I would PH adjust the water to around 7 and let it slowly change the soil PH,one of the worst things you can do is fluctuate PH as the plants can't get used to it. If it's gradual they will adapt.So I hawe this problem my soil has a pH of 8,5 and my water 5,3 do you guys think that the outcome of adding this water to the soil will be in between and so that I'm OK and in the parameters?
I assume you are outdoors with a pH like that. You should be ok, using that water but if you are indoors you will need to monitor your runoff regularly. What kind of grow are you doing?
You are right about that. Acidity is the hydrogen that links up with nutrients. Every time there is water exposure the hydrogen will dissolve the hard elements like copper, zinc, boron, manganese, and iron which the plant can use. In a higher pH range above 7, there's no hydrogen or acidity and the trace elements become locked out. So using 5.5 pH water on an 8.5 pH substrate would be ok because the extra hydrogen in the 5.5 water would make minerals available. .My soil, which isn’t dirt, has a Ph around 8 from the lime and oyster shells. The water is Ph to 6.3 or so. The acidity in the water helps ionize the minerals and loosen up the cations.
I think.
Yea this was also my intential thoughtIf you have a starting pH of 8.5 in the soil you will run into problems with iron lockout. Iron chlorosis is a yellowing of plant leaves caused by iron deficiency due to high pH. Anything over the neutral range will lock up trace minerals over the long haul. Most especially using tap water.
Below 7 pH, hydrogen is what links nutrients and makes them available. However, when the hydrogen link is finished the hydrogen disappears and the pH returns to 8.5. If you use water that is 7 pH the hydrogen will be limited and short-lived causing the nutrients to be limited. IF you use pure rainwater the pH at 5.5, which will give you enough hydrogen to release enough trace elements to grow kick-ass plants.
That's the only way I see using soil with a pH of 8.5 and avoiding Iron chlorosis.
Without making it too complicated you can look outdoors and see what I'm talking about. Rainwater produces super growth, because of the 5.5 pH, which will allow the higher pH soil to temporarily release nutrients.pH is not Linear, it is Logarithmic.
You might need to add 10 times the 6.0 pH solution to balance a given amount of 9.0 pH solution.
the 9.0 pH has 100 times the OH- of a neutral 7 solution.
The 6.0 pH has only 10 times the H+ of a neutral 7 solution.
Though that may be mis-stated; it depends on the H+ and OH- count in the neutral 7 solution.
Without making it too complicated you can look outdoors and see what I'm talking about. Rainwater produces super growth, because of the 5.5 pH, which will allow the higher pH soil to temporarily release nutrients.
Isn’t rainwater saturated with oxygen, to the point of having peroxide? I have heard peroxide is good for gardens. I only bubble the reservoir - so far. But it gets Ph to 6.2-6.3. The hydrogen knocks stubborn ions off the cation, doesn’t it?Without making it too complicated you can look outdoors and see what I'm talking about. Rainwater produces super growth, because of the 5.5 pH, which will allow the higher pH soil to temporarily release nutrients.
Rain is just condensed water with carbonic acid in it. God makes rain and makes the best water on Earth.
Rainwater contains atmospheric gases as well as carbon dioxide, and when the carbon dioxide dissolves it forms carbonic acid, which makes the pH of normal rain about a 5.6 on the pH scale. Google
Who explains it best ?
I've been listening to Prof. Kathleen Drennan's Chemistry webcasts at
Would like to see her say, "OK, today I'm going to tell you how to grow Pot."