Unfortunately I dont have access to many products that make life easier, which is why I am reaching out to ask people for advise on how to raise the Ph of my soil. Ph meter is showing Ph at 5.5 so I need to raise it a full 1 point at least. My water Ph is close to 5.5 as are most of the soils I bought. Therefore I need to come up with a method to regularly check this issue using products or materials that would be locally available. I read that coffee ground help so I brought some and used the Ph meter to check them and even they're are 5ish so they wont help. I read that Baking soda helps so I bought some and and mixed it with a soil sample and tested it and it made no difference...actually the Ph was lower. Now I have read about using pulverized limestone but I also read that limestone also contains some elements that can kill a marijuana plant. If it was as simply as buying a bottle of something from the store I would have already done that but since I live in Pakistan I dont have that option. I've checked the few stores we have and no one here considers Ph to be important enough to warrant any attention. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
you will be asked about your ph meter...there are some cheap really bad ones out there so that's first...you should also have a chem ph test kit for backup, always...they are 100% reliable...post the ph meter type you have...otherwise i am reading your other thread...sounds cool...gl cheers.
<table style="border: 1px solid rgb(224, 224, 224);" border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" width="100%"><tbody> <tr> <td nowrap="nowrap" valign="top">Item title:</td> <td valign="top">ACCURATE Soil ph & Moisture Meter tester LONG ELECTRODE</td></tr> <tr> <td nowrap="nowrap" valign="top">Item number:</td> <td valign="top">230184148750</td></tr> <tr> <td nowrap="nowrap" valign="top">Item URL:</td> <td valign="top">http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=230184148750&sspagename=ADME:L:AAQ:CA:11</td></tr></tbody></table> Cost approx US$ 24 and seems to be fairly accurate. I can tell because I bought a bag of packaged soil which says on the label that Ph is between 5.5-6 and the meter confirmed the figure. I'll also be trying to find a Ph test kit as a backup...I think I'll check the pools & accessories stores. By the way, I read last night that crushed limestone or chalk will raise the Ph. What do you recommend?
old and antiquated works and cheap pellitized lime will raise ph. lowes 9$ for 4Olb bag. fish tank suppliers have ph kits to. as for the lime, you can top dress then water in, or add a tbs per gal. you got meter so you can use that to get it jvst so. do not try to use horticulte lime(powered) its hard to deal w/and Very caustic. oh and know lime is 7. you can add too much, but its hard to do if you stay smart. gl
Yeah I was eying off this PH Meter too. After what you just wrote I paid for mine. Funnily enough the same item worked out over $3 cheaper to pay in US dollars rather than my local Australian dollars so I did that
thanks for the advise 420 but ordering something heavy like a 5 or 10 pound bag of dolomite lime isnt really practical when paying shipping to Pakistan. Smaller items are no issue since I can have them shipped and even pay the shipping charge....it still makes economic sense. What I did was check on the net and came up with several suggestions for alternative liming agents. I'm going to continue this on my grow journal since thats probably where this next post belongs. Hope you dont mind scooting over to another thread. The link is as follows: http://forum.grasscity.com/grow-jou...-first-grow-balcony-pakistan.html#post1956182
they grow food there? or make concrete? go check every farm supply store and or concrete factory. lime is a very much used supplement. i bet money you can find local. i lived in alaska on a island thousands of miles from everything. i know your problem well.
We used to use a lime product in building grout in my old job. Similar to concrete. Bags and bags of the crap all over the building site.
There is a product called "Choona" http://www.apnahyderabad.com/hyderabad/minerals-found-in-sindh.asp Another name for this product is 'hydrated lime dust'. I understood that this product should not be used for MJ soil. It is used as a grout or to line underground water tanks to prevent bugs and other critters from exploiting that space. I thought if I use this it would burn anything I put into the soil, regardless of the few weeks that I may wait before planting in that soil. Any suggestions?
this is what we call horticulture lime. i try not to use it, but i did use in alaska. it is hard for me to tell you how much to use. you have a meter, so do a few test gals. be sure to keep it shook up. do not top dress. after watering w/lime(powdered) you will want to go back after hour or two and break up the crust that forms on top to allow air flow. told you it wovld be there the mob even uses lime. (bag lime on body in a hole makes body go bye bye fast.)
Alright...I mixed about 1 cup of hydrated lime (dissolved in hot water) in five gallons of soil mix. The Ph of the mix before adding the hydrated lime was around 5.3-5.5. After adding the hydrated lime, the meter is stuck somewhere way past 8. Now I'm using this highly alkaline soil to mix in with another soil mix (of the same original type of Ph 5.3-5.5) and I slowly kept adding the high Ph soil to the normal soil. After checking and mixing several times, I have the Ph up to a range of 6.7-7. Perfect. Now lets see how a few plant samples will do in this soil. Will get back to you guys.
i mix my own soil and use 36 ounces of pellet lime per 8 gallons of dry soil. your soil is now spot on. when working w/lime. always remeber it will kill if its not mixed in good(hot spots). but it works well when used by us old antiquated ppl. gl man. later
You think 7-10 days is enough time to allow the insecticides and hydrated lime to mellow out and make the soil hospitable to an MJ plant? I'll be growing Sensi Star, Purple Power, White Widow and a few other strains.
for the lime you need no sitting time as long as you mix well. i use no pesticides, so no clue. i mix my soil and use.
Since you have been kind enough to guide me this far and since I do have you here; one more issue. My balcony will probably be able to get about 5 hours of direct, pretty intense sunlight per day and another 5-6 hours of indirect sunlight. Is this acceptable? My other option is to take the plants to the roof of my apartment building where I have approximately 4,000 square feet of open space that gets direct sunlight for the full 10-11 hours per day. The problem with that is that there are a heck of a lot of crows on the the roof, its a pain taking water upstairs (no elevator and 4 floors), and there is a greater chance that one of my neighbors will take offense to what I am doing. Of course, I can put a wire mesh around each pot, have my houseboy take the water up whenever required, and be more watchful of my neighbors and move the plants back to my balcony at a more mature stage when they would be more able to recognize what it actually is. I have 5 MJ plants and 7 other plants as a cover (tomato, jasmine, cucumber, and various others). What would you do if you were me?
believe it or not....i believe (ive done it), 6 hrs is all you need of direct light. you can take this as far as going, w/lights, 6 on 12 off until plants done. knocks off couple weeks, but plants were a hair smaller. needless to say it will work for budding. you vegging indoors aye? i mean you only accounted for 12 hrs of total light outside. it fall there or spring? glad i could help. while im thinking on it. w/that powdered lime always smell your soil before use. if you smell ammonium, too much lime
I'll be doing all the growing outdoors....I was referring to moving the plants between the roof and the balcony. I live in a low-rise apartment building so I have only a few neighbors but I wouldn't like to bring undue attention to my little project. Its always summer in most parts of Pakistan, there is no fall, winter or spring. We also get pretty much 10-11 hours of sunlight in the "winter" and 12-13 in the summers. There isn't too much of a difference in the number of day light hours. I was only accounting for the 12 hours of light outside because it would be night for the other 12 hours so I didn't mention it. For flowering I intended to move them indoors for 12 hours of pitch dark and back out in the morning on the balcony. That plus extra doses of P should do the trick. Regarding the smell of the soil; I can still smell the pesticide so I'm going to wait a few days and water regularly until the smell fades away. God I hope all this effort pays off. 420....thanks a bunch for all your help. Hey, if you're ever in Pakistan......who're we kidding, you're not coming to Pakistan. Thanks a bunch though.
not so..... lime is to be added PRIOR to planting and is suggested by the agricultural manufacturers to be applied months prior to planting, as soon as lime is hydrated it can burn your roots which will kill the plants in time, actually the lime CAN continue to affect the calcium and nitrogen months after its been added you can use the lime to correct the soil ph problem but be very careful, and frankly why take the chance of burning the roots and making more problems for your self PH correcting solutions are safer to use, and why they are made available dont beleive me but certainly dont belive this self proclaimed "professional grower", google agricultural lime additive and treatments for your self here is just one example from true experts http://hgic.clemson.edu/factsheets/HGIC1650.htm he said his ph after adding the lime is past 8.0PH and you stated this is spot on ???? I too use dolomite , but prior to planting.... I fear you may have burnt his plants, and locked out nutes.....Aliph, watch for the leaves to yellow rapidly and brown spotting from the WILD PH SWINGS from 5.5 to 8.0+
#1 read all post # 2 op has no plants yet....he is waiting on soil. #3 spot on! you neglected to read op got the 8 before adjusting to?? go read it again and you will see.... D....thread reported... hey alphi...how you planning on vegging w/your sunlight only being as is? sorry about GG....must be a bad day?
terriffic thats the objective, your conditions of return were to put me on ignore , yet your ignoring the moderators conditions furthermore your back to your nutural ways of calling me names and being disruptive while I help the members with thier plants if you were to offer advice in an attempt to help it would be considered graciously by the poster looking for help and by me, but your demeaning, disrespectful name calling posts are tired & always an attack directed to me . Im not taking your crap anylonger, so it's time to call a spade, a spade & a liar, a liar moderators when you read this also please read some of his other recent posts, with disruptive name calling etc.........I have ignored this clown at your request for weeks, but yet the unnecessary rudeness continues