So I’m growing with m3 soil and mammoth p nutes. Used some organic compost to mix in with the soil originally and some great white to transplant. My question is what would be the best ph down to use. Right now what I have is general hydroponics ph down but in my opinion it seems like a synthetic. Is that true? What are you guys using for your ph change or is it not nessasary? I was going to use lemon juice but I didn’t follow through with that as I read conflicting reports about it. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Vinegar works well. Def do not use PH up/down from a bottle if your growing organic. If you are growing organic, you really wont need to PH anything.... It should naturally buffer within the correct PH range Good luck
Most organic soil will self regulate the PH of the incoming water unless it's really far off. My tap water runs a constant 8.5 PH and eventually it started to show in my grow as lockout. Mind you in took about 2 years and 8 harvests in the same soil for issues to show up. Since It's an outside grow in very hot zone messing with the water PH and lugging buckets of water wasn't going to work so I chose to use Powdered Sulfur dust in the soil to correct for all the out of range water I use. Next grow everything was green and happy and I continue to amend with more Sulfur dust once or twice a year. BNW
peat moss and lemon will work dolomite lime is a good mixture to use but only to help maintain a good ph as paolo said do not use ph up ph down acids nasty stuff for organic microbial life
Normally, with a properly limed soil, rich in organic matter, there is no need for it. But if you have very alkaline water you can use some citric acid as an organic PH down.
My water test at 7.9 constantly and the Michigan m3 says to make sure you ph your water. So this is leaving me confused. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Ya gotta PH the water, especially if your soil is not perfect. Look what acid rain did to the forests in the northeast because of acid rain. Alkaline Rain would do the same thing. My buddy just killed a 8 years old mother plant, and a few others by watering several times with fucked up up water. Burned them up. Vinegar is the easiest, most readily available, and probably the cheapest solution. Soil Acidity/Alkalinity Soil acidity is measured using the pH scale. Most soils fall into the range between 4 to 8, although some fall are extremely acidic or basic. One example is the Pygmy Forest in Mendocino County, California. Its soils have a pH of 2.8 to 2.9 (very acidic!) while in Death Valley, California, the soil has a pH of 10.5 (very basic). Soil pH is very important to plants. Certain minerals cannot dissolve in water with differences in pH. At a low pH, aluminum and manganese in soil water are more soluble and the roots of plants can absorb them in toxic concentrations. Calcium phosphate, becomes less soluble and less available to plants as the pH rises. Soil pH also affects the leaching of nutrients. In acidic soil, the negatively charged soil cannot bind as easily to positively charged minerals. As a result, those minerals are washed to lower horizons. For example, potassium, which is essential for plant growth, is leached more readily from acidic soil. The optimum pH for plant growth is 6.0 to 7.0 because most nutrients needed by plants are available in that pH range. Soil pH can be affected by plants and the organisms in the soil. Leaf litter of conifers contains acids that leach into the soil lowering its pH. The decomposition of humus and the cellular respiration of organisms (remember carbonic acid?) also decrease the pH of soil. Hydrangea are a type of flower whose color is determined by the pH of the soil. Acidic soil produces a pink flower while alkaline (basic) soil produces blue flowers. It acts as a type of litmus paper!
@sethd513 citric acid is a plant based acid used as a preservative in many food items. if you're fortunate you might find it in the canning section of the local grocery. ask the store if you dont find it. a little bit goes a very long way to lower ph and it has good holding properties. iow, it has high acidity. you should have an accurate means of testing your water ph if you are going to muck with it.
It would be my pleasure, bro! When I want to change pH, I go blaze one and chill . The soil life will regulate it all. Maybe do a quick 60 second compost extract into your water for a boost in microbes if you need.
Look what acid rain did over time to the Adirondak forest. Burned it up. Alkaline is as bad, or worse. Were also talking about lowering the PH of water, not adding anything to the soil to buffer the PH of the water. He needs to lower the physical water PH. Not the medium.
So can I just get food grade non gmo organic citric acid in granulated form? And then back to some test runs to get it right? I feel like my plants are healthy but vegging very slow. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Agree to disagree, bro. Regular healthy clean rainwater is acidic at 5.6 and yet the life in natures soil is still able to regulate pH to ~7 S'all good tho grow bros. Bottles or powders to the rescue! Lol peace love
If I wanted to use an organic ingredient to drop pH, that's what I would do. You got good advice. Buy yourself a $10 Three Way pH/Moisture/Light meter and a $10 digital pH tester for water. Calibrate the latter and test, treat by small amounts, and retest your water until you reach desired pH. Use the 3-Way to test your light source to make sure they are getting enough light at their altitude, if you doubt their progress. Just a random thought, but plants grow out before they grow up. So if they're recently transplanted and not yet as wide as the pot, that's why they're vegging slow. Good luck, bruv.