Ajust water ph in soil grows?

[RESINREVOLUTION]

Hi folks, is it true that you dont need to adjust the ph of your tap water when growing in compost/soil mix? I live in the uk so advice from uk growers would be great. I'm going to start my seeds of in plagron light mix then transplant into plagron bat mix when they are ready. My tap water has a ph of around 7.3 with an ec of 0.4. I keep reading on uk420 that you dont need to adjust the ph in compost/soil, that it buffers the ph itself, is this true? this is my first soil grow so I dont want to f**k it up lol.

Thanks
RR

 

[pinecone]

I use 7.8 pH water with no adjustments. Seems to work fine.

Organic nutrients aren't immediately available to plants; they need to be broken down by microorganisms first. When the microorganisms breakdown the organic nutrients, they change the hH in the root zone in such a way as to enable the plants to absorb the nutrients, irrespective of what the the water pH is.

If you are using non-organic nutrients that are immediately available it is probably necessary to worry about pH as the process described above doesn't take place.

Pine

 

[good drown]

you should ph your water yes. the best way to tell what you need to do, is feed your plant lots of water, let it run off, and ph that. you want it around 6.8 in soil

 

[grapeman]

In the "Organic for Beginners" thread, it is stated that a properly assembled soil needs no water ph in most circumstances during the grow. That is with the proper ratios of peat, EWC and dolomite Lime etc., you should be OK unless your water is unusually hard or of high ph (sounds as if you have very good water).

I suggest you read the thread and add some EWC, perlite & dolomite lime also.

I used LC#2 mix with the dry nute regimen (bone, blood, kelp, alfalfa meals) with good success.

But I augmented my grow with plenty of extra kelp (foliar & soil), EWC Teas (foliar & soil), Alfalfa (foliar & soil), and for good measure, some "Neptune's Harvest" fish fertilizer in the soil, along with plenty of soluble "Sulfate of Potash" in the soil the last 4.5 weeks.

Even though I have excellent water I am old school (and a convert from hydro), so I ph'd my water to @6.4 to 6.5 almost all the time. Just for insurance. I don't really know if I needed to, but it only takes about 30 seconds to do so.

If you haven't built your soil as per the thread I referenced above, I would definitely ph my water.

 

[supermanlives]

^^^ yeah what grape said. maybe ph most and try a few without ph for future reference. i dont ph anything and have no complaints

 

[pinecone]

If you haven't built your soil as per the thread I referenced above, I would definitely ph my water.

Great link to the "organics for beginners thread". That resources, along with my own observations, are what have led me to my conclusion on the insignificance of pH in certain applications.

Truth be told building your soil in the manor described in the thread isn't required as many of the organic soils that growers are using come pre-built with organic amendments and lime (or crushed oyster). Something like Ocean Forest (which I use un-amended) should not really have to be pHed if you are going to use organic nutrients.

Pine

 

[grapeman]

Great link to the "organics for beginners thread". That resources, along with my own observations, are what have led me to my conclusion on the insignificance of pH in certain applications.

Truth be told building your soil in the manor described in the thread isn't required as many of the organic soils that growers are using come pre-built with organic amendments and lime (or crushed oyster). Something like Ocean Forest (which I use un-amended) should not really have to be pHed if you are going to use organic nutrients.

Pine

Ummm.. maybe, but I highly doubt it. I used great bag soil a few grows ago without the necessary amendments (the bag said it already contained dolomite, guano, peat, ewc etc., and it was all in there) and although it was a success, I can say my grow with a properly mixed soil is by far much much better. And I learned a few things to make it even better the next time. I no longer believe that you can be as successful as possible without adding amendments in the proper ratios. I don't believe the bag soil you referenced has ALL the proper ratios already built in. What bag soil are you using that you are convinced is 100% ready to go straight from the bag?

But that's just my thoughts from my experience.

 

[VerdantGreen]

it depends on the pH and alkalinity of your water. if you have high alkalinity (which is usually in the form of dissolved calcium and magnesium) then it may be better to adjust pH because plants evolved to be watered by rainwater which is always slightly acidic.

my pH is nearly 9 with high alkalinity and i adjust pH with citric acid in my organic grows.

others get by fine without bothering, but probably have better water to start with.

your water sound pretty good so you should be fine.

VG

 

[pinecone]

What bag soil are you using that you are convinced is 100% ready to go straight from the bag?

Like I said I use Fox Farms Ocean Forest unamended (no perlite, no lime, no extra stuff) with no adjustments. All plants in my galary were grown with this stuff.

Pine

 

[VerdantGreen]

we talked about this in the organics forum recently. there are many different answers because everyone's conditions are different. be wary of people who think that just because something works well for them in their unique consditions, it will work just the same for everyone else.
it is worth looking at the difference between pH and alkalinity, carl carlson turned me on to this, and it will help explain why some people with high pH dont get problems and others will be better to adjust the pH of their watering water.
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_difference_between_alkalinity_and_total_alkalinity

VG

 

[reckon]

if your tap water supply is STABLE (like a well) then , no you don't need to constantly check the PH,...but to just pour water on the girls, and NOT KNOW what the PH is, is kinda silly.

test strips or liquid/vial kits are available at ANY place that sells gardening supplies and usually for less than $10, so then you KNOW.

I JUST switched soil mixes, and I started showing a slight potassium def, so I checked the PH of the runoff, and yes, the new soil must have a good dose of lime, because the ph was pretty high at 7.3 (I use RO'd water), so I add some "sour salt" to the water (food grade citric acid) to bring the pH down, so NOW the plants can GET the potassium that's in the soil. (most common cause of K def is excess salinity, or pH out of range)

so if the girls look awesome, no you don't need to constantly check pH in soil, but when they DON'T look awesome, pH is the FIRST thing to start checking, because if I pulled the usual noob mistake of going "oh, "K" def?,..I'll just pour on some liquid fert, that'll fix it",...when there is PLENTY of "K" in the soil, I'd of made the situation WORSE, instead of fixing it.


so to answer the question: YES, you should check the pH and adjust when growing in soil.

 

[Mike Seed]

Does the dolomite lime raise PH?

My tap water sits around PH 9.0-9.5; My soil is pretty simple: promix,miracle gro garden soil, blood & bone meal, perlite. Should I add lime before i mix it up or something that would lower my PH? I haven't mixed the soil up yet so it would be good to know.

 

[fishwater]

Mike, like Vonforne says, everyones conditions are different. I too have 9ph water, and I use citric acid in it. I also use dolomitic lime, so sometimes I think I am beating my head against the wall.. but the lime provides needed nutes too.

I would get some citric acid crystals off of ebay.. really cheap.. and follow Vons method of mixing it. He (and I now) mix about a pint with 2 tablespoons of crystals, then add what ever it takes of that solution to a gallon of water to bring ph down into the low 6's..

I first tryed mixing the crystals with my water, and for some reason the ph would climb right back up within a day. Mixing with water first, then adding makes it stay down for days...BUT, that is my water...... You have to figure out the right ratios yourself for your situation...

But, I would reccomend using a little less lime anyway, if your water is 9...

fishwater

 

[VerdantGreen]

Does the dolomite lime raise PH?

My tap water sits around PH 9.0-9.5; My soil is pretty simple: promix,miracle gro garden soil, blood & bone meal, perlite. Should I add lime before i mix it up or something that would lower my PH? I haven't mixed the soil up yet so it would be good to know.

i agree with fishwater, use the lime as directed and then adjust the pH of your water down to around 6 before watering. that works well for me.
dolomite lime will raise pH up to 7 in your mix but it wont lower pH that is above 7 - so watering at pH below 7 is advisable, then you know it will end up in the right place.

but you should try and find out the alkalinity of your water - if it is high then the above is more important. if it is very low then the pH doesnt matter so much

VG

 

[Mike Seed]

Is there anything i can amend my soil mix with before planting that will lower PH without having to do it in the watering?

I want to water with just tap without having to PH every time if possible. I do have some PH down solution, that should work fine, right?

I will add the lime as per blazeoneup's soil mix, then PH test the runoff when watering and adjust PH down on the watering after the runoff shows a high PH.

 

[GreenMAX]

My water is around PH 8 and I use simple method..I add organic apple vinegar..Cant hurt adding something that is good to eat..;-))

 

[JacuzziSplot]

My grandfather was an organic farmer since before it was cool (1940's) and used to use grape juice concentrate (the frozen kind) to drop pH and feed the soil.

 

[Balarama67]

Sorry, I haven't read the replies -

I occasionally put a few drops of ph down or lemon juice in, but never much
as I have read elsewhere that large differences of pH in consecutive feeds is
what shocks a plant - your pH should vary gently so that different nutes/elements
become more available to your plants - so no going from 6.0 straight to 7.5 and
back again, just let it drift up and down between 6.0 and 7.5 for soil - 5.5 for hydro