Soil Ph

I am sure that this has been answered 20 times on here, but here we go again. I have tested the ph of my soil four times with meters and strips. All four times Its read 7-7.3 and the same goes for the run off @7. Will adjusting my waters ph to slightly more acidic help balance the ph in my soil? Thanks a million.

needsomebeans said:

I am sure that this has been answered 20 times on here, but here we go again. I have tested the ph of my soil four times with meters and strips. All four times Its read 7-7.3 and the same goes for the run off @7. Will adjusting my waters ph to slightly more acidic help balance the ph in my soil? Thanks a million.

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yes but your ph run off is 7 ...... You only need to bring it down .2 ........ 6.8ph

ph down your water by .2
and your run off should be 6.8

You're right. it has been asked a million times already.

mainliner said:

yes but your ph run off is 7 ...... You only need to bring it down .2 ........ 6.8ph

ph down your water by .2
and your run off should be 6.8

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Thanks Mainliner. My next question would be can I use something like lemon juice or vinegar to lower it? Our do I need to purchase a ph down additive?

needsomebeans said:

Thanks Mainliner. My next question would be can I use something like lemon juice or vinegar to lower it? Our do I need to purchase a ph down additive?

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yes but its a weak acid and will breakdown FAST!! like daily!!

buy a ph down off eBay ..... $10 and it will last you months!!


you can use them temporary until u can buy the real stuff



Ps..... If anyone wants to argue about the lemon juice etc ...... Bring it on , its actually organic


good luck

I will have to get some of the ph down. I was hoping to be able to do it organically but I don't want to kill my plants. I try to live by the old adage an ounce of prevention is better then a pound of cure.

It shoudln't be hard to acidify your soil a little. For example, amend it with a peat product. If you used Pro-Mix HP, I'd say mix 30% of it with 70% of whatever you're using now. Pro-Mix HP for me is about 5.8-6.0 out of the bag. (I mix it 50-60% to 20-25% soil which is 6.8-7.0 out of the bag and 20-25% perlite. I get about 6.2 as a result. Dolomite raises it to 6.4.).

If you don't want to play with the texture of your soil that way, some people use aluminum sulfate. A tiny amount goes a long way. Try 3g per gallon of medium. That should get you close to 6.5. (However, some feel aluminium should be avoided because it's unhealthy to humans. It's commonly used for blueberries. Peat and organics have metals too. Nothing's pure, except perhaps hydro. So, you'd have to weigh how you feel about this.).

Ill try the peat to lower the pH. I will be transplanting into 1 gallon pots by the end of next week. I'll mix in some peat and get the pH right before I move them. Researched liights, seeds, etc but didn't think a thing about soil pH. The seeds have only been in the soil for 1 week and they are growing good. I just don't want to go check on the and find them wilted or waded up.

If you get into fine tuning the soil ph, invest $60 in a Control Wizard Accurate 8 ph probe. It's really handy. More reliable than the $5-$20 prongs sold at retail stores. It comes with a whetting pad which you use before each use. Eventually I just use fine steel wool from the hardware store. Put it in the soil, take the reading 10 minutes later.

I think it's more accurate than ph runoff. Also lets you see how the ph changes over time. Once you have a soil dialed in you don't need to use it much. But, it's really handy for dialing things in. No guess work.

I hate being on a shoestring budget but I'd say its cheaper to buy the meter than to screw up a whole grow.

needsomebeans said:

its cheaper to buy the meter than to screw up a whole grow.

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You're overall ability to grow will have FAR more impact on what you end up with than will sweating over how to adjust your PH by point 2.

needsomebeans said:

I am sure that this has been answered 20 times on here, but here we go again. I have tested the ph of my soil four times with meters and strips. All four times Its read 7-7.3 and the same goes for the run off @7. Will adjusting my waters ph to slightly more acidic help balance the ph in my soil? Thanks a million.

Click to expand...

What going on with your plants that is making you think you have a ph problem ? Any pics?? Nute line?? Age of plants ??

No problems yet. The plants have been in the soil for 8 days today. I haven't added any nutes yet. Just trying to avoid problems. Will get a better pic tonight.

Is this a natural soil, or do you have a container of material that you're bottle-feeding?

Natural soil won't need pH testing. Bottle-fed... who knows