Using lime and not adjusting nutrient PH

[Guest]

I tried a little experiment this grow to see if adjusting your nute ph is really necessary when using dolomite lime in the soil mix.I used 1 tablespoon per gallon soil mix using ocean forest and a little perlite.I always checked the runoff using general hydroponics ph test kit and backing it up with a milwaukee ph pen.I'm at about 40 days flower with the seedplants I'm experimenting with.Up until now,my runoff has stayed between 6 and 7 no matter what the nute or water ph is.I've used 2 teaspoons tiger bloom which brought my ph around 5.5,and straight tapwater which came out a bluish green about 7.4 PH,always my runoff came out green to light green.It was pretty cool watching my runoff change from about 7.(green) to 6.5PH(very lime greenish yelowish)as time went on.Today when I watered with the tiger bloom and no ph up,my runoff came out peepee yellow which is a 6.0PH.It seems the lime is not going to take care of business all the way through flowering,I'm not too surprised.Now I'll just start adjusting my nutrient ph.Actually,I'm a lot closer to a "perfect" soil ph than I ever was balancing my nute ph,it seems running the tiger bloom through several times has added just enough acidity to the soil to make it perfect for MJ.Whenever I used dolomite and balanced nutrient ph all the way through veg and flower,my soil ph normally stayed around 6.8 to 7PH.Thats good but not as good as 6.2 or so.I've come to the conclusion that balancing nute ph during veg is unnecessary and during the first few weeks of flower too,then when you get to a slightly acid PH you can start balancing nute PH.This is how I'm going to do it from now on I think

 

[jcsmooth]

Thanks Skeletor for that great info..
I've been trying to save up for a Milwaukee 802 ph/ec/tds pen combo, but by the looks of it, dolomite lime is sufficient for 90% of your ph balancing needs if growing in soil (proper amount of lime to soil).

I thought I had enough money set aside but then Christmas came up so damn fast that I'm back "in the red".

What kind of accuracy do you see in those paper ph tests? +/- .5 ?
Obviously it's not digital so you have to compare the strip to the index, but comparing your judgment to the judgment of a ph pen, how on/off are you normally? Soil is so forgiving that maybe I can get by with just the cheap litmus paper tests.

Thanks,
JC

 

[Guest]

I have the milwaukee ph51 pen I would stay away from the combo's I've heard bad things about them.If you're growing in soil you dont really need a TDS pen anyway.I spent 85 dollars for a milwaukee T-75 TDS pen to find out the PPMs of my tapwater and nutes and such.Big deal,now I know lol.It just sits there he he,but if you grow hydro its a different story of course.I've never used ph "strips" or anything but the pens and general hydroponics Ph test kit.I swear by the kit,I use it more often than my pen.It is totally accurate as hell once you learn to discriminate the different shades and colors,it's spot on if you know how to use it.I'll check my pen with it,not the other way around.If you can get it at the supply house its the best way to check nutrient and runoff ph in my opinion

 

[green_grow]

what is the general hydroponics test kit ? is that with the test tube and drops, or what ?

 

[Guest]

General hydroponics Ph test kit consists or a bottle of ph up,down,and indicator along with a small plastic container to do the test in.Its avai;lable at just about any hydro place for 15 dollars.It'll last 6 months to a year depending on how much you grow too

 

[Guest]

I have the same kit. Although I got mine a litte late... as well as added lime a little late....


Either way though I must say, you are dead right. Once you get the shading down in your head its always nice to see that leaf green or light yellow-green for the 6.2-6.5 range.

For my next gow that kit is something I definatley don't need to change as it works great. I think mine was aroung 14 with tax. Not bad.

 

[jcsmooth]

That's fabulous info. guys, thank you.

To make a long story short, I ordered a Hanna combo pen through a guy on e-mail (who claimed it was new and never used). I received the thing and it was anything but...looked like it had been used for at least a year and had physical damage to the thing. I had to file a formal complaint through paypal and it took weeks before he responded and did anything.
Never had a problem with e-bay until that jackass. Ah well.
The good news from the whole thing is that I found out just how hard my tap water is. Ready for this...It registered at just under 800 ppm. There's so much lime and calcium in my cities water, not to mention they put a water softener (added salt) recently, so it's no wonder my showerhead and everything else gets clogged so easy. RO water for me is a MUST!

Even my dog doesn't like the tap water. Maybe I should move? lol

Anyways, I'll take a look into that Milwaukee ph51 pen. I was interested in knowing the ppm of my nute solutions because my two plants currently require different levels. My bogglegum can take a beating and a half...I can work my way up to full strength formula's pretty quickly without them showing signs of burn or salt build up (provided I flush them). My SD, which I'm currently just sexing, like things a bit lighter. For these reasons I would like to know the ppm of the water I feed them, but like you said, once you find out what each nutrient formula adds, you never need to check them again.
Before I returned the used Hanna pen I made sure to write down what nutrients brought down or brought up my ph, and how much they raise the ppm's.

Sorry for blabbing on and on.
Thanks for the info again,
JC

 

[Guest]

SKELETOR, which lime do you use( pulverized or not)?

 

[clowntown]

Perhaps a combination of the quick-acting powderized and also some larger granules to kick in near the end of flowering?

 

[inflorescence]

^Well that's just it. Ideally you'd want to calculate how long the lime must last and use a chart like this to figure this out. You'd need a spreadsheet to import this as well as calculate the how the different acidities of the veg vs flowering nutes would impact the lime.
The reason the calculation is difficult without a spreadsheet is because it's actually the combination of two different slopes, one slope is the lime fineness and the other slope is the acid differential and even the titration slope within that acid differential.

 

[clowntown]

You and your spreadsheets!

 

[Guest]

I use pulverized extra fine dolomite the brand name is Spartans Speedi-grow,I sear not all lime is the same.I used lime once and it turned my plants yellow,I quickly switched back to this lime I get from wormsway.I use 1 tbls per gallon ocean forest,I used to use 2 but I think 1 is enough

 

[jcsmooth]

Spreadsheets are hot

The dolomitic lime that I bought from a growshop came pelletized, but after I realized that this coffee grinder was useless (made super fine and coarse in the same batch...no control!) I use it to pulverize the lime.

I think my next batch of soil I'll put in 1 tbs. of pulverized lime and tbs. of whole granule lime. That's per gallon.
I also bought some concentrated ocean forest mix (not the dirt...just all the "ingredients"), which all my plants are loving. I tried it out on my regular (boring!) houseplants, and they're loving it up. You gotta test things out on the cheap guys, right?

JC

 

[supermanlives]

i havent checked ph in years. works great for me

 

[Guest]

SKELETOR, I do not use FFOF but I know a little. It already has some lime,right?. Try using the pelletized along with it and that should get you through. I know alot of people
dont like to here this and I am not recomending for anyone to do this. But if I had to check my PH as much as you guys, I would of never made it in the growing game.
And I dont do to bad.

Workin hard is fine but workin smart thats a whole lot better!