Mixing my own soil: pH advice needed

[Jay Bird]

Hi guys and gals,

so I have currently just made my own potting mix as I wanted to make a big amount for the tent and the garden for this years crops.

my problem is with ph

I made the mix with compost, perlite, a bit of coco and peat and added dolomite lime.

when I tested the soil the ph was at 6.0
I left the soil for a few days as I know it takes a few days for the dolomite to bring the ph up. I have not planted yet in this soil.

anyway I tested it today and it has risen to 6.9 ph.

I know in soil an acceptable ph range is 6.0 to 7.0.

should I be worried about the ph being quite high and amend before I plant or is this okay.

I normally ph at 6.3 (water) and thought this could be a good thing to allow the soil to adjust the water once it’s in the medium.

im quite new to this side of mixing up your own stuff but I have always been very interested in making my own, I just need to learn more and practice these techniques more.

so any help is really appreciated, and constructive criticism would really help me at this point as I do not want to plant if this may be a problem. I would prefer to just put in a days work and get the soil re mixed again

thanks people.

 

[013]

How are you testing the soil ph?

The proper way to test soil ph is by doing a slurry test using distilled water. Generally speaking a new soil mix needs to be placed in a drum or tote tub, watered in and allowed to cook for 30 days, more cook time (90 days) is required for a heavily amended supersoil or living organic soil. I’m just a newbie myself but probably need @bobrown14 to jump in

 

[Jay Bird]

Hi thanks for the reply - I do the slurry test with de-ionised water. It’s suppose to be an organic light mix similar to other light mixes on the market. It’s not really a super soil as such. The organic amendments were only the compost and worm casts.

 

[013]

Great job! Many seem to think they can measure the runoff to get accurate ph readings from the soil, but that’s not the case.

 

[Jay Bird]

Well I did the de ionised slurry test -

and then I filled a pot with soil and soaked it till slight run off and measured the ph and it cane out at 6.9 the same as the slurry. Used straight rain water and that went in at around 8. Was just messing about really as I don’t test run off ph especially in organic as it just fucks with your head.

foubd an old bubba kush auto from Dina fem so I popped that in there a few hours later. Just to see what happens to be honest

 

[Weaselcracker]

If you want to lower the ph just mix in more peat. Seems like weed can handle a pretty wide range though.

Used straight rain water and that went in at around 8

Seems odd your rainwater would be that alkaline. Maybe something to do with how it was collected ?

 

[013]

Yeah don’t know if this applies in Jays garden setting but I’d be suspicious of any rainwater collected from asphalt shingle roofs that are less than 5 years old. New asphalt roofs weep out petroleum byproducts in the runoff for the first few years... Tin roof = no worries

 

[Stunger]

Hi guys and gals,

so I have currently just made my own potting mix as I wanted to make a big amount for the tent and the garden for this years crops.

my problem is with ph

I made the mix with compost, perlite, a bit of coco and peat and added dolomite lime.

when I tested the soil the ph was at 6.0
I left the soil for a few days as I know it takes a few days for the dolomite to bring the ph up. I have not planted yet in this soil.

anyway I tested it today and it has risen to 6.9 ph.

I know in soil an acceptable ph range is 6.0 to 7.0.

should I be worried about the ph being quite high and amend before I plant or is this okay.

I normally ph at 6.3 (water) and thought this could be a good thing to allow the soil to adjust the water once it’s in the medium.

im quite new to this side of mixing up your own stuff but I have always been very interested in making my own, I just need to learn more and practice these techniques more.

so any help is really appreciated, and constructive criticism would really help me at this point as I do not want to plant if this may be a problem. I would prefer to just put in a days work and get the soil re mixed again

thanks people.

Just my 2 cents, but for what it's worth, I just mix and let the soil cook/settle for 3-4 months. Because I am an outdoor grower I have all the months of the 'off season' free to allow the soil to cook/settle before I plant in it at Spring time. I imagine if you mix and measure every few days that yes, you may be likely to pick up on fluctuations to pH as the soil settles. I don't have a quality reliable pH meter but my experience suggests to me that it doesn't matter. One of my ingredients is Worm Castings, which always contains some live worms and to me, if the worms are happy in the soil the plants seems to be happy too.

I just want to make good soil like nature makes it in the ground. It uses no instruments, just time to let it settle. That's it. I read of someone who was living way up north somewhere who had a big pile of husky poo that apparently would kill anything, but after 2 years nature had broken it down and he apparently grew his best plants ever in it, so to me this illustrates the advantage of time to allow the soil mix to settle and the biology to break it down and blend it in. Of course when we specifically mix up soil for cannabis the period required to settle should just be perhaps 3 months or so if you're employing a hot mix and maybe just a couple of weeks for non 'hot' mix.

Here's a pic of taken a couple of days ago of my balcony girls growing in living organic soil complete with worms in their containers! I have had to keep them small at only 2 feet tall to cope with neighbourhood stealth requirements, otherwise I am sure I could get a much better size from them.

Mango Sherbert, Godfather OG, Strawberry Cough - 11/Mar/21

• Stunger
• Mar 10, 2021

Good luck.

 

[Weaselcracker]

Stunger I think you and I represent a couple different sides of the soil mix subject. You’re growing in a true LOS soil. I’ve got one of those cooking.

But most of the ‘soil’ mixes I’ve made in the past in my grow are just peat, perlite, and lime. Basically replicating a Promix type medium, and PH’ing to somewhere between 5.5 and 6- which is what Promix and Sunshine Mix type mediums are normally buffered to.

Looks like the OP is somewhere in between. He’s added compost but not much else so I guess he plans to feed it a lot afterwards? More like a soilless mix.

 

[Stunger]

Stunger I think you and I represent a couple different sides of the soil mix subject. You’re growing in a true LOS soil. I’ve got one of those cooking.

But most of the ‘soil’ mixes I’ve made in the past in my grow are just peat, perlite, and lime. Basically replicating a Promix type medium, and PH’ing to somewhere between 5.5 and 6- which is what Promix and Sunshine Mix type mediums are normally buffered to.

Looks like the OP is somewhere in between. He’s added compost but not much else so I guess he plans to feed it a lot afterwards? More like a soilless mix.

I think you're right. if you're dealing with a true LOS soil then the biology living amongst it is going to settle and harmonise the mix over time. Soil to me is living, so yes, I'd imagine where a soil mix is more of a potting mix that it will not have that depth of biology to be called living, and I guess will need constant interventions for pH and whatever.

 

[Weaselcracker]

It’s quite a different thing yes. Almost a soil vs hydro thing. I’ve always been reluctant to call simple peat and lime mixes ‘soil’- but people do. It can get confusing- especially when coco is thrown in the mix.

 

[bluter]

It’s quite a different thing yes. Almost a soil vs hydro thing. I’ve always been reluctant to call simple peat and lime mixes ‘soil’- but people do. It can get confusing- especially when coco is thrown in the mix.

they are called soil-less in the industry. sometimes referred to as neutral soils.
hydro rules for growing are implied for both.

 

[Weaselcracker]

That’s what I used to say too. In the last year or so I have stopped saying that and using the term ‘soilless’. Partly because of @InTheShed insisting that the added lime basically brings it into soil territory.

Although considering that promix is buffered to 5.5 -I’m not sure how that all computes. But the more I learn the less I know...

I’ve been growing in peat mixes for I think eight years now and to be honest the love affair is pretty much over...

 

[bluter]

That’s what I used to say too. In the last year or so I have stopped saying that and using the term ‘soilless’. Partly because of @InTheShed insisting that the added lime basically brings it into soil territory.

Although considering that promix is buffered to 5.5 -I’m not sure how that all computes. But the more I learn the less I know...

I’ve been growing in peat mixes for I think eight years now and to be honest the love affair is pretty much over...

even the mixes buffered with dolomite are referred to as soil-less. at least at the retail level.

there is a local business that deal with them all. they have stuff for both living soil and hydro type growing. both for indoor and outdoor. that's how they refer to them. actual cannabis growers only comprise about 10% of their business. i get my bales of perlite from them.

i'm pretty sick of growing hempy style as well. been contemplating a change for a year or more. i have 2 kinds of promix in the yard waiting, but my circumstances are working against me.

 

[InTheShed]

That’s what I used to say too. In the last year or so I have stopped saying that and using the term ‘soilless’. Partly because of @InTheShed insisting that the added lime basically brings it into soil territory.

I don't think I ever said that added lime brings peat into soil territory! Just that buffered substrates don't need to have the nutes pH balanced before using. Peat and soil are buffered to different pH ranges.

Soilless is a term used to mean peat-based rather than humus-based substrates, not that they are treated like hydro.

 

[bluter]

I don't think I ever said that added lime brings peat into soil territory! Just that buffered substrates don't need to have the nutes pH balanced before using. Peat and soil are buffered to different pH ranges.

Soilless is a term used to mean peat-based rather than humus-based substrates, not that they are treated like hydro.

aren't humus based soils living by definition ?

soil-less also refers to soil (dirt) that has had all the actual living material "cooked" out of it. there is no nutrient value in it for a plant to survive on.

 

[InTheShed]

aren't humus based soils living by definition ?

Not if they've been sterilized. It's still soil as it's humus-based and would have a pH range in the mid- to high-6's. Soilless usually refers to peat-based substrates which are pH'd in the 5.5-6 range.

 

[bluter]

honestly thought a humus soil would be a living soil as it is organic processes which create it.

the term humus is used as a synonym for a living soil here. as in adding some humus to the garden. they are often used as top dress soils here as our base soil is clay and awful.

edit: it is also used as a term for a compost soil as well here.

 

[Weaselcracker]

Yeah sorry Shed I had written a little bit more to the ‘soil territory‘ comment but it was getting convoluted so I just chopped it down and made it inaccurate instead. . You were mainly referring to the soil ph range.

So the definition of soilless is peat moss (or I assume coco and other mediums ) with added lime?

But not including unbuffered mediums such as pure coco?

 

[InTheShed]

honestly thought a humus soil would be a living soil as it is organic processes which create it.

the term humus is used as a synonym for a living soil here. as in adding some humus to the garden. they are often used as top dress soils here as our base soil is clay and awful.

edit: it is also used as a term for a compost soil as well here.

I don't really consider the soil I buy at Home Depot to be a living soil. If it was then all the LOS growers would just go buy some and use it like that. It's just humus-based, which probably lends itself better to creating a living soil.

So the definition of soilless is peat moss (or I assume coco and other mediums ) with added lime?

Coco is hydro whether you add lime or not. It needs pH-adjusted nutes.