What is my true pH ?

[Savvage61]

I been pulling my hair out trying to find out the true ph of my soil. I have used the test where ya add a little soil a capsule of white powder and water, I have used the dual prong stick it in the ground meter, and the liquid tester in a slurry none can give me a close anwser the meter tels me all the soil in VA is 8.0 the soil test kit says I have 5.5 and the slurry gave me 3 different answers. for my medium im using 50% ocean forest and 50% happy frog with the 3 fox farm nutes oh and a ton of med to coarse perlite. I'm about 3-4 weeks from harvest and this next time I want to focus on my PH before I plant. ? is it PH the issue, or, old seeds, a grower that checks his plants 17 times ,a day.over water and a million other possibilities. I just want to learn how to find my true PH from the start a little more info to help suggestions I am growing autos, 5gal grow bag 16 hr light on 8 hrs off. the fox farm is supposed to be 6.3 to 6.8 out of the bag when I tested it I got 5.5.some advice on my true ph would allow me to erase 1 of my possible issues. My friend tell me im doing good but that isnt good enough Ill do a couple more auto grows then I plan on graduating to photos and a Screen of Green. BUT BEFORE JUMPING ON A HARLEY, i NEED TO LEARN MY TRICYCLE!
thxc in advance

 

[Phytoplankton]

I wouldn't worry about the PH in the soil mix you're using, those brands are just fine for growing. Most soils will buffer the PH some. More important is the PH of the water your using with the nutes in it. Fill your water container, if you're using cal-mag add it first, mix and wait 15-20 minutes. Then add you other nutes, mix and wait another 15 minutes. Then PH your mixture (up or down) to about 6.2-6.4, and then water. I would suggest you get a PH meter and a TDS meter (total dissolved solids or EC, which is electro-conductivity). TDS can be important to know, if you have very high TDS, you might consider using R/O or purchase water.

 

[Dwight Monk]

You are using premade soil so PH of it isn't relative as they put PH buffers into it. Worry about the PH of your feedings/water if you want to mess with it. The varying of your numbers shows you how accurate any of those methods are the only way to know accurate actual PH is to have it tested by a lab or university with that ability.

 

[Emilya Green]

Most commercial soils are designed to have a base pH toward the high end of the useable pH range of 6.2-6.8 and a soil that didn't test to 6.6-6.8 should have some dolomite lime added to it, so that it is definitely up there where it needs to be.
This is the dry pH of the soil, and where the pH will eventually end up after you have watered and the soil begins to dry out. Soil is a tool, and you need to learn to use it correctly by making sure that every fluid that hits your soil, is properly pH adjusted to 6.3 pH. The water takes over the pH where it is present in the container, and the pH in that area will be that of the water. Where the soil has dried out, the pH is up on the high end, at the base pH of the soil.

So it is very important that each fluid that hits your soil is adjusted to the low end of the scale, to 6.2-6.3. As soon as the water hits the dolomite in the soil, it starts to adjust slowly upward, through the scale. Also, as acidic nutes are used by the plant, the pH also rises because of this. Soil allow you to have your pH in the active part of the pH range for the maximum amount of time, giving your plants the maximum access to your nutes that can be managed. If you come in at the low end, the pH will swing all the way through the range, picking up each element as it becomes available. If you come in at 6.5 pH, it will be a short time before the pH drifts upward right out of the usable range, so coming in low allows you more time to absorb the nutrients, and mathematically 6.3 pH is where the most nutes are the most mobile in soil.

So, your soil pH has not as much to do with things as some would have you believe. The important thing is the pH of your incoming fluids.

 

[marcus611a]

Hey look I don't know if you got your answer or not yet but here's how I got the pH of my soil. Take you a small glass cup put you some soil in it and put you some distilled water in it mix it around so it's liquidy and then stick your calibrated pH meter in it and you'll get the Reading and then you will know the pH of your soil.. I hope this helps you my friend stay safe. By the way I don't know what kind of soil that you use but I just got through doing a run with Sohum living soil and you don't even have to ph your water or nothing but that easy peasy lemon squeezy. I have had good results with that soil

 

[SmokingWings]

I just want to learn how to find my true PH from the start a little more info to help suggestions I am growing autos, 5gal grow bag 16 hr light on 8 hrs off. the fox farm is supposed to be 6.3 to 6.8 out of the bag when I tested it I got 5.5.

I noticed that you never mentioned the pH of the water you are using. Take several pH tests of the water. Keep track of them. Test every couple of days to once a week for awhile.

Testing and knowing the pH of run-off water and the material the roots are growing in is very important to a successful hydroponic grow whether it is Basil or Spinach or Marijuana. It is so important for those grow methods that many people think it is a deal-breaker for soil grows when it really is not.

 

[Savvage61]

GUYS AND GALS,YOU HAVE BEEN A AWESOME HELP!!! I believe I found the issue when I started growing i was using a brand of distilled water that truly was neutral 7.0 on this grow I had to change brands I never tested it cuz everybody know distilled water is 7.0 right NOT!!! after reading the post I started checking my distilled water again to my surprise not all distilled water is 7.0 the brand I have been using is 5.3 every bottle. so another lesson learned from now on I will test everything before adding it to my plant im pretty sure that explains my 5.5. I have lemon juice and PH up but I got no instructions is there a formula for raising my ph to 6.5ish im not sure if there is like 1 teaspoon per gallon? or how should I get it right I have 3 flowering plants with 4-5 weeks left

I noticed that you never mentioned the pH of the water you are using. Take several pH tests of the water. Keep track of them. Test every couple of days to once a week for awhile.

Testing and knowing the pH of run-off water and the material the roots are growing in is very important to a successful hydroponic grow whether it is Basil or Spinach or Marijuana. It is so important for those grow methods that many people think it is a deal-breaker for soil grows when it really is not.

HEY WINGS , I'm using distilled water the first brand I had tested at 7.0 neutral they ran out and I had to get another brand and it tested at 5.8 - 5.3 (or is my cheap meter screwed up I went ahead and got away from my $9.99 ph meter and bought a Dr.meter Upgraded 0.01 Resolution High Accuracy PH Tester

 

[Savvage61]

Hey look I don't know if you got your answer or not yet but here's how I got the pH of my soil. Take you a small glass cup put you some soil in it and put you some distilled water in it mix it around so it's liquidy and then stick your calibrated pH meter in it and you'll get the Reading and then you will know the pH of your soil.. I hope this helps you my friend stay safe. By the way I don't know what kind of soil that you use but I just got through doing a run with Sohum living soil and you don't even have to ph your water or nothing but that easy peasy lemon squeezy. I have had good results with that soil

thx marcus going to try that in a minute lol

 

[Phytoplankton]

HEY WINGS , I'm using distilled water the first brand I had tested at 7.0 neutral they ran out and I had to get another brand and it tested at 5.8 - 5.3 (or is my cheap meter screwed up I went ahead and got away from my $9.99 ph meter and bought a and bought a Dr.meter Upgraded 0.01 Resolution High Accuracy PH Tester

Be sure you PH the water AFTER you add the cal-mag and nutes. I know the Fox Farm nutes drop my ph way down. After adding calmag (mix, wait 20 minutes) then add nutes (mix and wait another 15 minutes , THEN adjust PH. It works for me, with little adjustment, because I have water thats got a PH of about 7.4. after adding cal-mag and nutes, I'm down in the high 5's or low 6's. If you're using water that is in the 5's to start with, it's going to be even lower after nutes, so check it and adjust it carefully before watering.

 

[SmokingWings]

HEY WINGS , I'm using distilled water the first brand I had tested at 7.0 neutral they ran out and I had to get another brand and it tested at 5.8 - 5.3 (or is my cheap meter screwed up I went ahead and got away from my $9.99 ph meter and bought a ........

Easy to raise the pH. A google search shows recommendations of using Baking Soda. There are several other ways to do it but I did not write them down. Basic google search will come up with 3 or more suggestions. The search words I used were:
raise pH water

Put a teaspoon or so of Baking Soda in a gallon jug of the new water, shake it up and wait a couple of minutes and run the test. Add more if necessary.

The pH of water can drop over time as it is exposed to the atmosphere. The carbon dioxide and the hydrogen can react with the water and form very mild carbonic acid but I cannot remember the name of the acid that the hydrogen makes.

No matter what, it is the pH of the water that is important. No need to worry about the pH of the soil as long as the water pH falls into place.