How Do I Adjust the pH in Organic Solutions?

[Icemud]

You can use baking soda, sodium bicarbonate, to raise your PH in Organic soils...be careful though... using just a spoonfull will raise the ppm of 4 gallons of water almost 300ppm... also using this every feeding will result in a build up of the salt sodium carbonate in your soil which will compete with magnesium and calcium uptake...so if using baking soda, I would only use very sparingly or if used every watering, I would flush with pure water every 3rd watering...

 

[FrankFoster]

So I have a lemon lime tree in my yard. I never pay for ph down. I just cut them and squeeze. Half a lime at a time a get 5.5 so easy. The problem is that the citric acid is not as stable when you add all that sugar to water. So the ph raises fast...

Pure frolic acid or phosphoric acid takes way more time to come up in r o water due to the lack of other things in water.

So unless you soak a bunch of limes in a bucket for adding every day at least... Lemon lime... Waste of time.

 

[metalback]

I have tried everything i can think of (tried dolomite lime didnt help much) so lime juice why not. Can anyone tell me how much i should use to raise my ph. it is running about 6.0 to 6.2 up from 5.5
thanx

i would rather use God made herb instead of man made chemicals

I use vinegar to lower ph. Just a few drops in one gallon of water lowers it nearly a full point.

 

[TorturedSoul]

I use vinegar to lower ph. Just a few drops in one gallon of water lowers it nearly a full point.

If you let it sit for a span of time - say, 24 hours - has the pH risen back up?

 

[metalback]

If you let it sit for a span of time - say, 24 hours - has the pH risen back up?

No, it hasn't changed. I a large container with a couple of gallons, add the vinegar and test till I'm good. I test it before use all week.

 

[rastamamma]

If your using soil medium and organics...there is no need to adjust your ph...your soil micro biology will buffer the ph for the plants...

Agree....I used to mess around with an expensive PH and EC meter but after cooking my own soil, I never PH:ed the water and the plants look better than ever.

 

[TorturedSoul]

I used to mess around with an expensive PH and EC meter but after cooking my own soil, I never PH:ed the water and the plants look better than ever.

I would think that even with "organics," it would be helpful - or at least potentially so. Knowing the pH of what you are giving the plants, along with knowing what you can expect the runoff pH to be at that level, you have another aid to tell you when there is an issue with your plants (if you see a sudden pH shift; but I wouldn't expect to see as much of a change - a sudden drop, for example - because soil acts as a buffer to a large degree. I suppose that in some cases, it might even show the presence of an issue before it shows up in the leaves. If you always know what you are giving your plants and you expect to never have plant issues then you probably wouldn't be as much in checking it, I guess.