pH Down alternative?

[AbaZabba]

Hey guys,

I am about 30 days into a flower run, and have come to the realization that I have no more pH down for when I start to flush my beautiful gals. Since I will not need to re-do the res with pH until this point, I will only need it for one use on approx 25-30 gallon res.

While I know pH down is simply acid, I was curious as to what alternatives could be used to get me through this grow until I can re-stock my regular pH down after this current run. The specs are E&F coco trays in 1 gal square pots, straight clone to flower.

Any suggestions on something that is safe and can alter my pH down that can be found locally would be a great help. I know the pet shop carries some pH down for acquariums, but I would rather use something cheaper that can be found around the house or at the local market. Anyone who has suggestions are more than welcome to contribute.

Thanks

 

[Guest]

You dont have to flush with ph corrected water.

 

[jimjay]

You dont have to flush with ph corrected water.

That is interesting because in the thread "what happens i f you dont flush" or close to that, they are saying you should ph the final flush water. But what Haze Toker is saying makes sense because plants dont need to take in more nutes. Or am i lookng at this all wrong? I dont ph the water when i am flushing but the ph isnt that far off anyways so i dont know?

 

[AbaZabba]

My regular tap water, which is what has been used the entire grow (hydro), has a pH of approx. 8.5 with a ppm of approx. 160.

Even if my flush water does not need to be pH'ed, which I think it would, I am still in search for a good alternative to pH down that is easily available without driving 3 hours to the hydro shop.

If anyone has tips/tricks, im all ears

 

[Hundredproof]

ive read that there is a common type of vinegar that you could use but do a search cuz i think the wrong one is really bad for plants.

i used freshly squeezed lemon juice for a couple waterings when i ran out. but im pretty sure the sugars and other stuff could build up and attract pests or disease. worked fine tho, probably not for hydro? got me by but not sure if it is the best idea.

im currently using a citric acid based ph adjuster, in soil.

 

[AbaZabba]

Hey hundredproof,

I have heard apple cider vineger will work as pH down, anyone tried this hydroponically?
I might just have to flush with a slightly high pH'ed water as I do not want to risk my ladies losing their valuable time to plump up and finish by using something I have no experience or hearsay about.

Thanks again

 

[jimjay]

Didn't mean to jack the thread.
Jorge says to use distilled white vinegar @ one tsp. per gallon. Wait a few min. then recheck. He says this amount should drop it by a full point. Recheck the next day because it may drift back up.
He also says sulfur and aspirin will lower ph but advises against it...

 

[AbaZabba]

Distilled white eh, might have to hed to the local gorcery store to pick up a bottle and experiment.

No hi-jacking at all jimjay, im here to listen to what people's opinions are. If Jorge suggests distilled white, I might have to give that a try as the closest hydro store is about 3 hours away

 

[Guest]

What would be the purpose of phing flush water? The plant will drink the water at any ph. PH correcting is for optimal nutrient uptake.

 

[stonedeconomist]

most autoparts stores sell sulfuric acid, it is used to fill batteries, although you will probably have to buy a motorcycle battery to get it, when i worked at chief autoparts that was the only way we sold it. you can also can around to the home improvement stores and see if the sell sulfuric or nitric acid. both work well. but don't use hydrocloric becuase the clorine is bad for your girls. but the viniger is probably the cheapest short term solution. also call around to local garden ceters and see if they sell ph down. it is usually just phosporic acid and hydro vegtable growers use a lot of it in their large systems. who knows you may get lucky.

 

[Pimp Aurora]

You dont have to flush with ph corrected water.

If you have lime in your compost to act as a pH buffer..

I have read before that you can cause the plant to go into shock through jumps in pH levels, I know I wouldn't want my previous ~12 weeks of care just to be screwed up in the last week or two by not keeping the pH stable.

iirc lemon juice is lower pH than vinegar.

AbaZabba hi, have you tried mail order?

 

[Guest]

When you are flushing you are at the end of your grow I cant see a shock that is gonna matter plus we are not talking a 10 point diff. Not to mention pimp aurora we are talking about hydro bro not soil growing.

 

[Pimp Aurora]

My bad, I guess this should have been posted in hydro then, my plants fatten up a lot during the last two weeks of flowering, nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, sulphur, magnesium get locked out at about 4.5pH, so I know it's not a 10 level jump but even a few is more than what i'd like at the peak time of my plants fattening up.

 

[sirharrynuggz]

Liquid Karma will drop your pH pretty severely.

 

[Guest]

Well, look at it like this if you are soil growing and through out your grow your run off is say 6.0-6.5 and then the last 2 weeks you flush with just plain tap water at 7.0-8.0 then I cant see antthing getting locked out in those 2 weeks. In hydro I run a ph of 5.8 but when I flush the last week I use tap water at a ph of 7.2 . Never a problem. Btw when you are flushing the last 2 weeks the plant will use whats built up and stored in its leaves so ph of the water really cant matter(as long as reasonable) as you want the plant to use whats stored inside.

 

[Pimp Aurora]

5.8 to 7.2 is only 1.4, well within a safe region imo hence no noticable problems, I am aware that the plant leeches the remaining nutes in the compost and leaves thanks, so back to answering the original question, lemon juice or vinegar.

 

[Guest]

I vote for either one as a cheap alternate ph down.

 

[AbaZabba]

Thanks for the input guys, but as mention, this is a hydro grow and the pH of my tap water that will be used for flushing in between 8-8.5.

This is slightly a significant change in pH, and while the last amount of nutrients are being used from the coco and leaves, I do not want anything to get locked out in the final stages of bud maturation.

I had also planned on flushing for 10-14 days, as I do not want any chemy Cannna A&B taste left in the plants whatsoever. With that being said, I guess it's off to the store to try some vinegar. Since I have two separate trays being flowered, maybe an experiment shall have to be conducted (one with vinegar pH'ed flush and one straight from tap flush)

 

[Guest]

Good idea. I bet there will be no difference. Try it out and report back.

 

[Pimp Aurora]

Too high ph can and will lock out iron, manganese, boron, copper, zinc and molybdenum, also phoshorous, they start getting locked out at around 8.3 so please be careful.


I found this pic in one of the vendor forums.

I know you want these nutes to be leeched but a big fluctuation in pH could shock it and knock it off it's momentum for a while.