Outdoor Grow and PH Concerns!

[Seniorweeder]

Up to now I have only grown Indoors and have had a blast so far with the outcome. I have considered doing a grow outdoors in my veggie garden to see how that goes. Just the other day I did a Ph test of our latest rain water and it came in about the low "8"s,

I planned to do my watering as usual by adding my nutes and adjusting the water to the 6.5 /7 range but how concerned should I be if the rain waters them on occasion. Should I go to the trouble to cover the pots when it rains or is that necessary? The pots would be filled with my tried and true Fox Farm Coco-loco, is there a top dressing that would help adjust the PH? Thanks as always grow friends!

 

[bobrown14]

If you're in the ground you wont have to worry about pH at all.

Rain water doesn't have much in it to give you any sort of pH reading that is of value.

That and rain water will have a low pH - in the 5's after you let it sit for a while.

Maybe your pH pen needs calibrating.

420% all rain water is acidic.

IF you're collecting it from your downspouts on you house then you may have something in your spouts or on your roof that influences the pH. Which would be a concern for me.


At ether rate your soil IF planting in the ground will buffer any and all pH from your watering. Just the pure amount/size/quantities of the soil are enough.

That said I grew in soil outside last year and also in containers outside last year. I'm going to grow in containers this year. I need a front end loader bucket to dig a big enough hole for soil amendments to make any difference.

GL with your outdoor. itsa lot of fun. Less work. We had a drought last year and I only had to water 5 or 6 times. Trees!

 

[Seniorweeder]

Thanks so much Mr. "Bobrown14" for your time and input, good stuff to think about. I haven't had my PH meter long but it may need calibrating, I will do that soon.

When I do plant it will only be in 15 gallon hard pots, if that helps your thought processes? My F.F. soil is pretty balanced for my indoor grows. As I mentioned, if I see a hard rain coming it wouldn't be to awful to cover the plants if that would be and asset!