Testing PH of water with added molasses (Using PH vial tester)

[danksalot]

Hey folks,

Recently added molasses to the list of things that I add to my nute mix (so far, the fox farm trio & molasses). I add a tablespoon to the mix and it drastically changes the color of the water to a light brown.

My question is this: Will a vial/dropper PH tester (I use one from general hydroponics) accurately predict the PH of the mix or would the results be discolored by the molasses in the water?

I know that I can always get a PH testing pen, but I'm trying not to blow the moolah on a good one.

Thanks fellow grassheads

 

[dank buds]

Thats a good ? Wot is the reading "color" my flora nova nutes change color also
but test good with droplet

 

[SoilGirl]

- are you using hydro? Because if you're using soil, it should be said that you can grow organically in soil much more effectively without worrying about pH adjustments. Just add pH buffers to your soil, like oyster shell flower and other rock dusts, and no more worries. You can really mess up your organic soil plants by pHing.... trust me - I just did it this summer.

but if hydro I suppose you can ignore that - Idk much about hydro - but I used to use those little GH test vials too, they're not very accurate, just watch, if you test your water with added nutes, the pH will fluctuate if you let it set. At first it may seem to be where you want it - but then a few hours later it might be blue or orange. Definitely happened to me with my nutes. That scares me - seeing changing readings over time. I mean how are you supposed to adjust without an accurate reading? thus is probably how I f---ed up my plants this summer.

I wouldn't mess with pH if I were you currently, if you're serious about going organic. one thing I know about is pH adjustments kill microbe life. especially bad pH adjustments, there's some serious chemicals in ph ups and downs. (Especially if you aren't using an organic ph up or down liquid!) But, if you get a more accurate meter, perhaps its possible to adjust and get good results using your bottled organics. I just don't doubt it will take costly trial and error. And trial and error really isn't necessary with a nice soil mix like CC's LOS mix. Just saying. Best of luck with your growing hydro-or soil! (though I think you'll need less luck if you go with soil - feel free to PM me if you want to start using some kind of organic prepared soil that doesn't need bottled nutes and dunno how to start going about that - I'd love to help! just probably won't be looking back here often)