don't buy this. I hear people saying this all of the time, but I feel it's kind of misleading. Why does every recipe call for liming ingredients if ph doesn't matter? Peat is extremely acidic, and without dolo lime, oyster shell flour, etc your ph would be way out of range. I had this happen myself with one of the first batches I made. Miscalculated liming agents and had some pretty severe lockout because of it. I think a good source of humus can *help* buffer ph, but measures do need to be taken beyond that.
Oh boy do I really want to step into this one... let me try to be diplomatic on this, I think what we want to acknowledge is PH is important so I agree with stownngrow cause after all to low and you will lock out nutrients, increase fungi over bacteria thus impacting soil life ect.
However I agree with Hyroot cause in organics PH is much easier then synthetic salt nutrients, adding admendments properly will self regulate a properly mixed and cook soil.
In my experience PH is easier to maintain because in organic growing natural amendments when added properly will balance off the effect of High N and P sources that when composting will lower ph especially when using dolomite lime and other sources of cal mag that will help buffer this and long lasting slow sources of calcium is essentially in keeping that balance.
Hyroot it is important to consider using the proper sources of lime to bring in calcium and not just dolomite lime but as stowngrown said, oyster shell crushed will provide long lasting release of calcium carbonate to help keep the soil PH regulated properly.
But sure as shit if you don't have your soil mixed properly and cooked properly your plants will not do well or die in a low PH and that is just a scientific fact, so it is important to know what your soil PH is especially if you are using a new formula or recipe or adding a new ingredient. Its just that PH is not important in soil mixed and tested for if is amended properly and maintain properly during grow no worries it self regulate and that is when PH is not a big deal, when the freaking regulating mechanism is viable.
with all due affection and respect for the both of you
DankSwag