Can I add garden lime to already planted and growing plants???

[Kuroth]

Hi.. I have been reading that garden lime is great to balance your PH at 7.. Can I apply it to my soil with 2 week old plants already growing in it?? How would I do this.. Could I mix in a small amount with my water? Was not sure if this could be done. I think my PH "Might" be a little high but I dont trust my meter(I hear most meters are not that great) So thought if garden lime will automatically balance me to 7, that would be great.. Was thinking this would be better then PH up or down..

Thanks!

 

[DiscoBiscuit]

Can I add garden lime to already planted and growing plants???

yes

I have been reading that garden lime is great to balance your PH at 7..

lime will raise pH. it will only balance at 7.0 if you add the right amount.

Can I apply it to my soil with 2 week old plants already growing in it?? How would I do this.. Could I mix in a small amount with my water? Was not sure if this could be done.

yes. you can also top dress your soil.

I think my PH "Might" be a little high but I dont trust my meter(I hear most meters are not that great) So thought if garden lime will automatically balance me to 7, that would be great.. Was thinking this would be better then PH up or down..

if your pH is high you don't need lime. If you suspect your meter, get some drops or litmus paper and measure the runoff.

lime will only balance you to 7 if you get the correct amount of lime for your soil mix. the general rule of thumb is one tsp per gallon of soil. mixes with lots of peat and/or dry ferts added may need more.

 

[Blue Dot]

So thought if garden lime will automatically balance me to 7, that would be great..

Thanks!

Why would that be great?

Plants don't like a pH of 7.0.

They like 5.9 to 6.5 in soilless.

7 is too high, that's why it's important not to add too much lime.

search my previous posts. i've posted graphs and figures on the correct amount of lime to add.

If you stablize at pH 7 you'll eventually get micronute defs (Zn, Mn, Fe) because all micronutes like to be taken up at a low pH whereas if you never go above 6.0 you'll get Mg def as most cationic Macronutes like to be taken up at a high(er) pH.

Skilled growers 'drift" their pH from low to high to allow the plant to assimilate all needed nutes and just "cycle" thru that low to high, but in a smooth transitional way as to not pH shock the plant.

You CAN cheat certain micronutes like fe by using iron EDDHA that can be taken up (almost equally) at all pH ranges but you can't really cheat with Zn because zinc sulfate is the chelate of choice and most sulfates work at only a low pH.

 

[10k]

...cough...

 

[hades]

Plants don't like a pH of 7.0.

Wait...what?

I've read a lot of bad advice on forums like this before, but that is just downright silly.

(edit)before you flip on me and go into a rant, he is obviously talking about soil here

 

[DiscoBiscuit]

Hi.. I have been reading that garden lime is great to balance your PH at 7.. Can I apply it to my soil...

Why would that be great?

Plants don't like a pH of 7.0.

They like 5.9 to 6.5 in soilless....

Kuroth asked about soil. Why give numbers for soil less?

You're right about a drift, just wrong about the range.

 

[Blue Dot]

Sorry I didn't notice the "soil" part in the original post.

I'm sure I read it and my brain is just hard-wired to automatically convert soil into soilless because 99.99% of any indoor or containerized gardner is using some sort of peat based (read soilless) mix and not true "top-soil (dirt)".

Really the only people who use soil are outdoor growers and hell, even Browndirt Warrior digs holes in the soil and fills them with bales of a peat based soilless mix so unless the original poster is growing fields of hemp he just very well could be using a peat based soilless mix and not really knowing the difference and calling it soil.

Most newbies have no idea that when they are growing in a bag of store bought miracle grow (or whatever brand they get from the store) that they are really growing in a technique (soilless) much more resembling hydro than actual "dirt".

So Kuroth, what's in your "soil"?

 

[DiscoBiscuit]

Soil and soil less are the same as far as pH range. Coco coir is a different animal, different range.

 

[Blue Dot]

Soil and soil less are the same as far as pH range.

Incorrect.

...cough...

 

[DiscoBiscuit]

I might attempt those numbers with coco but not peat based soil less. I wouldn't consider peat based soil less a "water culture." Even the dude that made that chart is a little confusing when it comes to soil less and pH numbers.

One of the reasons why so many growers say soil is because most commercial soil less mixes (pH like soil.)

 

[Blue Dot]

Well, that's not the only chart in existence. Here's a sample of about 50 that I have.

Peat based soilless is more like hydro than "dirt" farming.

I used to use a soilles mix called "success soil", a peat based mix outta florida that added way too much lime (IMO) to it's mix and here is what the pH looked like compared to promix:

I'll let you guess which mix had the most problems with Fe def, Mn def, and Zn def. (hint: it wasn't the promix). lol

 

[DiscoBiscuit]

I like the charts, no two agree. They come in handy when I reference them and somebody tells me I'm reading the wrong one. Anyway, here's a peat, humus, lime and perlite 6.8pH runoff. Not the biggest, baddest plant but no defs.

I guess I could have chosen the words more carefully and said peat based soil less is closer to soil than water culture pH.

EDIT: the Successsoil pH is a little high. Try 6.5 to 6.8 and watch those defs disappear.

 

[Blue Dot]

So Kuroth, what's in your "soil"?

Hi.. Never ever grown before so just wondering if the below day 15 Pics look ok???

This is LowRyder#2 Femizied..

I was just wondering if they should be bigger then this by now?

Day 15

So Kuroth, what kind of "soil" exactly IS under that white rock of yours?

 

[RetroGrow]

From the picture, those seedlings appear to have "lockout". They are small for 2 weeks. Suggest flushing and adjusting your PH.
Get the cheap PH kit that has drops. It's always accurate.

 

[DiscoBiscuit]

Moisture and pH would be the first things to check. Don't water until the medium is almost dry. Check pH runoff and make adjustments if necessary.

Familiarize yourself with the weight of a pot of dry medium vs a pot heavy with water. This is the range you'll be working with. Potted plants like to dry out before taking another bath. A good soak with just a little runoff and yer golden until almost dry. Rinse and repeat. Plants will take up water at different rates throughout the grow cycle.