Diatomacious
Well-Known Member
They allow public spankings here?
Do we need to pH adjust our nutrient solutions?
- Thread starter InTheShed
- Start date
I'd gladly take a spanking from Sheddy. Just the fun kind...not the disappointed kind.They allow public spankings here?
Diatomacious
Well-Known Member
All I had in mind
You're awesome VG, glad to see you back. Always enjoyed your style before joining the mag..
Hope to see you more often
I'll hit that!You're awesome VG, glad to see you back. Always enjoyed your style before joining the mag..
Hope to see you more often
I should be around a lot more very soon. Last year was a challenging one for us. Things are getting back to 'normal'.
Diatomacious
Well-Known Member
Plants look healthy. Do they stay that way all through bloom?
This is Megacrop that you bought 4 or 5 years ago? What kind of soil mixture do you use? You also add a cal-mag, do you use any other amendments or soil additives?
How is the overall smoke, do you notice any harshness or does it taste sweet and pure?
Anyway nice plants, thumbs up.
I'm currently nursing a clone back to health from a bad mix I was growing it in. New growth is looking straight though some of the older leaves still have that curl.
Just takes one wrong amendment to make the whole grow go sideways.
- Thread starter
- #667
If you don't mind, let's keep this thread to pH adjusting nutrients and keep the brand choice comments to the grow journals of folks you'd like to ask.
@bluter if you want to reply please post the reply in yours or Diatom's thread.
Diatomacious
Well-Known Member
Only necessary for true hydro (rockwool, hydroton, DWC...). For soil and soilless not necessary.If you don't mind, let's keep this thread to pH adjusting nutrients and keep the brand choice comments to the grow journals of folks you'd like to ask.
@bluter if you want to reply please post the reply in yours or Diatom's thread.
All Done!
This is kinda what surprised me when I joined this group and everyone was using a soil mixture set-up in their hydro systemsGreetings all! I recently had a running email conversation with the "Grower Services & Product Development Director" at ProMix (aka Premier Tech). I began the conversation by posting a question on their website, asking if I should be treating ProMix HP as soil or soil-less when mixing nutrients.
[Please note that we were not discussing hydro growing. This conversation does not apply to hydro.]
As we have all been taught, the pH range for nutrients is different for soil and soil-less media and I had been using the soil range in my ProMix and wanted to double check. His response left me confused, as he answered the question by giving me the ideal pH range for mineral soil and soil-less growing media. He did not address my question of the correct pH of the nutrient mix.
We went back and forth for a few days and his answers always referred to the pH of the media and not what we were pouring into the media. I kept trying to narrow my question and he continued in the same vein. I contained my exasperation so as not to short circuit the chain.
At one point he said this:
"It is the potential acidity or basicity of the fertilizer chemistry and the alkalinity content of your water that affects the pH of the growing medium. For the fertilizers, it is called ‘potential’ since it is determined by the chemistry and the quantity of fertilizer nutrients that are applied and the ‘potential’ they have to interact with the plant root system and influence the pH of the growing medium up or down."
All related to the medium. And the interesting use of the word "potential," but again ended it by talking about moving the pH of the growing medium.
Rather than bore you with the all back and forth, I will post this summary that I sent him in one of our last emails. He approved of this summary (italics mine):
1. Ideal pH range for mineral soil is 6.0-6.5. Soil-less growing media, such as PRO-MIX, have an ideal pH range of 5.5-6.0.
2. However, pH of nutrient water is irrelevant to the pH of any soil or growing media. It is the alkalinity of nutrient water and the potential acidity/basicity of the fertilizer(s) that influence the pH of the growing medium and root zone. For example, if the alkalinity of nutrient water is moderate or high, pH of growing medium will rise over time.
a. Plant roots are electrically charged and must maintain a neutral balance.b. For ammonium nitrogen (NH4) fertilizers, plants release of hydrogen ions to take up NH4. Hydrogen released is essentially acid and this drives pH down.c. For nitrate (NO3) form of nitrogen in fertilizers, plant exchange hydroxyl ions for NO3 uptake, which causes growing medium pH to rise.d. Alkalinity (CACO3) is essentially dissolved limestone. The higher the alkalinity of water, the greater tendency to raise pH of growing medium over time.
3. It is more important to keep track of the pH of the growing medium than the pH of the nutrient solution we feed the plants.
And at the bottom of that summary I added one last direct question:
"If I’m growing in ProMix HP and I mix up the nutrient solution and it reads 7.4 pH, it is not necessary for me to adjust that number down using phosphoric acid or the like. I can pour it into the pot at 7.4 and my plants will be able to uptake those nutrients?"
His response was a direct "Yes."
-----------------------------------
We had discussions on the correct way to check the pH of soil or soil-less medium (none involved checking our nute runoff
i wouldn't because of perceived problems from ph of the soil mix aswell as dealing with ph of nuets .im old school and probably why I still use clay balls 
- Thread starter
- #670
Flood and drain and pH adjust for the win!This is kinda what surprised me when I joined this group and everyone was using a soil mixture set-up in their hydro systems
Wastei
Well-Known Member
Coco coir is soilless and more or less inert with a pH of about 5.5-6.5. I believe peat and coir is best to run at pH 6-6.5 of the leachate ie runoff. You have to treat them both more or less the same. Coir is naturally high in K and leaches Mg and needs both Ca and Mg added to the medium. Pro-Mix is peat based and buffered with lime to compensate peats low pH of 3.5-4.5.This is kinda what surprised me when I joined this group and everyone was using a soil mixture set-up in their hydro systems
Hydroton, perlite or any other completely inert hydroponic medium performs better at pH 5.5-6.0. A plant release a lot of acids and sugars in flowers, DTW(drain to waste) growing and feeding frequency mitigate this to certain degree.
I believe there's pros and cons with any growing method. Cheers!
I agree they all have there annoying factors and im not knocking any method ,if it works do it. I was just amazed at how things have gone full circle over the years. Im that old
Wastei
Well-Known Member
Plants response and output should be the variable to follow like runoff/leachate to know what's going on in the root zone at what pH to feed the medium. A proper soil pH meter is a good tool to instantly check pH of the medium no matter if you're growing with salts or organic amendments.
In a well cooked and activated organic soil the microbial life and organic acids and hydroxides released by them decide pH more than pH of the input.
In a well cooked and activated organic soil the microbial life and organic acids and hydroxides released by them decide pH more than pH of the input.
Diatomacious
Well-Known Member
Yes it counts as hydro. Peat moss lacks the micronutrient found in normal dirt. You should not have to pH though as peat contains lots of lime to counteract the low acidity. Check the runoff pH if you are concerned.
Diatomacious
Well-Known Member
I should stress that your runoff should be dumped into the yard, not down the drain. Ammonia kills fish and other marine life. It is the reason for wastewater treatment. No need to put even more stress on the environment.
Diatomacious
Well-Known Member
Also remember that fresh potting mix will have a low pH, acid. The lime takes several weeks to react with the peat and become alkaline. Most potting mixes will end up too alkaline after several months.
Excellent stuff. Thank you. I just started some seeds with a peat based mix I made the same day. The first sets of true leaves were really light in color and needed help right away. Makes sense.
- Thread starter
- #679
Not at all. Sunshine mix and Promix are basically identical. They're both buffered media so there is no need to pH your nutes. They are soilless, not hydro. Hydro would be DWC, coco, or hempy.
Also, don't check runoff pH unless you're doing a pour-through test of the Sunshine mix.
Did the Pro Mix guy offer to prove it by buying some $300 pack of beans and treating them that way?
I have always heard put your money where...
I have always heard put your money where...
