PH the water for a irrigation system in living soil?

S

Sask420grow

Well-Known Member
My ph from tap is 8.3. I let that water sit and warm up for 24hrs prior to using. I’ve been doing it all by hand lately but am wanting to Change to a drip system. My question is how do I get my ph down for a watering or two while I’m away from the house? I want to be able to leave and have ease of mind that they will be watered. I currently use lemon juice but I left a test cup out for a few days and it grew a mold. I don’t want that to happen in the holding tank... any input appreciated.
 
What exactly are you asking? How to lower the pH in your holding tank? You can't do that if it's pottable water. You have to lower the pH in your buckets of water for the plants. If you were to set up a drip system it would have to be off a pump from a sump system which you would lower the water in the sump. I hope that answers your questions.
:passitleft:
 
CagedApe said:
What exactly are you asking? How to lower the pH in your holding tank? You can't do that if it's pottable water. You have to lower the pH in your buckets of water for the plants. If you were to set up a drip system it would have to be off a pump from a sump system which you would lower the water in the sump. I hope that answers your questions.
:passitleft:
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I want to use a holding tank and pump system. The holding tank will hold the water for two days then the pump will turn on to water the plants. I’m asking if and how do I ph the water in the holding tank prior to leaving it sit for the two days prior to feeding (away on vacation or lazy and don’t want to water by hand anymore). So the question is how to lower the ph in the holding tank? My media is livingsoil so I can’t use the synthetic stuff cause I don’t want to kill the microbial life...
 
Sask420grow said:
I want to use a holding tank and pump system. The holding tank will hold the water for two days then the pump will turn on to water the plants. I’m asking if and how do I ph the water in the holding tank prior to leaving it sit for the two days prior to feeding (away on vacation or lazy and don’t want to water by hand anymore). So the question is how to lower the ph in the holding tank? My media is livingsoil so I can’t use the synthetic stuff cause I don’t want to kill the microbial life...
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pH down and nutrients.... How do you lower it now?
 
Sask420grow said:
Bro. Did you read my post? I use lemon juice but over two or three days it grows a mold on top of the water. I can’t use ph down cause it will kill the microbial life I e built up......
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My man, the only other thing you can use is vinegar. It will lower your pH as it is an acid. I'm not sure you are going about your thinking in this when it comes to pH vs. micro. pH is so important I would think that is the target.
 
I'm not so sure ph matters too much for living soil. Unless your pots are tiny. When using organic soils I have never bothered with ph. I have seen some grows go south fast when people started messing around with getting perfect ph, perfect ppm/ec, etc.
 
CanadianJim said:
I'm not so sure ph matters too much for living soil. Unless your pots are tiny. When using organic soils I have never bothered with ph. I have seen some grows go south fast when people started messing around with getting perfect ph, perfect ppm/ec, etc.
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I don't feel that's true. I take my pH down every time I water, and it's the same every time. pH absolutely does matter and very relative to nutrient intake.
 
I've grown in pots for a while, and the only time I ran into a ph issue was when I accidentally poured a bunch of coffee into a small pot. Maybe I've just been lucky, but I'm not the only grower who was been questioning the importance for ph in soil grows. The nutrient uptake profiles are different in soil, and the ph of the soil in contact with the roots varies across the rootzone, some roots being in an optimal ph for some nutrients, some in a better ph for others. You can only get a uniform ph in hydro systems. If checking the ph of your nutrient solution or water works for you, great, keep doing what you're comfortable with.
I looked up ph down, and it usually contains phosphoric acid. A 3% solution of phosphoric acid will suppress microbes, so if you think you'll get to 2 or 3% adjusting the ph of your water then that would be a bit risky, but I really doubt it would sterilize your soil, or even put much of a dent in the microbe population. Microbes reproduce extremely quickly, so it would likely recover even if some of them were suppressed.
 
CanadianJim said:
I've grown in pots for a while, and the only time I ran into a ph issue was when I accidentally poured a bunch of coffee into a small pot. Maybe I've just been lucky, but I'm not the only grower who was been questioning the importance for ph in soil grows. The nutrient uptake profiles are different in soil, and the ph of the soil in contact with the roots varies across the rootzone, some roots being in an optimal ph for some nutrients, some in a better ph for others. You can only get a uniform ph in hydro systems. If checking the ph of your nutrient solution or water works for you, great, keep doing what you're comfortable with.
I looked up ph down, and it usually contains phosphoric acid. A 3% solution of phosphoric acid will suppress microbes, so if you think you'll get to 2 or 3% adjusting the ph of your water then that would be a bit risky, but I really doubt it would sterilize your soil, or even put much of a dent in the microbe population. Microbes reproduce extremely quickly, so it would likely recover even if some of them were suppressed.
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Dude, are you even serious right now. Microbes do not take precedence over pH. If that was the case then in hydroponics you would be adding microbes(which know one does). They adjust the pH down. I don't understand what the problem is, do you want healthy plants or do you want to try to talk to God by growing this weed. There's a reason why we set 5.8 for hydro and 6.0 - 6.7 for soil. It's optimization and I'm sorry but having a pH out of the tap over 8.0 is not where he wants to be. Microbes or not....
 
Actually, I have heard of guys using beneficial microbes in hydro, though that's usually in threads where they're asking for help. We all grow differently, and what works for one may not work for another.
I didn't say microbes take precedence, I just suggested that the op decide what his priorities are. My plants rarely if ever get any nutrient deficiencies, and the few that have, I fixed by adjusting the feed, not the ph.
Managing ph in living soil is very difficult as it changes as the microbial composition of your soil changes. If adjusting the ph works for you, that's great, to each their own, but it's not the only way to grow.


Anyway, back to your problem op, I don't think ph down will damage your microbes unless you pour it directly into your soil, and they'll probably recover pretty quickly even it does.
 
:laughtwo: You need to worry about the chlorine in the water, aerate it to make it gas off faster, aerating will prevent and mold from growing if you choose to use citric acid instead of another acid. Ph down is phosphoric acid. And the tiny amount you add to neutralize it or bring to 6.5 will not significantly harm your soil microbial life at all, It will also boost your ppm a tiny bit.
 
@Sask420grow ... why are you even worried about pH in a living soil grow? Microbes do not care about pH and you shouldn't either. The ONLY reason we pH adjust our solutions is when we are using synthetic nutes that are not available to the plants except within narrow pH ranges. I gave up pH adjusting or even concerning myself with it years ago, when I moved away from using EDTA chelated nutes.
 
Microbes do care, they can thrive best/ best multiply rate at ph 7 which is neutral, no surprise there. And can survive between ph 6-8. I bet 5.5-8.5 is more like it but regardless, just shoot for 6-7 and youll be fine. Imo ideally 6.5;)
 
Emilya said:
@Sask420grow ... why are you even worried about pH in a living soil grow? Microbes do not care about pH and you shouldn't either. The ONLY reason we pH adjust our solutions is when we are using synthetic nutes that are not available to the plants except within narrow pH ranges. I gave up pH adjusting or even concerning myself with it years ago, when I moved away from using EDTA chelated nutes.
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Thank you for replying. You have taught me this before but I’ve had folks swear it matters so I’ve been adjusting with lemon juice. These plants in question will be in flower so I’m concerned the change might fuck them up. My water is 8.3 ph after I let the chlorine and such evaporate (24hr). Then I’ll usually adjust to 6.3 “incase” these guys are correct ( I still don’t believe they are but there always that what if that I’m scared of lol ). So you think I should just water them with the 8.3 is hope for the best?
 
Sask420grow said:
Thank you for replying. You have taught me this before but I’ve had folks swear it matters so I’ve been adjusting with lemon juice. These plants in question will be in flower so I’m concerned the change might fuck them up. My water is 8.3 ph after I let the chlorine and such evaporate (24hr). Then I’ll usually adjust to 6.3 “incase” these guys are correct ( I still don’t believe they are but there always that what if that I’m scared of lol ). So you think I should just water them with the 8.3 is hope for the best?
Click to expand...
No no no water at 6.5, use citric acid to lower ph but aerate it even just a bit to prevent mold!
 
Use phosphoric acid. Standard ph down, i use it. I read up on it and best to use lemon juice if you wanna keep it fully organic, but either works, its either you or the town who adjusts it;)
 
yeah, I remember now... 8.3 is pretty excessive. Why do you all put up with this situation?? I have to agree that even in a totally organic living soil grow, 8.3 is out of the boundary, and you need to adjust... and as long as you are adjusting you might as well go to 6.3
 
and yes, phosphoric acid is the best, so it is the most expensive. When it breaks down it leave phosphorous, which of course is directly usable by the plants. win - win there. It is actually just as "organic" as lemon juice is and leaves less residue.
 

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