Help me correct my soil ph

Discussion in 'Sick Plants and Problems' started by Tactical Angel, Oct 7, 2016.

  1. This is my first grow, and I made a rookie mistake. The soil I got has a 5.0 ph. I already put my germinated seeds in it before I found this out. Some basic info:
    No nutes, only added minute B1 quantity. I just top dressed each 1 gal pot with dolomite lime and that seemed it help bring the soil ph up a little, but not much. I'm watering with a 6.5 ph and <200ppm. Currently under T12 fluorescent.

    What is the best way to fix the ph of the soil? Obviously next time I'm going to get soil that is ph tested. And when I transplant, I will make sure the soil is the correct ph. But how can I best deal with this?

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    The third photo is of the smallest sprout



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  2. Why are you all up in the air about the pH of the soil? Do you even know the correct way to check the pH of soil? What you need to concentrate on is the pH of the feed solution and water you give your plant. If you get that right, you don't have to worry about anything else. The soil pH should be a neutral 7, but there is a proper way to do it to get a reading and unless you know what that is or have a probe to test it, you won't get a correct reading. For a soil grow, adjust the pH of all water and feed solutions going into your plants to a range of 6.3 to 6.7. This keeps the roots open and healthy and able to take in water and nutrition. Some say it's not necessary for a soil grow, but I've always done it and I figure if it helps keep my plant as healthy as possible, it's worth the time and trouble to do it. LOL But don't waste your time with the pH of the soil....get the pH of the water you give in the right range. Tap water is the best source of water for your plants. There are actually valuable micronutrients in tap water that the plants need and those who use heavily filtered water pr RO water end up getting strange deficiencies. If you're in the US, straight from the tap is fine. In EU, they still use chlorine and have to let it sit out overnight to evaporate the chlorine off. Also, NEVER EVER EVER water your plants until they are just almost DEAD dry. This is the best way to water your plant if you want to keep it as healthy as possible. They don't like their roots sitting in water in a soil grow, so you need soil with excellent drainage and never water until the container feels like it's dead dry. This forces the plants to search out the entire container for food and water and you end up with a larger root ball and usually, a larger overall plant. If you use good quality formulated grow soil, your not going to need to feed your plants for a few weeks in the beginning. The soil is loaded with nutrients and until they have a chance to use up what's in the soil, giving more will just burn them. Chemicals aren't the secret to growing a large healthy plant with fat buds....the lighting you flower under is responsible for that. Each plant needs a certain amount of wattage devoted just to it to get the most out of it yield wise. Crowding more plants under a light than it can handle...and most don't cover very many at all, just shades out a bunch of your growth. So more plants doesn't always make for a larger harvest. You can get more from a single plant that gets all the light it can stand and is tended well than you can y trying to flower 3 in the same space. Read up on tending the plant the right way. Being able to keep it happy and healthy is as important as having an adequate setup to us with an indoor grow. Good luck. TWW
     
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  3. Dude... That was the best response I've ever seen. How can I boost your rep?

    As for my response:

    I do have a ph probe. That's how I know the ph of my soil.

    I am watering from me well. It's around 160 ppm so I figure that's pretty damn good. No RO.

    I have been going through the forums religiously and have seen the problems of over watering very commonly. I water only when the plant is dead dry :)

    I have two grow dog 600 W and two 600 W HPS for when they're bigger.

    I added pearlight (bad spelling) to my soil to add extra drainage.

    I assure you I've done my research :) and am even composting right now to move towards organic. I'm just super caring about my first grow haha

    Also, how are the plants looking? I began germination 6 days ago.




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  4. ^


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  5. Soil does NOT need to be pH 'd at all . Just something to screw
    Use tap water and don't ph anything
     
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  6. Not as helpful as white widow


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  7. Its completely true , how can it not be helpful ?
     
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  8. Because it doesn't help me very much. White widow explained things in detail and expounded on things that I may be having a problem with. I didn't say it wasn't helpful. Just not as helpful. I appreciate any input though :) you are correct that I should not worry about my soil ph as much.


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  9. So, idk if anyone is curious, but I top dressed my seedlings with 1// teaspoon of dolomite lime and they really seemed to like that. The soil ph has steadily climbed to a steady ~6. I'm not sure if it naturally corrected itself, but the seedlings are all looking great now :)


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  10. It was the lime that raised your ph, and it will continue to buffer for a while.
     
  11. Be careful messing around with them at this stage, you don't want them all to turn out male or hermi on you.
     
  12. I try not to mess with them too much. I just read how dolomite lime can help raise and buffer ph. They're reg seeds, so I've heard those done hermi as much. But yeah, I don't want the stress to make em all male. That'd just suck a big one


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