help - soil ph 4.7

[coolx]

I thought my soil ph was low but not that low .... I just watered 4 of my plants with 7.3 ph water and the first few drops that came out were ph 6.0! Guess that means soil is ph 4.7.

I'm growing organic with guano tea and mycorrhizae. I used a var. of Mr. Soul's guano tea that calls for 6 times the nutes for flower than for veg which doesn't seem right to me ... anyway, obviously that has lowered my soil ph big time.

I'm 24 days into flower - white widow.

What's the safest way to raise the ph quickly? I'm thinking of just watering with the ph 7.3 water for now - not a complete flush as I think that would be too much too quick, but just a good drench. I know you can add dolomite lime to the topsoil but doesn't that take a long time?

I need some advice quick - I've not major nute lockout yet, but seeing just the first signs - little brown spots on a few leaves on a few plants.

Thanks

 

[coolx]

Hmm ... was wondering ... I usually use RO water at ph 6.9 and my tap water is at 7.4.

I've read that I can water with hydrated lime (which I think would be at ph 7.0). Is that better than watering with just regular RO water as the dissolved lime would stabilize the soil? Is it too quick and would it shock my plants?

 

[MedUser420]

use 2 tbs of dolomite or hydrated lime per gallon of water. water with the lime until run off is where it needs to be. no it wont shock your plants, they are in shock now!

 

[coolx]

tx meduser420 .... it was too late to get hydrated lime today - so tomorrow ... the guy at the local hydro store suggested rhizotonic as a stress reliever plus a ph up ....

he also said that if runoff was 6 from 7.3 water going in, it didn't mean my soil was 4.7, more likely around 5.5 or so. My soil is heavily buffered from all the organics.

The plants are thirsty and need water tonite. If anyone knows anything about the rhizotonic, should I water with the rhizo and then the next time in 4 days with the lime, or wait till morning and just do the lime, or both lime and rhizo in the am?

 

[inuyasha]

sometimes dolomite lime is not strong enough then you can use hydrated lime, dissolved in water

 

[coolx]

tx inuyasha - what I did yesterday was 1 tsp hydrated lime and 2 tbs dolomite lime per gallon - watered to where there was 25% runoff - usually do minimum runoff as I'm all organic with tons of microbes.

Do you think that was enough hydrated lime or too much or ...? was trying to find out how much of it to use.

 

[inuyasha]

I m with a problem very simillar to yours, and since where I live i do not have any fancy gardening products( I live in a third world country) so I have to make a better use of what I have available, I had bought some organic soil , those with a lot hummus and organic matter so I had a very acidic soil on my hands, and I use this mix for my flowering transplant, I put a cup of dolomite lime in the mix with coco and vermiculite, even with a cup of dolom per 10 liters os soil I ended up with a very acidic soil.
when I did the transplant, my plants started to show problems and after a run off ph test , I saw that my problem was ph, I putted a lot of dolomite lime dissolved in water , and it not did a thing to change de ph, the only thing that worked was hydrated lime dissolved in water, I put about half gallon of water per plant with 4, 5 tea spoons of hdrated lime, I repeated this everyday( 2 days ina roll) untill my run off was about 6,2 6,4, you have to be very carefull with lime since it take time to do their work and dissolve so if you put too much you risk to end up with a high ph soil in the long run.
I still have to do some correction with a little lime, since the ph started to fall again, but you have to be carefull to not put too much and have patience to see how the things are going, and when applying you have to be carefull with overwatering, I like to make my soil very aerated with a lot coco to prevent this, so you have to take a extra care, good luck!!

 

[inuyasha]

if your water ph was 7.3 ph and the run off came out ph 6.0 why the soil will be ph 4.7 ?
I don't understand you math, could explain it to me?