Any PH wizards out there ?

[Scrogger]

Hey people been having a few problems and I've put it down to ph.

My water from my tap is 7.5 so I ph it down to 6.5 before I give it to my plant an I get a run off of 5.9 surely if I put it in at 6.5 it should come out at 6.5. Is 5.9 on the runoff ok I'm think not but I don't know what to do next.

 

[Jimmycricket]

I prefer to be called a PH dark mage with a level of 76, int 142 and a chrisma skill of 20.

Wizard is an insult sir!

But on a serious tip, i am assuming you are growing soil as it sounds like you are. With soil the water PH you feed the plants is really not of importance. If you have good soil, conditioned properly you can feed the plant 4ph or 8ph water and itll be just fine.

PHing water is for hydro where the water is the growing medium. In soil you got to PH the growing medium, you must PH the soil!

 

[Scrogger]

Lol sorry mate and thankyou for taking your time to reply.

Yes you're right I am growing In soil, my first grow I never bothered to test ph and I had some problems, now I'm and the end of grow 2 and my yield has been massively reduced due to something I still don't know about I started some threads and gathered some info and I've been led to believe I need to adjust my ph I will upload a photo of my 2nd grow I was told it was down to incorrect ph

How do I ph the soil if you don't mind me asking

 

[Jimmycricket]

Well there are MANY ways to ph a soil. I will give you the cheaper and simpler ones, the ones I use.

Firstly keep in mind it is best to do this when mixing the soil, so we cant do it perfect seeing as the plants are already in the soil. But we can do a bit and you will also have this knowledge for future grows.

So first you would prefer to have a range around 6.3-6.6 as your average. If it drops down to 5.7 and up to like 7.1 from time to time its all good. Typically my soil will drop down to about 5.8-6.2 when i water, then it will creep up and be about 6.4-6.9 when fairly dry.

How we get the soil to regulate itself is using conditioners. Gypsum is a cheap and effective way to lower PH. You can usually find it at garden centers, sometimes for very very cheap (i got a 40 pound bag for like 4 bucks at home depot) per gallon of soil i will mix in about 1/6th to 1/10th of a cup. So if you are growing in 5 gallon pots, you would use up to 1/2 cup or a bit less. You would ideally mix it in real good with your soil.

For raising the ph you can use garden lime or dolomite lime. I use a bit less of this then the gypsum because I want my soil ever so slightly acidic. I use about 1/2 or 3/4 of the lime compared to how much gypsum I use. Also your type of soil plays a bit of a role in how much you use of both the gypsum and the lime.

Since you can not mix it in, just top dress with a few tablespoons of each on the top of the soil, try to mix it in slightly if possible in the first inch or two of dirt.

 

[Fuzzy Duck]

Measuring PH by run off from soil/compost... its just a waste of time & some sort off misguide conception from hydro.


I total agree with Jimmy on what he is saying of which he is explaining the self buffering effect of soil, i myself observed this about a year ago now on of my own soil grows & have not PH any thing since then !

The only thing which may upset soil/compost PH is the over use of chemical/synthetic nutrients which may lead to toxic salt build up with in the soil, this can be avoided by using a good watering/feeding regime or a jolly good flush once in awhile



Most good soil/compost should have PH value of growing medium written on the bag itself & this should be between PH 6 & 7 which is pretty ideal for growing a wide range of plants.

If compost/soil has NO PH value written on the bag, don't use it... 100% peat based composts are acidic in nature.