Hey everybody! Quick comment and then question. Using Roots Organics Coco Coir. Ive been feeding my plants with fertilized water that I PH to exactly 5.8. The coco, however, is reading right around a 6.2. That means when the two interact My water will go up to around 6ish, right? Or am I thinking about this wrong? Im just trying to figure out how the PH of the growing medium will effect my water and thus nutrient availability. As of now my school of thought is to take PH of soil and then adjust PH of water so that the average of the two is the desired PH. Or does the medium just need to be in a certain range for best nutrient uptake? Should I just monitor the coco to make sure it stays in this range and continue to water at 5.8? Thanks for taking the time to read. Would really appreciate any and all comments or explanations!
If you're growing in coco than 5.9 going in and 6.2 coming out is perfect. I pH my nute solution to 6.0 and if the run off is between 5.7 and 6.4 I'm good. If it's out of that range then there is a potential problem.
Edited. I'm growing in coco. Sorry for not making that clear. I havent been testing runoff, however, every day i take a medium sample and mix with a small amount of PH'd water so i can see how much the coco effects the PH. I then use that to determine what PH water to use that day.
The pH will never be the same going in as it is coming out - don't try to make it that way by adjusting the pH of your nute solution. Taking a medium sample and mixing it with pH'd water proves nothing and is a waste of time. Like I said in my earlier post - pH your solution to 6.0, and as long as run off is between 5.7 and 6.4 you have no worries. I only check run off about once a week, and I feed twice a day during flowering.
What should I do if my runoff is not within that range? Thanks for your replies by the way! Youve been a constant help throughout my grow and i really appreciate it.
It has only happened to me once in the last 10 years and the run off turned acidic for some reason - pH 5.0 - I ran a 4:1 water/H2O2 solution through a couple of times at it straightened out.