Persistent Ph problem

[HeadMed]

I would PH balance several gallons of water and use that to FLUSH your soil for about 7 days with nothing but this PH balanced water. Be sure to give a good dryout period in between each flush.

Also... You might try using a different potting soil. I swear by my long time 50/50 mix of Black Gold CocoBlend Waterhold and everyone's favorite CHEAP dirt... Hyponex from Scotts. I get great results using this soil mixture in pots.

Cheers.

I am just starting on soil, been doing hydro for a while now. I wouldn't use lemon juice, it will decompose from fruit juice to alcohol etc, haven;t used it, heard of it though. My wife uses lemon to put blond in her hair....

Get yourself some ph up/down and the local shop or online. I find the phosphorus based to be more stable then nitrogen based.

Question... How are we checking for dryness? weight? dry to the 1st knuckle? 2nd?

 

[stokesy]

I've given up on the soil grows for the time being, and switched to coco 5 days ago, with 5 x G3 Pineapple Express clones. They were very slow, and starting to show N def. Washed as much soil as practical from the roots and after 12 hours they perked up again. Watered with Canna A + B adjusted to 5.8 EC was .8. This equates, on my Bluelab Truncheon to a ppm of 400 (EC x 400) and 560 (ppm x 700).
So, here's another question - which of these is correct, and why are two readings given? ( times 400 and 700). They're both correct, but why are two multipliers shown?

The weight is estimated by heft...I've now got some proper ph up and down..

Incidentally, I just measured the mix of A+B which was left after the initial watering 5 days ago, and the ph has gone up to 6.1. The solution has been kept busy with an air curtain..is it normal for the hydro noot solution to alter with time? And.. is it wise to adjust it to 5.8 and use it?

Tks..

 

[stokesy]

And here's something else I've just discovered. For the last few grows, I've been using vermiculite instead of perlite.I've just checked the
ph of Vermiculite.. and it's reading 9.2. Yes - that's right!And I've been using it lebrally, about 30% of the mix is vermiculite. Which explains a lot. Now - I'm going to check how much water it takes to rinse this down to some level...

The Stoke

 

[Droopy Dog]

I quit using vermiculite over 35 years ago because of that ^^^^^^ and excessive water retention.

It works great in seed starting mixes and that's about it IMO.

DD

 

[Loretta68]

@hogDaddy can you advise something beside domolite, ph up, and baking soda to raise the ph in my water. I've used baking soda the last two times and worry it's going to do harm over time. Today my ph is way down to 6.4 so after I add nutes it usually drops 1 whole point.
Thank you.