hey all im tigzz! ive started some plants outdoors and have bought a 400W light for a closet, i have 2 plants in there rather small atm 4 weeks old but only 1inch tall because they have been outside and temp has only been about 20degrees i live in australia by the way. Since moving them inside they are growing under the light i can see an improvment and its only been 2 days. I went to the nursery today and the guy did a ph test on my soil, and it came back 8.0+. what can i do to reduce it? Because i then bought my own test kit, but it only tests water. This one (the one the guy used at the nursery to test my soil) had one which tested my soil. What is the difference can i just use a water ph test kit which i bought from the hydroponic store and test the water which comes out the bottom of the pot? Also how can i lower my ph and keep it down what would be a good "mixture" of products i could use which would feed my plant but keep the ph low? I have Miracle Grow, Blood and bone and Dynamic Lifter all handy. Ill post some pics up soon once i know the plant is happy :\ (stressing abit) i think the leaves are starting to get a bit dry cuz of the light. Any help is appreicated! Tigzz
How close are the plants to the light? They definately shouldn't be drying out. A good rule of thumb is to put your hand directly over your plants. If you hand gets hot, the light is too close. As for PH testing, just test the water and nutes that you are feeding your plants and that should be a pretty good indication of your overall PH. Also, try not to use soil that has built in ferts. This can sometimes cause problems. Good luck to you.
ok so i cheaked my ph again its 8.0 in the blueish greenish i also have a ph test kit so i tested the tap water and it came out 7 there abouts and i decided to do a test on some bottled water mount franklin natural spring water and it came out at 5% so to sum this up if u just feed your plants bottled water from the shop they will be happy cuz normal tap water has too much ph. Also bought some PH down 2 drops in 500ml of water brings it down to about 4 - 4.5. im sure this wasnt rocket science and its a very quick fix to ph problems. tigzz.
Not sure you have your numbers straight here. Proper PH for a soil grow is around 6.0 - 6.5. I doubt you want to be in the 4.0 range no matter what your medium. Have you read Granpa's Grow Guide? It's a wonderful sticky in this forum. Great for novice growers.
your right my bad 6.5 around there its suppose to be. dont know where i got 5 from lucky i reread that haha not something to do whilst stoned hehe but the bottom line is im at 8 atm if not higher so i need to drop it down.