Are you talking about ammonia or ammonium?
Since the soil microbes convert the ammoniacal nitrogen into a safe form, what's wrong with using it if you need to? No one in hydro need to use ammoniacal N and shouldn't. They also pH adjust their nutes.
Lose the sarcasm "boss." Given your education it seems like you should be better at this. But I'll give you a bit more of my time.
If you mix up a bunch of nutes and the resulting pH is 7 there is no need to lower it before feeding. That's "input pH" and that's the point of this thread. You're just looking for an argument based on some self-centered idea of what we're talking about in this thread.
You can have high pH water without high alkaline content and high alkaline content without a high pH. If you read the opening post it says: "It is the alkalinity of nutrient water and the
potential acidity/basicity of the fertilizer(s) that influence the pH of the growing medium and root zone."
If you have highly alkaline water then eventually you might need to lower the pH of the substrate, more likely in peat mixes than in soil. You can do that with sulfuric acid if that's something you feel comfortable with, but it's not necessary to acidify your medium with every watering, only when it's out of range and until it's back in range.
Therefore it's not necessary to pH adjust your nutes. Feel free to do it obviously, but the title of this thread is "do we
need to pH adjust..." and the answer is no. No one said "never pH adjust..."
And consider the grower who is adding acid to their nutes every time who
doesn't have highly alkaline water. They could end up lowering the pH of their medium out of range with every watering, and will see the resulting toxicities.
I didn't but you're obviously hung up on your credentials.
I did not ignore it. You allowed the pH of your substrate to rise out of an acceptable range and ignored it and your plants suffered. Don't do that.
As stated in the opening post:
"It is more important to keep track of the pH of the growing medium than the pH of the nutrient solution we feed the plants."
You failed in that task and your plants suffered. Phat oof!
As I have mentioned, that's one way to lower the pH of your medium if it gets too high for growing. Using acid is another. Either way, it only becomes necessary when it does. High nitrate fertilizers and high alkaline content will both increase the pH of the medium over time (sooner in peat mixes than soil) and might need to be dealt with during the course of the grow.
Yes, in an article that recommends the following method:
"It is best to inject acid directly from a concentrate barrel into the irrigation line so there is no handling."
Sound like folks growing on this site?
Soilless is what is considered peat mixes such as ProMix or Sunshine Mix #4.
pH matters, as Dr Bugbee shows, in the growing medium. He knows that his tap water is high in bicarbonate content, so they test leachate to monitor pH of the medium to make sure it's not out of range even
with the acid they use.
Fair 'nuff.
And if there is a problem there are ways to solve it, like most problems encountered in growing. If you believe that adding acid to water for buffered media is a good way to keep the pH of that medium pH in range, how do you know you're not
lowering it out of range without knowing the alkaline content of your water and monitoring the pH of you media?
As I have said, feel free to pH your nutes for a buffered medium, but feel free not to.
"Lime will neutralize this acidity by dissolving, whereupon it releases a base into the soil solution that reacts with the acidic components, hydrogen and aluminum."
Source
Eventually that ability wears out, and since it's the only thing keeping the pH of peat mixes in check, they are more prone to pH swings. The organic matter in soil itself acts as a buffer, giving it much greater stability, which is why I went back to soil.
It would, but the odds are better that there is something else going on, like you're over-feeding it phosphorus or potassium in flower. The only way to know if your plant has a pH problem is by testing the soil not reading the leaves. More plants will have disaster bite them in the ass in flower from following nute myths and force-feeding them what they don't need than a medium with th
Are you talking about ammonia or ammonium?
Since the soil microbes convert the ammoniacal nitrogen into a safe form, what's wrong with using it if you need to? No one in hydro need to use ammoniacal N and shouldn't. They also pH adjust their nutes.
Lose the sarcasm "boss." Given your education it seems like you should be better at this. But I'll give you a bit more of my time.
If you mix up a bunch of nutes and the resulting pH is 7 there is no need to lower it before feeding. That's "input pH" and that's the point of this thread. You're just looking for an argument based on some self-centered idea of what we're talking about in this thread.
You can have high pH water without high alkaline content and high alkaline content without a high pH. If you read the opening post it says: "It is the alkalinity of nutrient water and the
potential acidity/basicity of the fertilizer(s) that influence the pH of the growing medium and root zone."
If you have highly alkaline water then eventually you might need to lower the pH of the substrate, more likely in peat mixes than in soil. You can do that with sulfuric acid if that's something you feel comfortable with, but it's not necessary to acidify your medium with every watering, only when it's out of range and until it's back in range.
Therefore it's not necessary to pH adjust your nutes. Feel free to do it obviously, but the title of this thread is "do we
need to pH adjust..." and the answer is no. No one said "never pH adjust..."
And consider the grower who is adding acid to their nutes every time who
doesn't have highly alkaline water. They could end up lowering the pH of their medium out of range with every watering, and will see the resulting toxicities.
I didn't but you're obviously hung up on your credentials.
I did not ignore it. You allowed the pH of your substrate to rise out of an acceptable range and ignored it and your plants suffered. Don't do that.
As stated in the opening post:
"It is more important to keep track of the pH of the growing medium than the pH of the nutrient solution we feed the plants."
You failed in that task and your plants suffered. Phat oof!
As I have mentioned, that's one way to lower the pH of your medium if it gets too high for growing. Using acid is another. Either way, it only becomes necessary when it does. High nitrate fertilizers and high alkaline content will both increase the pH of the medium over time (sooner in peat mixes than soil) and might need to be dealt with during the course of the grow.
Yes, in an article that recommends the following method:
"It is best to inject acid directly from a concentrate barrel into the irrigation line so there is no handling."
Sound like folks growing on this site?
Soilless is what is considered peat mixes such as ProMix or Sunshine Mix #4.
pH matters, as Dr Bugbee shows, in the growing medium. He knows that his tap water is high in bicarbonate content, so they test leachate to monitor pH of the medium to make sure it's not out of range even
with the acid they use.
Fair 'nuff.
And if there is a problem there are ways to solve it, like most problems encountered in growing. If you believe that adding acid to water for buffered media is a good way to keep the pH of that medium pH in range, how do you know you're not
lowering it out of range without knowing the alkaline content of your water and monitoring the pH of you media?
As I have said, feel free to pH your nutes for a buffered medium, but feel free not to.
"Lime will neutralize this acidity by dissolving, whereupon it releases a base into the soil solution that reacts with the acidic components, hydrogen and aluminum."
Source
Eventually that ability wears out, and since it's the only thing keeping the pH of peat mixes in check, they are more prone to pH swings. The organic matter in soil itself acts as a buffer, giving it much greater stability, which is why I went back to soil.
It would, but the odds are better that there is something else going on, like you're over-feeding it phosphorus or potassium in flower. The only way to know if your plant has a pH problem is by testing the soil not reading the leaves. More plants will have disaster bite them in the ass in flower from following nute myths and force-feeding them what they don't need than a medium with the wrong pH. And testing that pH is easy.
e wrong pH. And testing that pH is easy.
