Soil ph stuck at 5.5

[ganjygav]

Hello.
I'm having lockout issues with my soil.
It happens alot with my plants. I tested run off last night on one plant and it was 4.9 so I set about flushing.
The first plant I run 50 litres of ph6.5 through the soil and the run off only raised to 5.5ph.
Then the 2nd plant I run Un adjusted water through at ph 7.0, 50 litres again and guess what? Only got to 5.5 again.
I've got 2 more to flush tonight and I was going to get some ph to raise water ph even higher. Thing is I just read alot of posts about people with the same problem and they couldn't get 6.5 run off with even putting in 12ph water. There's also stuck at 5.5ph, so is flushing to fix soil ph actually a thing?
Or is it just something growers say?

I've tried this before on previous grow and same thing there happened. The ph won't raise and my plants when down hill after I flushed them.
I was upstairs for 3 hours last night and got no results. I bet if I check run off on the plants I just flushed next watering it's back to 5ph again. Flogging a dead donkey comes to mind.

 

[hyposomniac]

Whats in your soil? Mostly peat mix? Is it limed? Fresh or recycled? Did ypu do a slurry test?

What do you feed it and how much? I dont think flushing will help unless you have salt buildup, even then there are electrochemical bonds you wont wash away

You said plants went downhill after flushing.. How well draining is it? Might just be overwatered.

Most importantly.. Whats happening to your plants that made you chceck runoff ph?

 

[krunchbubble]

Hello.
I'm having lockout issues with my soil.
It happens alot with my plants. I tested run off last night on one plant and it was 4.9 so I set about flushing.
The first plant I run 50 litres of ph6.5 through the soil and the run off only raised to 5.5ph.
Then the 2nd plant I run Un adjusted water through at ph 7.0, 50 litres again and guess what? Only got to 5.5 again.
I've got 2 more to flush tonight and I was going to get some ph to raise water ph even higher. Thing is I just read alot of posts about people with the same problem and they couldn't get 6.5 run off with even putting in 12ph water. There's also stuck at 5.5ph, so is flushing to fix soil ph actually a thing?
Or is it just something growers say?

I've tried this before on previous grow and same thing there happened. The ph won't raise and my plants when down hill after I flushed them.
I was upstairs for 3 hours last night and got no results. I bet if I check run off on the plants I just flushed next watering it's back to 5ph again. Flogging a dead donkey comes to mind.

I would nutrient with a higher PH, such as 6.5. And keep an eye on runoff for the next few weeks and adjust as necessary...

 

[ganjygav]

Hello.
No I use a soil that's made here in the UK for our plants. It's called plant magic soil supreme. It's made up of sphagnum peat, fytocell foam for drainage. It drains really well and is all fluffy.

I'm no longer panicking about this. I spoke to a guy yesterday who owns a grow shop and also a company that makes tents.
He said I could be flushing for days and water would never bring my run off ph up to 6.5ph.
He said that the soil is designed to work with ph neutral uk tap water and that it's meant to sweep down the ph. So as long as whatever I put in the pot is between 6.5 and 7.0 ph I should be trusting the soil to correct it's self.
He said flushing is for clearing toxic build up and once my water runs clear from bottom off pot that's enough.
More importantly I shouldn't be using ph down with soil.

So maybe I fed a bit strong and too frequently and I got my problems after 4 or 5 weeks of this. Im now gonna be doing mini flushes every few weeks to keep stuff from building up again.

Cheers for the reply guys

Oh and this is what made freak out on all 4 plants to some degree

 

[Buddler]

Have you tried adding some dolomite lime ? or mixing your soil with some coco , or kissing peat goodbye and switch to coco.B

 

[Growdoc]

well looks like you are sorted!

 

[ganjygav]

Have you tried adding some dolomite lime ? or mixing your soil with some coco , or kissing peat goodbye and switch to coco.B

I keep thinking about coco but then im having problems with soil and coco seems more complicated. To me anyway lol

 

[ganjygav]

well looks like you are sorted!

I hope so?
I mean what he said made sense, but then when anybody ever explains anything to me it makes sense if I think they know more than me..... which is basically all the time

 

[Growdoc]

I think u can trust that info about the soil u bought! So i recommend that u try the same soil a couple more times and get it dialed in. This is will give you something to have as a standard control and base, this will help the learning curv!

 

[ganjygav]

I think u can trust that info about the soil u bought! So i recommend that u try the same soil a couple more times and get it dialed in. This is will give you something to have as a standard control and base, this will help the learning curv!

Ya these nutes I've been using for years with the matching soil and at first I did pretty good. Then they starting changing formulas and bringing out supplements. Their Base nutes contain zero mag or calcium now so you have to buy the calmag.

A couple of grows back I tried biobizz and my plants looked great with a couple of doses of Epsom salts.
I'm thinking if switching back to them for ease.
Even though my plants look rough with these nutes I've been using I manage to pull off some pretty good bud.

The ugly plants are what does my head in. People keep saying I do well with the plants and I shouldn't worry too much about the leaves as long as I'm producing.
I just want nice looking plants is all.

 

[Can of Bliss]

I keep thinking about coco but then im having problems with soil and coco seems more complicated. To me anyway lol

You can use it in a soil mixes. it acts a lot like peat moss but without the pH problems.