i need to know what to do to make the ph of my soil and water go up i put some baking soda in a gallon of water about half a tsp and im not sure if its working my soils ph is in some spots 4 in others 6 my plants in flower and has ben for about 2 weeks the bottom leaves are yellowing and getting crispy looks like nitrogen def but i think its only because my ph is way off so if anyone could help me fix this little problem that would be greatly appreciated
is that all i can do because i have ben doing it and how long do you think im going to have to wait for it to fix im guessing about a weekits okay to use water with baking soda correct?
I would really just get pH-up and pH-down. Even if you don't have a local hydro shop, order it online. It's not against the law to own those products... Paranoia runs too deep in the growing community some times . As far as raising the pH of your soil you can do a couple of things. 1) Flush it with 2-3 gallons / gallon of soil. Let her sit for about 3 days so she dries out, and then check the runoff again. If it didn't change, odds are it won't without some amenities. 2) Find some fine dolomite lime and follow the directions. You want to be careful with the stuff, and take it slow. Remember in the world of pH 1.0 change equals a 10 x change in acidity/alkalinity. So while it only seems like it went up 1.0 point, it actually drastically changed. 3) Continue monitoring the runoff pH, if it's still lower than 6.5ish then water with a higher pH to try and correct the run off. I personally have never used anything other than pH-up/down, and I won't either.
thanks for the tip, yah i have a local hydro store but im damn broke rite now spent my last paycheck getting other supplies and now im in a pickle. Would the baking soda help for the time being? i flushed the hell out of it with the baking soda water and im gunna let it dry out a few days before i do it again. all i have is a ph soil reader and some ph water test strips i haven't gotten the digital one yet (sucks) how long does it normally take to get the soils ph under control?
I wish I could help you with this question. I've never used baking soda, so I don't want to comment and give you bad advice.
Baking soda has way too much sodium, dont use it. Go to a pet store and use Ph up/down for fish if the hydro store is too expensive for your wallet. At this point you can try the lime but I dont think there's much you can do other than what has already been suggested, ride it out and use a better soil mix next time. good luck http://forum.grasscity.com/indoor-grow-journals/566555-all-cfl-tent-grow-2nd-timer.html
I read where one guy just uses the ph 7.01 buffer. Don't you need to use the 4 to check for low ph? Or can you get by with just using the 7?