PH water when using soil
- Thread starter davidw44
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I have never used ph ever in soil i say that over and over here no ph in soil only hydro.My media speaks for itself please have a look.
If no buffers in yer soil..ya better pH it
5.2 is way low
5.2 is way low
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- #4
Edzzed
Well-Known Member
I always adjust pH when watering. I also use FFOF. I don't know if it is necessary. What I have noticed is my tap water is about 7.4 I have a 5 gallon bucket with 16 litres of water in it with airstones. Just before watering plants I add the nutes and it drops the pH down to 6.0 I then add a bit of pH up to get it to 6.4 Is it necessary. I don't know but at week 4 of flower they look healthy. I will run with if it works for me, Don't mess with it. Not all tap water is the same. We have nice water here and in our other house we also have nice water but pH is different and the water hardness is HIGH. Vancouver BC has North Americas most expensive water treatment plant. It was good before they built the plant too.
DreamingTrees7
Well-Known Member
Adjusting ph might take some guess work out when you have a deficiency at some point. If you always ph your water to 6.5 and if you know your soil is good (Ffof,happy frog, etc) then you would know it’s not a ph problem.
Your nutrient company should have some sort of pH requirement. It should be listed on the label. I wood follow the recommendation on the label.
DreamingTrees7
Well-Known Member
Read labels and make labels
oopssteptinit
Well-Known Member
...... how about the watering in-between the feeds..... does it need to have it's pH adjusted?
Not unless your water pH is below 5pH or above say 7.5pH. If tap water let it sit out overnight at least and/or aerate it to remove some of the unwanted chemicals added to make your drinking water "safe".
Emilya Green
Well-Known Member
a lot of information here that I don't agree with... sorry.
Ph adjusting when using EDTA based nutes is very important. If you are not in the correct pH range, 6.2-6.8 pH, in soil, some of the elements in your nutrient is not going to become mobile, or available to the plant.
A great majority of the "help, my plants are in trouble" calls we get on here end up being pH related. It is very important to get every fluid that hits your plant, whether it is plain water or nutes mixed with water, to the proper pH range. Some say 6.5, the middle of the range is the sweet spot, but math will show us that the most nutes are the most mobile at 6.3 pH.
It is important to also pH your plain water in between feedings because on that water only run you are essentially reactivating the nutes that were not used on the first pass. For maximum mobility, the water must be in the correct range.
Then there is the malinformed concept that if you have buffered soil you don't need to pH adjust. This comes from not understanding that soil is purposely given a buffer that will react with your 6.3ph waterings and cause the pH of the wet soil to drift upwards, towards the soil's base pH, usually set to around 6.8, the upper edge of the useable range. This is all by design, so that you can force the nutes to drift through the entire usable pH range, just by coming in low and letting the soil do its job, picking up each nutrient in turn at its pH hotspot.
The other myth I like to dispel is that of chlorine. Unless you are growing an organic water only grow using microbes to feed your plants, chlorine is your friend. It is actually one of the 17 needed elements for our plants, and it doesn't hurt a thing... and actually it can help retard mold growing on the top surface of your soil. You do not need to set out your water or somehow cleanse it of chlorine or use RO or distilled water, unless you are running a specialized system that needs perfectly clean water.
Always remember, some people just like making the growing of a weed hard. It should not be.
Ph adjusting when using EDTA based nutes is very important. If you are not in the correct pH range, 6.2-6.8 pH, in soil, some of the elements in your nutrient is not going to become mobile, or available to the plant.
A great majority of the "help, my plants are in trouble" calls we get on here end up being pH related. It is very important to get every fluid that hits your plant, whether it is plain water or nutes mixed with water, to the proper pH range. Some say 6.5, the middle of the range is the sweet spot, but math will show us that the most nutes are the most mobile at 6.3 pH.
It is important to also pH your plain water in between feedings because on that water only run you are essentially reactivating the nutes that were not used on the first pass. For maximum mobility, the water must be in the correct range.
Then there is the malinformed concept that if you have buffered soil you don't need to pH adjust. This comes from not understanding that soil is purposely given a buffer that will react with your 6.3ph waterings and cause the pH of the wet soil to drift upwards, towards the soil's base pH, usually set to around 6.8, the upper edge of the useable range. This is all by design, so that you can force the nutes to drift through the entire usable pH range, just by coming in low and letting the soil do its job, picking up each nutrient in turn at its pH hotspot.
The other myth I like to dispel is that of chlorine. Unless you are growing an organic water only grow using microbes to feed your plants, chlorine is your friend. It is actually one of the 17 needed elements for our plants, and it doesn't hurt a thing... and actually it can help retard mold growing on the top surface of your soil. You do not need to set out your water or somehow cleanse it of chlorine or use RO or distilled water, unless you are running a specialized system that needs perfectly clean water.
Always remember, some people just like making the growing of a weed hard. It should not be.
We can read all about it, the scientists did all the leg work.
Here's an interesting quote from the article:
"Plants also prefer mildly acidic substances. A pH value of around 5.5 occurs so often in nature that some plant experts regard this value as “neutral”.
For soil:
"Try to avoid correcting the pH unless it is really necessary. It’s more likely to do harm than good; the plant likes its peace and quiet. It is more important to monitor how the acidity changes over a longer period. If the value falls below pH 5 or rises above pH 6.4 then it is advisable to gradually start making adjustment."
Link to article:
Best pH levels and how it effects plant growth | CANNA Gardening USA
Here's an interesting quote from the article:
"Plants also prefer mildly acidic substances. A pH value of around 5.5 occurs so often in nature that some plant experts regard this value as “neutral”.
For soil:
"Try to avoid correcting the pH unless it is really necessary. It’s more likely to do harm than good; the plant likes its peace and quiet. It is more important to monitor how the acidity changes over a longer period. If the value falls below pH 5 or rises above pH 6.4 then it is advisable to gradually start making adjustment."
Link to article:
Best pH levels and how it effects plant growth | CANNA Gardening USA
Emilya Green
Well-Known Member
Bob, would you like me to forward to you every person (and there are a lot of them) who has pH problems from now on? You can refer them to the article and tell them that they really don't need to do anything. I should sit back and watch to see how long you maintain your credibility. Also, referring the questioner to an outside link, a competing online forum at that, is against the rules, no matter how valuable you might think that article is. Please use your own words if you wish to argue against my previous statements regarding pH.
I'm not worried about my credibility.
I'm not arguing with what you say. I simply posted an article that was based on some science about pH.
I know for a fact that rain water has a pH of say 5pH sometimes even less. I also look out the window at our gardens and plants are growing fine in containers and the ground. I'm not out there wagging my finger at mother nature for giving me bad water.
I agree with most of what you write. I'm just saying that pH has a very large tolerance.
So I guess my argument would be that its not that crucial. I haven't pH tested water in years. I bought a pH pen because it was what everyone on weed forums said I should be using.
I found it to not be the case, "for me".
The light bulb "for me" went off when someone asked me if I did all this pH/fertilizer stuff in our outdoor gardens and how where my plants growing outside.
I'm not arguing with what you say. I simply posted an article that was based on some science about pH.
I know for a fact that rain water has a pH of say 5pH sometimes even less. I also look out the window at our gardens and plants are growing fine in containers and the ground. I'm not out there wagging my finger at mother nature for giving me bad water.
I agree with most of what you write. I'm just saying that pH has a very large tolerance.
So I guess my argument would be that its not that crucial. I haven't pH tested water in years. I bought a pH pen because it was what everyone on weed forums said I should be using.
I found it to not be the case, "for me".
The light bulb "for me" went off when someone asked me if I did all this pH/fertilizer stuff in our outdoor gardens and how where my plants growing outside.
Edzzed
Well-Known Member
About the only thing I can add to the conversation is. Altering what goes in alters what comes out. A good example would be, Do you like grass fed steaks or grain fed steaks. For me. I have been pH'ing my water to 6.4 and this newbie got 20 ounces out of the last grow. It did kinda go south near the end but that was a case of me being up at our other house a lot during that grow and left a nutbar (daughter) in charge here. Like I said I got 20 ounces. I am well on my way to matching that with my current grow and better I think. I have been here the whole time and have two pH pens just to double check my pH levels.
Emilya Green
Well-Known Member
outside works completely differently than inside of a closed container. And what is science other than shared observation and a hypothesis... it doesn't take a lab coat to do science.
420% agree
