pH shifting in Happy Frog

[TheFertilizer]

I have been pH'ing all my watering and nutrient solutions at 6.5, but using a pH meter I see all my pots are gradually creeping up to 7+. Is there anyway to lower the pH of the soil persistently with topical treatments?

I'm not sure what it could be but here are the nutrients/pesticides I use...

Einstein Oil ( Neem Oil, root drenches )
Flora Nova Grow and Bloom
Growmore "Bud and Bloom" and "Alll Purpose"
Gh ArmorSi Silica

 

[smokers420]

Hello, TheFertilizer

It could be a number of things causing your pH to raise in your soil. I normaly add
A litte lime to my mix before potting up and let it set a week To adjust the pH level. Seems to keep my medium
at a nice 6.5 Ph Throughout most the grow. I would suggest getting some Advanced Nutrients pH Down witch is topical.
Is any of your nutes throwing the pH off when checking the pHof the water with nute? If so I would look that Direction. Hope this info helps you out with your issue. Happy Growing!!

 

[TheFertilizer]

Hello, TheFertilizer

It could be a number of things causing your Ph to raise in your soil. I normaly add
A litte lime to my mix before potting up and let it set a week To adjust the pH level. Seems to keep my medium
at a nice 6.5 Ph Throughout most the grow. I would suggest getting some Advanced Nutrients pH Down witch is topical.
Is any of your nutes throwing the Ph of when checking the Ph of the water? If so I would look that Direction. Hope this info helps
you out with your issue. Happy Growing!!

Well the Armor Si is hugely alkaline, but I always pH down it to 6.5 after adding all my nutrients. Perhaps it's still climbing back up after the fact.

 

[Dwight Monk]

Wouldn't a topical to lower soil be difficult to control? Can't you just water with a lower PH to crawl it back to where you want it? I'm still learning on the gardening, so what I know may not transfer to this. Used to work at a place that made Flower Pots and Floral Containers out of recycled paper, part of the process with the pulp is you manipulate the PH (granted to higher extremes taking it from a 6.0 to a 12.5 and then back down to 5.0 or less), but we could also manipulate it when sent to the tank by sending it with different types of water as they all were a different PH (well, city, white water or effluent). Some chemicals you had to wait for it to settle/mix in, as it would creep or bounce real hard on you (and if PH was way off the pots would be all messed up, and you wished you were doing a different job LOL).

 

[smokers420]

I know Aluminum sulfate will change the soil pH instantly because the aluminum produces the acidity as soon as it dissolves in the soil. Maybe you could go that rout.

 

[jhfhklsnhfldk]

As I understand it, soil should correct to about 7.0. When you water at 6.2 or 6.8, the lime that is in the soil is intended to buffer to near a 7.0. How do the plants look? are they showing signs of a problem? I have used Ocean Forest for most of my grows. It does seem to shift PH at about 1/2 way through flower. This run I added 1 TBSP/gallon of OF. It's an ongoing experiment I guess.

 

[TheFertilizer]

They have leaves curling down and kind of "cupping" (except the edges are going down instead of up) and I measured the pH of the soil and it's way up above 7 so that's what I figure it is.

Strain is Platinum Girl Scout Cookies. I only have one of them growing this time and all my Blackberry Kush plants don't do this so I feel like it wants the soil pH lower than the rest or something.

 

[jhfhklsnhfldk]

What kind of lights are you using? How close are they? Often a ph issue will start to lock out calcium and cause new growth to twist. I have had the experience of leaves curling down like this to avoid the lights. Curling up like a taco is often Mag def. I can't tell but it does not look like your leaves are twisting or curling upward.

Without all of the available info, my instinct would be overwater...this can make the tips curl down and cause the leaves to sag. Overwater can also cause a reduction or stoppage in nute uptake. Or too much light as it is mainly the uppers showing issues.

Still want to get your ph worked out, but if there is a chance they had too much water, sort that out first.

 

[TheFertilizer]

What kind of lights are you using? How close are they? Often a ph issue will start to lock out calcium and cause new growth to twist. I have had the experience of leaves curling down like this to avoid the lights. Curling up like a taco is often Mag def. I can't tell but it does not look like your leaves are twisting or curling upward.

Without all of the available info, my instinct would be overwater...this can make the tips curl down and cause the leaves to sag. Overwater can also cause a reduction or stoppage in nute uptake. Or too much light as it is mainly the uppers showing issues.

Still want to get your ph worked out, but if there is a chance they had too much water, sort that out first.

Ahh once again the over-watering bug comes and bites me in my ass.

I got a moisture meter to help with that, but the problem is this one is in a much deeper pot, so the probes don't go all the way down.

 

[jhfhklsnhfldk]

Ahh once again the over-watering bug comes and bites me in my ass.

I got a moisture meter to help with that, but the problem is this one is in a much deeper pot, so the probes don't go all the way down.

I tried some of the leave in indicators a few grows back and had no real luck with it. I'm sure you have heard over and over about using the lift method. It takes some getting used to. Do you water to run off. If so, I suggest not doing that anymore. I have had much better luck giving it, maybe, 3/4 of what it would normally need to run off. For me, I have a red solo cup I use to measure. When I am getting to the end of stretch I know, from experience, that it takes 5 or 6 cups (my red solo cups) to run off. So I usually use 4 cups. I use up about 1 cup in the inch or so around the stem, then the rest around the rest of the area all the way to the outside. I am trying to give enough to wet most of the roots...but not all of them. You want to water just before it needs it. Hard to tell, but my method is to watch the bottom fan leaves. They will usually start to droop a few hours before the uppers.
Using this method I often come to a point during stretch that I have to water, with the 4 cups, every 36 hours. This will usually last about 2 weeks, then I can get back to every other day.

 

[TheFertilizer]

I tried some of the leave in indicators a few grows back and had no real luck with it. I'm sure you have heard over and over about using the lift method. It takes some getting used to. Do you water to run off. If so, I suggest not doing that anymore. I have had much better luck giving it, maybe, 3/4 of what it would normally need to run off. For me, I have a red solo cup I use to measure. When I am getting to the end of stretch I know, from experience, that it takes 5 or 6 cups (my red solo cups) to run off. So I usually use 4 cups. I use up about 1 cup in the inch or so around the stem, then the rest around the rest of the area all the way to the outside. I am trying to give enough to wet most of the roots...but not all of them. You want to water just before it needs it. Hard to tell, but my method is to watch the bottom fan leaves. They will usually start to droop a few hours before the uppers.
Using this method I often come to a point during stretch that I have to water, with the 4 cups, every 36 hours. This will usually last about 2 weeks, then I can get back to every other day.

Yeah the pot lift method and I don't get along very well, but I should have known better I was more or less in a rush to give it some neem treatment and I thought one over-water wouldn't hurt since it seemed pretty dry already, but I think because it's so much deeper than my other pots that there was more water in the bottom than I thought. I am going to have to read the leaves more with it, as I know what you mean about them starting to sag a little bit near the bottom.