What type of ph to use for organics? and will gh ph powder cause salt build up??

Hey, i was wondering will general hydroponics ph up powder cause salt build up in my organic soil also or will it do anything bad to it? also what is the best organic ph adjuster to use? help appreciated because i need to get some soon preferably in the next day or 2 before i have to water again.

Organic soil ????

You want: Dolomite Lime, Garden Lime, Sweet Lime, Oyster shell flour or similar and not have to worry about soil pH, or the pH of anything you add to that soil. Doesn't get much more simple. See what you can source locally.

None of these are strictly *organic* since they contain no carbon. But they are 'natural' and are quite compatible with organics and allowed.

Wet

i made a simple soil just roots, azomite, and garden lime. but sometimes i use additives so i wanted to know the best organic ph adjuster to use.

I don't pH additives, or anything added to the soil.

If you added sufficient garden lime, it's a non issue. Really.

Wet

how does adding lime and upping the ph make the ph irrelevant after doing so.

psytiva said:

how does adding lime and upping the ph make the ph irrelevant after doing so.

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It's called buffering....there is tons of information on "buffering" look it up

if you aren't going to use the lime in your soil, i've heard EarthJuice Natural Up/Down is the next best way of doing it.

psytiva said:

how does adding lime and upping the ph make the ph irrelevant after doing so.

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Short answer: Lime will buffer and keep the soil buffered in the *sweet* range of ~6.4-6.8. Any liquid added will be altered to the pH of the soil in a relatively short time. High pH will be brought down and low pH will be brought up to whatever the soils pH is. pH'ng liquids doesn't do squat, except in the short term. Mostly *stoner science*.

Farmers and gardeners adjust and fix the soils pH at the beginning of the season and that's pretty much it. Think they pH thousands of gallons of irrigation water, or nutes, or ????

Even organically, if we grew food according to the way we are told we 'should' grow mj, we couldn't afford to eat.

Let's use a little common sense here.

Wet

hey wet dog, according the Subcool, 1/2 cup of sweet lime is all thats needed for 8 bags. Is this really enough? I ended up using 2 tbsp of this stuff for 2.5 bags but it didn't seem like it was enough for all that soil.

what are your thoughts?

Good question, dante! I wonder, is moar better?

^*BuMp*^ wondering the same thing mine is cookin out back atm

online source says 1 cup of powdered lime for every 1 cubic ft of soil. for me thats 1.5 cups per bag of soil (roots organics)

http://www.ehow.com/how_8340426_add-dolomite-potting-soil.html

Will check other sources too! Don't want to trust the first source i find.

dante76 said:

online source says 1 cup of powdered lime for every 1 cubic ft of soil. for me thats 1.5 cups per bag of soil (roots organics)

http://www.ehow.com/how_8340426_add-dolomite-potting-soil.html

Will check other sources too! Don't want to trust the first source i find.

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This is correct. A quick breakdown. 1 cup=16 tablespoons. 1 cuft=aprox 8 gallons. 2 tablespoons per gallon of medium or 1 cup per cuft as stated above. Worm castings are also a benefit in your mix when it comes to maintaining correct pH..

i see. now the problem is that i have pellet lime which is brown (why i don't know). Powdered would be better for even distribution. Isn't powdered lime white?

dante76 said:

hey wet dog, according the Subcool, 1/2 cup of sweet lime is all thats needed for 8 bags. Is this really enough? I ended up using 2 tbsp of this stuff for 2.5 bags but it didn't seem like it was enough for all that soil.

what are your thoughts?

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I've always wondered about that and pretty much ignore it. LOL I run a hot mix, but it isn't Sub's. I would have ~12 cups in that same amount of mix.

I use 1cup/cf and that's a minimum.

BTW, the pellets are fine. They are (usually), powdered dolomite held together with a fast dissolving binder. Easy enough to check, simply put a small amount in a glass of water. You should end up with brown water from the dissolved binder and a pile of powdered lime on the bottom of the glass.

It makes it easier to apply the lime. If you ever tried to apply powdered lime outside on a breezy day you'd understand. I have bags of both powdered and pellets and use both.

AFA using more, it's hard to over apply lime, but easy enough to under apply it. But adding much more than the 1cup/cf is really not needed. Some really acidic mixes I've made needed 1 1/2cups/cf, but that was pretty much the upper limit of what I've applied.

HTH

Wet

Wetdog said:

Short answer: Lime will buffer and keep the soil buffered in the *sweet* range of ~6.4-6.8. Any liquid added will be altered to the pH of the soil in a relatively short time. High pH will be brought down and low pH will be brought up to whatever the soils pH is. pH'ng liquids doesn't do squat, except in the short term. Mostly *stoner science*.

Farmers and gardeners adjust and fix the soils pH at the beginning of the season and that's pretty much it. Think they pH thousands of gallons of irrigation water, or nutes, or ????

Even organically, if we grew food according to the way we are told we 'should' grow mj, we couldn't afford to eat.

Let's use a little common sense here.

Wet

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i learned that fact the hard way as i was the victim of over priced organics when i was starting out . i think once you understand how things work in the soil you come to the conclusion that the only thing that matters when purchasing ferts and additives are the ingredients and analysis and not the label. very good advice wet and anyone reading should take note.

gotcha...will add more to my mix....do think there's anything wrong with crushing the pellets before mixing? Want to try to get more even coverage in my super soil mix.

thanks.

dante76 said:

gotcha...will add more to my mix....do think there's anything wrong with crushing the pellets before mixing? Want to try to get more even coverage in my super soil mix.

thanks.

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Nothing wrong with it, just unneeded effort. As soon as you moisten the mix to start the cooking, the binder dissolves and releases the powder.

If you want to expend more effort, more shovel work mixing the mix will serve you better.

Wet

? bout the cooking part of the super soil. since i've been reading more about beneficial and bad bacteria, should i cook the soil but allow it to breath or should i keep it closed with no air to circulate?

it is good to buffer you soil but you should still ph water to keep a balance the goal is to keep ph balanced (6.8-7.2) in moist soil with microbes. as far as natural lemon juice and baking soda there isnt much to it but that is it for water(plenty of organic options doesnt matter lemon juice has vitamin c, sugars, micro nutes and acidic if some one tells you this is bad they are dumb and baking soda isnt the greatest but it works). for soil you gonna have to use dolomite lime and wood ash a thick mixture poured slowly and evenly but if your soil has ph problemsyou will prbably not be able to fix it if it has a plant in it. so you have to prepare in advence. 1lb of dolomite lime per bale of peatmoss(hell i even use promix and it already has dolomite lime in it)