So I did a side by side comparison and bang for the buck Distilled white vinegar is a far more cost effective and just as stable of PH down treatment for my water as the expensive commercial stuff. Not to mention it's the only commercial chemical used in my grow...needles to say I wouldn't mind getting away from it, plus vinegar doesn't run my ppm/ec up and it's much cheaper. I'm growing in coco just in case it matters... Anyhow it's a rather mild acid, it's easy/cheap for me to use and I don't see any reason not to use it. Unless someone can present one, and if you can I would love to hear it or any precautions/things I should be cognizant of if I do use it b/c I don't want to hurt my plants with it. Good to go? Beware? Don't do it? Thanks in advance.
When was growing in soil (unsuccessfully), I was using vinegar ... and had ph problems. They may not have been down to the vinegar, but since I switched to coco and canna, I've had no problems - I'm using a commercial ph down. One of the reasons I upgraded to the commercial stuff was I noticed that the ph rose alarmingly over a day or so...when I used vinegar. I checked this by using a solution of tap water and vinegar only. This doesn't happen with the commercial ph down. Now.. I didn't check the tap water on its own.. so, the experiment wasn't complete. But - I add this for your information. The SToke
It's all I ever use. I grow in a shower stall with 800 watts, 1.65 gal square pots, 100% coco coir, tap water, Jack's Classic fertilizer, and white vinegar. Only problem I've ever had is the occasional bug getting in there and I just Nuke Em. I don't see any reason to use anything else. I grow 12/12 from seed, and do basically a drain to waste where I'm using full nutrient daily with about a cup runoff. I mix new solution every two or three days, and I've tested the stuff that's two days old and the pH never changes.
Thanks for the input man, see my problem is the exact opposite you had, the commercial stuff ph comes back up after a few hrs, not so with vinegar. Different water quality issues I suppose. Right on man...I guess I'm going to give it a whirl.
Fulvic acid has several additional benefits over vinegar and traditional pH down. It can chelate elements, breaking down precipitates and helping the plant regulate uptake. It can also be used at very low levels and isn't exceptionally expensive. Citric acid crystals are another organic option. These are extremely inexpensive in bulk. There's really no reason not to use vinegar other than there are better non-synthetic options to choose from.
I have been using Roots Organic Ancient Amber which is fulvic acid rich but not a super cheap option. But then if has some added benefits as well.
Right on, I will have to check out the fluvic/citric acid's and see how they work with my water, tyvm. I'm using the Roots' liquid line up +oregonism XL on my coco plant, as I'm doing 1 in coco on the bottles and 1 in an organic soil mix just to see which growing style/end result I like better (both tangerine dreams from the same mother). All around nice stuff, gentle, easy to use, low stink factor and the plants seem to love it. That being said the soil plant looks just as good and I haven't done anything but drop it in there and water it. So far soil 1 coco 0....but it's only Veg wk 2 so we will see.
The Roots Organic line is built more for soil and the Soul Synthetics line is more for coco/hydro. But I mix and match both lines along with Canna coco line.