Transplanted into Coco and my pH of the medium is at 3.5!!!!!!! I'm watering with RO water set to 5.8 to 6.2. Planted seedlings three days ago (feminized Black Russian and feminized Pineapple Chunk, both from SupremeSeeds in A-dam. Inside a tent. Humidity is hovering in the high 60s to 72%. Room is stable at 75* with a humidifier maintaining these levels and a heater set to trip when temp falls below 75*. Only watering with RO pH tested/treated water. How can I elevate my medium pH to the 5.8 - 6.0 level ?
Am all set. Flushed the seedlings ranging in age from 3 weeks (with very stunted growth) to 4 days to achieve 5.6-5.9 pH runoff. Took quite a while to get to those level at some points had to pH water down to 4s to achieve these results. When I transplanted into the Coco from a perlite/vermiculite starter I did not pretreat the coco with pH water. I just planted in the Coco mix (roots organic soils mix) and started having problems. I think the water pH was way too high their first three weeks of life. I did test but did not wait for 10-20 minutes and test again. I also never tested after I treated the RO water and continued watering throughout the day.
thats weird cause my coco was at 7 when i hydrated it, which is what my well water is. usually plain coco is neutral. was it mixed w/ something else?
I've been using coco in the garden for 12 yrs. plain coco is always neutral but i have found high sodium. must have had peat , sulfur or other acidic amendments mixed with it in his soil to bring the ph down that far. conifer shavings or needles can cause a lot of acidity too! never know whats been thrown in there!
I tried coco about 15 years ago and like SteadyEddie didn't rinse it as I didn't know I had too. Stuff was in a pressed brick that I soaked some in RO water then used. Screwed up everything. I now use ProMix peat-based blends and everything is hunky-dory. With that, RO water and pH Perfect nutes I never worry about pH. DWC is my favorite grow method but have everything in ProMix atm.
i got lucky when i read up on it that someone said to rinse thoroughly before using. blocks of it used w/ 30% perlite is the cheapest growing medium you can use. good super soils are way too expensive in my opinion. even figuring in nute cost its still cheaper to grow in coco. i think once i get used to growing in it ill prefer it over soil. less chance of brining in molds and pests with it too. hydro is best but finicky and expensive to set up.
Coco is not available anywhere near me and the hydro shop where I could get some is a 5 hour drive but ProMix seems to be everywhere around here these days. I stocked up last fall so have nearly 1000L of the HP, Vegetable and Herb and their potting soil blend. ProMix also makes coco blends too and I'd give that a try if it was available tho I'm quite happy with peat mixes.
amazon is where i get all my supplies. free shipping and the cheapest prices 99% of the time. I've compared many times. i never buy anything in a specialty shop! way overpriced! check it out. love super soils but unless you make them from scratch yourself, they're 2 to 4xs the cost of coco/perlite, including the cost of nutes! buy in bulk its also even cheaper . not hard to hydrate the blocks and add perlite. put in airpots and give good flush with a hose outside or in the sink. good to go! and you can reuse coco many times.
i recently read somewhere that if your PH is in the 4's with coco, there's a good chance you have root rot.