Questions about fixing Ph

[Wally Water]

Here's a link to my grow log if you want all of the details of the problem I'm having: Pac's 1st Grow - Organic - Casey Jones + God Bud - 2011

Anyway, I have some plants growing in organic soil and my research leads me to believe they are showing signs of nute lockout due to improper Ph. Today, I fed the plants and the runoff measured 8.0 on one plant and 8.3 on the other. My tap water is usually around 8.2, but after adding nutes to a gallon of water, the Ph is usually around 6.0.

So, how do I go about lowering the Ph in my organic soil? Can I just add some Ph down or lemon juice to my next watering? Or do I need to take action sooner than that? Will I be able to lower the Ph all at once, or is it a gradual process? How long will it take to see signs that the plant is getting better?



Top leaves are beginning to "taco"

Bottom leaves are looking sad

 

[pilot90]

pac i am new here to and those are some great questions that i would like to know aswell......

 

[ConqueringLOJ]

Hey Hpac,

sorry to hear about your ph issues. I've never had to adjust my soil ph down...only up, because my fertilizer salts had built up and were making my soil very acidic.
The way I dealt with it was by flushing the plants with a bunch of 6.5 ph water. I think the general rule of thumb is to flush with about 3 times the amount of water than the pot size that your plant is in. So, for a 1gal pot, flush with 3 gals of water. By flushing the plants with the ph'd water, it should bring the soil back into an acceptable range. Be sure to test your runoff after the flushing.

Hope it works out

 

[NCDude]

I'm no expert. Most problems I have had are due to PH. After checking the PH run off of my soil (which was low), I asked sorta the same question. I needed to 'PH' my soil, by adding dolomite lime.
Hope this helps...

 

[Crookedfinger]

Hey Hpac,

sorry to hear about your ph issues. I've never had to adjust my soil ph down...only up, because my fertilizer salts had built up and were making my soil very acidic.
The way I dealt with it was by flushing the plants with a bunch of 6.5 ph water. I think the general rule of thumb is to flush with about 3 times the amount of water than the pot size that your plant is in. So, for a 1gal pot, flush with 3 gals of water. By flushing the plants with the ph'd water, it should bring the soil back into an acceptable range. Be sure to test your runoff after the flushing.

Hope it works out

When you talk about flushing the soil. I understand the 3 to 1 ratio but have never seen an explanation of the time of this process. is it all the water as fast as the pot will take it without over flowing or a gal an hour? Any ideas?

 

[Droopy Dog]

What are you measuring pH with?

Usually, organic soils are acidic, not alkaline, so something is not kosher here. I'm thinking either defective measuring equipment, or you added something really alkaline to your mix.

Some more info please.

DD

 

[Wally Water]

What are you measuring pH with?

Usually, organic soils are acidic, not alkaline, so something is not kosher here. I'm thinking either defective measuring equipment, or you added something really alkaline to your mix.

Some more info please.

DD

I have a Hanna pHep pen, and I've checked it with 7.01 solution, so I'm fairly certain it's accurate. My tap water is probably what caused it to become so alkaline. The first 2 times I fed these plants I gave them plain tap water that had sat out for a few days, but I didn't measure the pH first. It wasn't until the problems started that I started closely looking at the pH. Lesson learned.

The soil will be dry enough to give the plants a feeding tomorrow or the next day. I think I'm going to flush them with properly pH'd water at that time. So if I have 3 gal pots, I'm supposed to use 9 gal of water?

 

[ConqueringLOJ]

Hpac,

Yep, I'd say flush them with 9 gal. ph'd water. And pour it in as fast as the soil will absorb it without overflowing the pot. The best place to do it is probably the bathtub. Finish up with a feeding since the lots of nutrients will be flushed out too.

Let us know how it works out.

 

[Wally Water]

I just got finished flushing the worse looking of my 2 Casey plants. The process wasn't as smooth as I was hoping.

I tested the runoff at the very beginning of the flush, and it read 8.3. The first few gallons of water ran through fine, but after about 3-4 gallons, the draining became very slow. After about 8 gallons or so, it seemed like most of the perlite in my soil mix had floated to the top, and most of my soil had settled to the bottom. I have a feeling that this is going to cause some problems with drainage/oxygen to the roots in the future.

After I got finished, I tested the runoff and it only dropped to 7.9. I gave the plant a feeding, and put it back under the light. I think I'm going to hold off on flushing the other plant until I see whether or not I killed this one lol.

These plants just started their 3rd week in the flowering cycle. Is it too late to maybe just start over and transplant them to new pots with a fresh mix of soil? I'm still a newb and I'll be the first to admit that I could have fucked up when I was measuring ingredients for my soil mix. Maybe I added way too much lime or something... Anyway, thanks for all the advice.

 

[Sensibowl]

Here's a link to my grow log if you want all of the details of the problem I'm having: Pac's 1st Grow - Organic - Casey Jones + God Bud - 2011

Anyway, I have some plants growing in organic soil and my research leads me to believe they are showing signs of nute lockout due to improper Ph. Today, I fed the plants and the runoff measured 8.0 on one plant and 8.3 on the other. My tap water is usually around 8.2, but after adding nutes to a gallon of water, the Ph is usually around 6.0.

So, how do I go about lowering the Ph in my organic soil? Can I just add some Ph down or lemon juice to my next watering? Or do I need to take action sooner than that? Will I be able to lower the Ph all at once, or is it a gradual process? How long will it take to see signs that the plant is getting better?



Top leaves are beginning to "taco"

Bottom leaves are looking sad

This is a really good link to use for your problem.

Lowering soil pH - General discussion

Before recommending that a gardener add a material to acidify the soil, make sure the pH is too high and find out why. Perhaps using an acid-forming nitrogen source such as ammonium sulfate or sulfur-coated urea will gradually correct the problem. If not, recommend aluminum sulfate as the first choice. He/she is less likely to over-apply this material. Recommend "flowers of sulfur" only for large scale growers, and caution them about over-applying sulfur. Don't confuse elemental sulfur as a soil acidifying agent with sulfur recommendations as a plant nutrient.