Help, my soil pH is under 6!

[Crane]

I've been fighting against deficiencies for my whole on-going grow. Today I took a little soil from the pots, mixed it with distilled water and dipped a pH-strip in. The results said something in the 5.0-5.5 range. I made a similar preparation using the home compost which I used in my potting mix,and that read about 6.0-6.5. I'm one week in to flower so re-potting is not an option. I have no lime, but I do have hardwood ash, could I use that to bring the pH up?

 

[Crane]

Well,one of them needed watering and I adjusted the pH of the water to pH 7.0 with sodium hydroxide. I hope it doesn't kill it

 

[bobrown14]

You growing in soil??

 

[Crane]

Yes. But that grow was aborted already now using BB light-mix and doing much better!