PH off both ways, help

[Guest]

Here's my deal,

I bought a cheap ass soil PH tester from wormsway, I just didnt think it was reading right, my mix was testing at about 8 (Peat Moss, Perlite soilless mix).
And my water was testing at 8-9,
It stumped me because I read that Peat Moss is very acidic.

So I went and bought a liquid test kit where you put 3 drops of PH solution in 5ml of water. API (aquarium Pharmaceuticals Inc.) PH Test kit. Ranges between 6.0-7.6

Directions read- Anything lower than 6.0 will show as 6.0
Anything higher than 7.6 will read as 7.6

My tap water reads 7.6 (probly higher)
My plants run-off reads 6.0 (probly lower)


I use a 5 parts Peat Moss, 3 parts Perlite mix.
How do I correct the PH of my mix before I use it? just use PH corrected water (6.3-6.8)?
Or use really alkaline water to raise PH?

I am going to buy PH up-down tomorrow so I can hop on this shit.

I can say in the years of growing I have never checked my PH, and never had problems like I do now. But then this is the first time I have used a soilless mix.
I am mad at myself for never checking it before.

I flushed out one of my seedling with about 3 times the container size of tap water then tested the PH again hoping it would of raised it a little, but its still reading the same as before, 6.0(probly lower).

HELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Buzz Lightyear]

Is there dolomite lime in your soil mix? This is how you would counter the acidity of the peatmoss. Good rate to start at might be 2 teaspoons per gallon (4 liters) of mix. If you got the time, get some different gallon containers and mix 1, 2, and 3 teaspoons into your mix. Wet well. Wait a week. Mix 1/4 cup mix with 1/4 cup distilled water. Stir. Wait 15-30 minutes. Test ph of the slurry. Pick the best rate to use.

Finding that your ph is 6 or lower doesn't tell you much. Optimum ph in a soilless mix is between 5.6 to 6.2 So, you might be in range.

To properly test runoff using the pour through method (Virginia tech), water till runoff. Wait an hour. Apply some distilled water to "knock out" a little bit of the liquid in the container. You only need about 1 ounce of runoff. Test this ph.

There is more problems with a high ph rather than low. In a soilless mix, there is not alot of insoluble aluminum or manganese like there would be in outdoor soil. Low ph outdoors would make these normally insoluble toxins available to the plant and it would suffer. Only problem with a low ph in soilless mixes is reduced uptake of calcium, magnesium, and molybdenum. Are your plants showing deficiency symptoms of these?

Find a better way to test ph. If its too low, you can sprinkle pulverized dolomite lime (maybe 1 1/4 to 2 teaspoons per gallon) onto the soil mix surface and water in.

Your tap water contains carbonates just like lime. How much of these determines whether the water is usable. Worse thing might be excess calcium.

Other tips...

Ph adjusting your fert water after adding everything prevents ph surprises. 5.8 is a good number to aim for with a soilless mix.

Ensure that you get alot of runoff everytime to prevent excess salt buildup.

Plants perform best with a constant source of nutrients rather than jerks. So, fertilize weakly with every watering until the last two weeks of flower.

Happy growing icmag!

 

[Guest]

Thanks for the info man,

My seedlings are curling and bleaching from the tips inward. and I have not fertalized them at all. I know Peat Moss has no nutriants because I use it for casing my mushrooms(Dont want mycilium "re-vegging" due to nutriants being avaible) I have a bubbakush thats still on its first set and its yellowing, thought maby it was getting to much light, but I veg with CFL's and there a good 6 inches away.

Maby ill lightly fert a seedling with EWC and see what happens, but last time I did that it totally went to shit, but I flushed out and they came thru,

ill post a pic later, hopefully my cell-camera will show it.

Should I still PH my water to 5.6-6.2, if so how much of a PH change is to much to quick?

 

[Buzz Lightyear]

If I told you everything....that wouldnt be fun.




30 cents per test including shipping. Click on the picture to make larger.

 

[Maj.PotHead]

invest in a real PH meter and you'll never look back hanna makes a nice non waterproof meter for 50$ good investment. caibrate it monthly and your PH readings will be spot on. i havent used my meter in almost 1 yr because i know what my waters PH is with and with out ferts in it. there for i know how much PH down is required because your in soiless them test strips are ka ka dont even use em

 

[Dr Dog]

I got lucky and had a dude froma water company, trying to sell me a subscription to like a water of teh month club come by and tested my water for free.

I bought some aquarium test strips to check run off, mainly because I am a cheap ass, when it comes to that kind of stuff, and they work just fine.

Incidentally my water is 6.0

 

[Ulysses]

Since you are growing in soil, I'm going to say that your pH is almost certainly within acceptable ranges...

Seedlings don't need fertilizer. EWCs are awesome but wait a while...

I believe your pH tester is miscalibrated... possible???

Your real problem is overwatering.

 

[Guest]

Its not overwatering, I always let my mix dry enough before I water.
When almost dry they still droop, so its gotta be my PH

i dont grow in soil anymore, its a soilless mix (1st time). after a few grows I should have it down pretty good.