Okay, so I'm 16 days into my first grow, since the very beginning I have been PH balancing my water and nutes, except for I don't have the right PH tools, only a test dropper bottle that changes the color of the water when added, and honestly it's not very accurate and is a pain to use, I don't get paid for awhile so I can't buy a digital PH meter, I have heard from a lot of people on here and some friends of mine that they never PH there water or nutes and everything works out fine, so I haven't PH'd my water the past few watering's and things are looking okay so far, so my question is, is it really necessary to PH the water and nutes in a soil grow?
the ph of your soil will fluctuate so constant monitoring is not as absolutely necessary as in hydro. when it comes to diagnosing problems, it is a helpful tool though
Awesome, thanks for the info, I will buy a digital meter when I can, make things easier for testing and for now I will just go without PH'ing anything.
Information/knowledge is key. If you grow with measuring tools and a methodical approach, youll learn faster and have more control over your grow. You can do without it too...its called trial and error. And no doubt, you can learn this way too. Over time youll know if you guessed correctly. Id never grow without my pH and TDS. There are people out there who'll say its useless in soil and soilless. Dont listen to em. Its essential unless youre growing for shits and giggles.
I agree, if you've got some kind of testing kit, that's better than not knowing at all, at least you know it's about right even if it's not 'perfect'. Problems come when people use water or nutes that turn out to be pH 5 and never realised, and even people with pH meters have problems sometimes. Adjusting the pH of your water is good, but you also want to check what the pH of the runoff is, to make sure it doesn't swing too far one way or the other. It can be useful if there's any problems, often they can be because the pH got too low.
I know people who have never used ph meters before and their weed always turned out great. Maybe it would have been better with a ph meter, but I certainly don't think it's necessary.
Hmm, so I guess it all goes on preference, I have decided to flip over to an all Organic grow next time around, I have heard great things about Organics.
as long as you cook your soil correctly then it is apparently just add water. can't beat that, maybe one day i'll try it out
And if u do you will never have to ph a damn thing. Organics is wonderful. Oyster shell powder will automatically buffer your soils ph. Sent from my Galaxy Note II. I know you bitchez be jealous.
Exactly right BB, much less stress and paranoia when dealing with Organic growing, to many people look at Organics and think it's complicated, it is so much more simple then dealing with chemicals and everything else, use SubCools super soil and all you gotta do is water the soil and you get great results.
People think its complicated becuz they are lazy. Organics takes knowledge and some legwork to source the ingredients. The payoff is worth it tho. On my 5th run of organic gardening, second outdoor run of it currently going. Not a single defficiency to speak of. No mold or mildew issues (thanx to the crab meal and neem cake). No real mite issues. No yellowing of leaves. My cherry pie is 2-3 weeks from harvest and green as fuck. Every morning I water them from my hose while brushing my teeth. How fucking easy is that? I just stand there and inspect them like Hank Hill inspecting his beer. Yep. Sent from my Galaxy Note II. I know you bitchez be jealous.
Very nice BB, sounds like I could get some good advice from you seeing as you have been growing organically for awhile now, my real big problem is sourcing the ingredients I need, where did you go to get your mix, a garden center or nursery?
if you are hydro you need one. if you are having problems with deficiencys and nute burn you need one if your plants are growing fine you dont need it. i got a soil tester when i thought i had a mag def. i only used it once. never used it again. never tested water or run off. and my plants are fine. i think soil kinda regulates itself.
No. Trying to monitor and control pH levels in soil will only serve to drive you mad (insane). It fluctuates constantly. Regardless of whether you're using chemical fertilizers or gardening organically, the process of nutrient-ion exchange (or how a plant "feeds") is the same. The plant uses hydrogen cations (H+) and hydroxy anions (OH-) to exchange for nutrient cations (ammonium, calcium, potassium, etc...) and nutrient anions (nitrate, chloride, sulfate, and phosphate). These hydrogen and hydroxy ions in solution, and their concentration in relation to each other, are what drive pH. So things like what the plant is "eating" at the time, adding fertilizer to the water (force feeding), plain watering, the amount of moisture in the soil, soil temperature, and myriad other things can and do effect what your pH reading will be at any particular time that you take it. CEC (Cation Exchange Capacity) buffers pH fluctuations and keeps the soil chemistry where it needs to be to provide the plant with the nutrients it needs when it needs them. http://www.soilminerals.com/Cation_Exchange_Simplified.htm I grow in my own hand crafted soil, high in organic/humic materials. My well water tests at 8.1 pH and 320 ppm. I haven't checked or worried about my pH in over two years. Things have never been healthier. And I will add this. When I was starting to learn about organic gardening I was still using RO water and pH adjusting it before using it to hydrate my plants. I was still unsure of how the soil chemistry behind the whole process functioned. I said "fuk it", and stopped doing anything to my water. Within a week, the difference was like night and day. Needless to say, I've never looked back.
Both lol. And even got some stuff over priced at the hydro store. Sent from my Galaxy Note II. I know you bitchez be jealous.
Well lucky enough I live in eastern Ontario, and I'm surrounded by farm land, so I may be able to source some of my supplies from local farmers lol, might make things easier for me.