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PH in Organics?

BurnOne

No damn given.
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Im gonna go buy a PH tester from my local garden centre tomorrow, as long as its 7 or under im fine right?
Is there anything else is should buy from the garden centre to alter the PH of my water ifit is too high?

Thanks for all the replies...

You're not listening.
 

VerdantGreen

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Verdant, where do you take the measurement? At the surface?

If tapwater was 12, first thing I would do is try it, using plenty of compost.

i measure the water in the watering can after having stirred it.

as for you trying pH 12 water, i may have to look out my spare gauntlet for that :D

different plants like different pH, acid loving plants are really just plants that like more iron than other plants. im not interested in 'getting away' without doing something that is quick and easy which i have observed to be beneficial to my grows. i think my plants and yields reflect that i must be doing something right

Chronic - it looks like nute burn to me

V.
 

Chronic777

Member
You're not listening.
Ive read every reply here, obviously its not sticking...:xmasnut:
So far the info ive gathered says, put dolomite in mix, and if your water PH is above 8.5, then bring it down...
Are you saying its not necessary for me to check my waters PH & alter it ifits too low or high?

Ill buy a PH tester tomorrow, but id like to know if theres anything else i should get while im there...just incase my PH is too high or low?

Chronic - it looks like nute burn to me

V.

Thats what i felt it was & still do, but someone told me nute burn only happens from the edges/tips so i was tryna find other possibilities...

Ifit is nute burn, should i just give plain water next feed?
I was gonna start flowering new years day but i dont want this to effect it, maybe i should back off the nutes for the next week, then start flowering...
 

maryjohn

Active member
Veteran
i measure the water in the watering can after having stirred it.

as for you trying pH 12 water, i may have to look out my spare gauntlet for that :D

different plants like different pH, acid loving plants are really just plants that like more iron than other plants. im not interested in 'getting away' without doing something that is quick and easy which i have observed to be beneficial to my grows. i think my plants and yields reflect that i must be doing something right

Chronic - it looks like nute burn to me

V.

duh. sorry, I was being dense. i'm curious about the pH of the actual soil, and did not know you could get a reading with a pen. can you? I've always used a liquid test for that. Pain in the ass. I'm wondering about pH well into the rootball.

If there is a bunch of bad crap in your water, it will hurt your grow, sure. But assuming 20% organic matter, what can it handle?

But like I said earlier in the thread, using soil with 20% organic matter significantly changes the chemistry of the soil, giving you a much much wider range of options and the capacity to buffer a shitload. Perhaps very alkaline water needs to be given more slowly? Dunno, but the humic acids are there.

Streams fed by springs having very alkaline water have plants growing around them, no? O have I just never come across one? Is it like a scene out of beastmaster, with crazy weird plants you never see elsewhere?

Sure, some plants prefer acid soil. My drosera need straight peat, and if the pH rises they die. No humus making allowed. You won't get a great blueberry crop in alkaline garden soil. I prefer to say plants compete better in some soil than others. Many cacti are really freaking happy in fertile, moist soil. They get creamed and choked out, however, by plants built to take advantage. When plants and microbes get together and evolve together to use the resources at hand better than their neighbors, they make their own environment (not the sole province of humans). That's why I'd like to know the pH of the rootball, to see if that is happening even in a container. We are limiting competition to zero, so I imagine the microbes that are interactive quickly join the only game in town.
 

VerdantGreen

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Ive read every reply here, obviously its not sticking...:xmasnut:
So far the info ive gathered says, put dolomite in mix, and if your water PH is above 8.5, then bring it down...
Are you saying its not necessary for me to check my waters PH & alter it ifits too low or high?

Ill buy a PH tester tomorrow, but id like to know if theres anything else i should get while im there...just incase my PH is too high or low?



Thats what i felt it was & still do, but someone told me nute burn only happens from the edges/tips so i was tryna find other possibilities...

Ifit is nute burn, should i just give plain water next feed?
I was gonna start flowering new years day but i dont want this to effect it, maybe i should back off the nutes for the next week, then start flowering...

chronic, my take is - yes, use plain water next time and continue until they sort themselves out. then feed again starting at half strength. remember that overfeeding is one of the biggest problems with rookie growers. killing them with kindness is easy ;)

there are a few differing points of view in this thread - sorry if my contribution has made it confusing. burn1 and most others dont think any kind of pH monitoring is necessary. i would say that it may be worth finding out the pH of your water at some point - and if it is high then it might be worth adjusting it. you will probably find that your nutes will lower pH to an extent anyway - they usually do.
 

Chronic777

Member
Ok cool i think i got it, if you use a decent amount of dolomite in your mix at first then you should be okay for PH testing, but if you haven't put any in its probably a good idea to test just to be sure.

I think im gonna pick up a PH tester 2mro just outof curiosity, i know before i filter my tap water it literally STINKS of chlorine, i wouldnt drink it if someone paid me to! So im not confident about whats in it & i heard water filters can alter PH, but i can't remember ifits up or down.
Say my water PH is way too high, is there anything i should get to help? (that i can buy in the garden centre while im there, sorry for asking the same question 3 times!)

The nutes i use say PH adjusting inst necessary (biocanna) if that makes a difference...

I def made the rookie mistake cause i fed a large dose of nutes twice, only a couple days apart, i saw how they responded to the first feeding & then went nuts ;)
 

VerdantGreen

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duh. sorry, I was being dense. i'm curious about the pH of the actual soil, and did not know you could get a reading with a pen. can you? I've always used a liquid test for that. Pain in the ass. I'm wondering about pH well into the rootball.

If there is a bunch of bad crap in your water, it will hurt your grow, sure. But assuming 20% organic matter, what can it handle?

But like I said earlier in the thread, using soil with 20% organic matter significantly changes the chemistry of the soil, giving you a much much wider range of options and the capacity to buffer a shitload. Perhaps very alkaline water needs to be given more slowly? Dunno, but the humic acids are there.

Streams fed by springs having very alkaline water have plants growing around them, no? O have I just never come across one? Is it like a scene out of beastmaster, with crazy weird plants you never see elsewhere?

Sure, some plants prefer acid soil. My drosera need straight peat, and if the pH rises they die. No humus making allowed. You won't get a great blueberry crop in alkaline garden soil. I prefer to say plants compete better in some soil than others. Many cacti are really freaking happy in fertile, moist soil. They get creamed and choked out, however, by plants built to take advantage. When plants and microbes get together and evolve together to use the resources at hand better than their neighbors, they make their own environment (not the sole province of humans). That's why I'd like to know the pH of the rootball, to see if that is happening even in a container. We are limiting competition to zero, so I imagine the microbes that are interactive quickly join the only game in town.

imo, if there was a substance that did all the good things that dolomite lime did, but it buffered your pH to 6.5 instead of 7 - we would all be using it instead of dolomite - because weed actually likes slightly acid conditions. dolomite lime also doesnt buffer your pH downwards to acidity in the same way as it buffers acidity towards neutral. so i think that if i use my water at 8.5 that it will probably never go below 7 with lime in the soil. the plant would probably be reasonably happy but i have observed that they are even happier if i correct to acidity and then let the dolomite do it's job of bringing the pH back up to 7.

as ive said, im not interested in what extremes may plants can survive when helped by the soil or whatever. im interested in making the conditions as good as possible. i dont want my humates etc to spend themselves just bringing my water pH down to 7.

V.
 

VerdantGreen

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like i said at the beginning of the thread - we dont want too many rules. organics in the broader gardening sense has too many rules, and i am happy to break them if i think it is for the greater good. i use glysophate weedkiller sometimes, it took me 10 years to break that rule, but i'm glad i did it :)

V.
 

maryjohn

Active member
Veteran
Hey Verdant,

Have you ever tried gypsum? I've only really used it for salt damage, but I've heard tell it corrects alkaline soil for a time.
 

VerdantGreen

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Ok cool i think i got it, if you use a decent amount of dolomite in your mix at first then you should be okay for PH testing, but if you haven't put any in its probably a good idea to test just to be sure.

I think im gonna pick up a PH tester 2mro just outof curiosity, i know before i filter my tap water it literally STINKS of chlorine, i wouldnt drink it if someone paid me to! So im not confident about whats in it & i heard water filters can alter PH, but i can't remember ifits up or down.
Say my water PH is way too high, is there anything i should get to help? (that i can buy in the garden centre while im there, sorry for asking the same question 3 times!)

The nutes i use say PH adjusting inst necessary (biocanna) if that makes a difference...

I def made the rookie mistake cause i fed a large dose of nutes twice, only a couple days apart, i saw how they responded to the first feeding & then went nuts ;)

i would leave the water to stand a day or two in a bucket or can reather than filtering it. also check if your water contains chloramine which is a problem if it does. tbh i would continue this grow without messing with pH and see how you go. if you do decide to mess with pH then check it after you have added everything you are going to add to it.

in general, if your tap water straight is below 8ish then you should be fine

V.
 

VerdantGreen

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Hey Verdant,

Have you ever tried gypsum? I've only really used it for salt damage, but I've heard tell it corrects alkaline soil for a time.

i did look into that - it adds sulphur too.
some people have a nightmare with pH pens but it is simplicity to me - and it works for me too. everyone's situation is different. i probably spend less time with my plants than anyone here on this forum. maybe 1-2 hours a week - so anything i can do to help things along before i see my plants i will do. thats why i spend most of my time getting the soil mix right - becasue i can do that in the garage.

V.
 

Chronic777

Member
Cool im just gonna test my waters PH to see what its like out of curiosity, i won't start playing around too much...

In the early stages i fed evian, which im assuming has gotta be good, but to feed that now would break the bank for sure!
 

osirica420

Active member
I have grown 100% organically in a modified waterfarm and did not mess with the PH unless it went out of 4 - 8 ...

plants grew fine ended up with 9oz of quality chemdog dd.. no veg just 2 plants.. 600watts

As long as your ph is not out of wack completely and long as ur growing organically i would not worry about PH...


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Verdant I like your style. You dont use PH as a general rule but rather understand the nuances of it, and the reason for it. Agreed general rules dont educate anybody and I enjoyed seeing your take on it.

MJ- I have been thinking alot about spot harvesting specialized microbes, in the instance you reminded me of is this; There are giant alkaline salt flats here where nothing grows. BUT there are the occasional mutant little plants adapting and thriving in salt basically...microbes? Next time I am around some I will spot harvest some media from the root zone to propagate... I intend to start doing this all over.

To the thread author-
I would continue as you are and not let PH get you confused, finish it, learn all you can, and apply it to the next go round.
 

guest2012y

Living with the soil
Veteran
I have to agree with checking the ph of water before watering. I do it every single time and have for 20 years! Every place I have lived and grown the ph of the water changes on a weekly basis according to local water table levels,soil,rain,city water facilities,wells,you name it. Once in a while I'll get lucky and find a place with good well water,and in some of these cases I would rather use rain water collected in plastic barrels than use chlorinated city water. I have a 7.1 out of a well right now which drops to 6.5 on occasion,not bad at all really,but it does make a little bit of difference when mixing nutes for feeding time. I use a pretty time tested soil mix that works well,my only continued problem is finding stable,clean,and ph nuetral water. Glad to read and hear about this issue folks...keep it coming!
 

RugerBaby

Autos are for pussies!
Veteran
PH: 8.9 - 9.2
Average Hardness: 120-140 mg/liter which is equivalent to 7-8 grains per gallon.
Fluoride is 1.0 ppm




That's what it says on my towns website regarding the tap water. I was thinking of doing hydro but my seeing those numbers is pretty discouraging. NOW, Im thinking of going the organic soil route!! :)

Any suggestions on a good mix considering my water???
 

jjfoo

Member
Any ideas on why one would be concerned about PH before a clone even has roots? Isn't PH about nutrient uptake in the roots? I would think that since clones have to roots there is no reason to soak rock wool in anything but tap water. I have good results this way, but was just open to hearing some reasons why I should change or not.
 
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