Sick plants! Need some advice

[surfmasterflash]

I've been trying to grow these little girls for a while, but I've had nothing but setbacks. I think the problem is somehow the soil is becoming way too basic somehow.

Here is my setup:

I have 50%generic Home Depot dirt(no fert), and 50% perlite/vermiculite mix, the perlite/vermiculite is 75% perlite, 25% verm. Gets pretty damn good drainage if I do say so myself.

For lighting I'm using three . I currently have 5 plants that I'd like to get up to about 2.5 feet.

The fert I've been using is Miracle Grow 24-8-16 at 1/4 strength once a week. I water them roughly 2-3 times a week.

I have to ph adjust my tapwater here as it comes out fairly basic, after adjusting it with Pondcare PH Down to 6.4ish. After I water the plants and test the runoff, I get a ph around 7.5-8ish even two days after I ran two gallons of ph adjusted water through the soil. I think it's locking out the nutrients. What's the deal?

Here are some pics of the plant, if the pH isn't the only problem... sorry they're pretty shitty, I only have a cell phone.


I need HELP!!!!!!!

*Note: Nothing in this post represents actual situations or events. This is purely an exercise conjecture.

[Ganja Guerrilla]

something in the cheapo soil is alkaline, get some quality soil, black gold or fox farms ocean forest are good

[surfmasterflash]

OK, update:

I still have a good amount of the dirt mix still that I keep in a double thick trash bag nice and dry. I got about half a jar full of the dirt and filled it with ph neutral water that I adjusted to 7. I let it sit for a day and it raised the PH to about 7.5, which isn't nearly as high as it gets when I water the plants and then test the immediate runoff. I found out the PH Down I'm using is basically sulfuric acid which it says doesn't evaporate too bad so that shouldn't be an issue. I'm truly stumped here. Is there something the plants could be doing that drastically changes the ph value of the water? What's the deal?