PH?

[Matanuskan Flo]

no man, hes saying & is right that using pH up &/or down is a chemical that does what it is supposed to do, but kills a large percentage of the natural & beneficial bacteria/micro-organisms in the process too, aka the beneficials. best thing to do is use dolomite as a half inch top layer. it will instantly be absorbed, as well. after 2 waterings, you should def notice improvements & any further watering helps to keep things stabilized hence forth as well. it balances things out naturally, ime. i always pre mix b4 hand b/c of that neutralizing affect it has. i also water my soil 2x & water them well, let them fully dry & repeat 1 more time, then i plant. takes 2 weeks just for the soil prep. i add blood/bone meal, guano, ewc, perlite, vermiculite & sometimes corn husks. i havent used the husks lately tho, unfort. they provide long lasting low levels of nitrogen & phosphorous. dried banana peels are good for potassium. alf alfa for nitrogen. all good stuff for the organic folks.

 

[greenmatter]

first i would like to thank u all for your help,way cool!
to the ? of what type of soil im am useing is EKO brand. i picked up at home depo.
now i ph'd it out of the bag it was mid to low 6's,and i mixed in a teaspoon of dolimite lime
per gal. of soil. i was told it keep my soil right where i need it. every thing looked great for
2-3 weeks. now my PH's r all over the fucking place. and all of my plants (romulan)are locking out and yelllowing and just look shity. so needless to say i need to get my PH right. so i can use general hydo. ph up ph down to control PH in my soil?????
oh yeah im in the 2nd week of flower.thanks for all help!!
JD.

don't know what is in EKO but 1 teaspoon of lime sounds a little light to me. i use 2 tablespoons per gallon (powder not pellets) in my mixes. but again i don't know what is in EKO. you can adjust the ph on your feeds to change your overall ph you have to do it gradually and it is not good for the micro herd but it can be done. you can do what you need done with lime, the stuff really does work. powdered dolomite is what you need.

 

[sex_pistils]

I don't want to lime. Do I have to? If not pH up and pH down then what? Should I get a bottle of beneficial bacteria?

 

[igrowkushbitch]

add more dolomite lime. you really cant hurt plants with it. I usually do a cup of Dolomite lime per 8 gal of soil.

 

[greenmatter]

I don't want to lime. Do I have to? If not pH up and pH down then what? Should I get a bottle of beneficial bacteria?

is there a specific reason that you don't want to use lime? if we all understood that it might be easier to help you out.

 

[sex_pistils]

Well, for one, because tap water has the ability to buffer. I know the tap water won't help in flower though. You know how often to fush a soil grow? Or how to get around the color-coded pH test kit problem when you have a colored water with nutes in it, giving you a wrong reading?

 

[ganjah shaman]

Don't use PH up or PH down if your growing organic, it will kill all the beneficial bacteria.
As mentioned use lime as either a top dressing or you can mix some in water and water normally.

this is wrong ph up or down does not kill the beficial bacteria ive been using it for years

 

[Hank Hemp]

If you are growing organic there is know need to flush because you have not added any chemicals to your soil. And what's up with checking your runoff all the time? Dolomite should be add as part of your soil mix. Next time add 2 tbspn of dolomite per gallon(4L) to your soil mix and don't worry about pH's.

 

[Midnight Tokar]

this is wrong ph up or down does not kill the beficial bacteria ive been using it for years

Just because you've been using it for years doesn't mean it doesn't kill the bene's in organics! Besides according to your posts you do Hydro---not the same! People do just fine with all chemical nutes and don't have the beneficial microbes like an organic garden does. Just two different methods to get the same result.

I never told him not to use it, just how to protect his soil if he was growing organic.

 

[sex_pistils]

Will dolomite lime resolve calcium and magnesium issues in flower? It has both in it but anyone know if it can replace say molasses? I am thinking of getting some carboload for sugars and carbs. I like molasses because it has good stuff in it just like cal/mag but if dolomite lime can resolve my calcium and magnesium issues in flower I will go for the lime with some CL. What is this about dolomite lime taking a very long time to start working? Is this a misconception? I can't find pulverized DL. Does crushing pellets work the same? I find my tap water to be a great buffer for veg for some reason but not flower. If my tap is 7.0 pH can I use that to buffer? Any help is greatly apreciated.

 

[livingluminarie]

If you're growing organically, avoid adding chemicals like GH ph up and down. Use the many organic products like Earth Juice and others.

Why would you want to add chemicals to a organic grow? Even Calmag should be switched to an organic product, like Botanicare.

Growing organically doesn't get any easier than Subcool's Soil recipe which contains lime.

 

[sex_pistils]

Anyone know if molasses and Dolomite lime can be used together? That's alot of calcium and magnesium. I ask because don't actually want to use carboload. I mena, I would but then I would need atleast three other products form AN, that's alot of money.

 

[greenmatter]

Anyone know if molasses and Dolomite lime can be used together? That's alot of calcium and magnesium. I ask because don't actually want to use carboload. I mena, I would but then I would need atleast three other products form AN, that's alot of money.

don't spend any more money before you do some reading. i am gonna suggest this to you one more time. go read organics for beginners! READ the first 50 pages it will give you some basics that you are missing. anyone else in leaf-head land got a thread to point him to?

you don't need more bottles than you know how to use. BELIEVE IT !

 

[Arthur Dent.]

As far as I understand the contents of Cal,mag in lime are released very very slowly into the soil, I seriously doubt the contents of lime in your soil will fluctuate your Cal,mag if your using molasses,They are broken down by bacteria in 2 completely different ways, If anything according to PH, when your PH fluctuates or has a rapid decline,the cal,mag that was more readily available from the molasses at one PH level might be less available at a different PH in turn (maybe) replaced by the Cal,Mag in the lime.

This is purely a speculation,but its also the beauty of Organics as we mix a natural recipe and wait for nature to bake the cake, 90% of the soil I have used has buffered my PH but as soon as I had Lime regulating the PH I was clear sailing.

I use both Molasses and Fine Dolomite lime in my mix.

But I agree, the Organics for beginners thread opened my eyes and I work in agriculture.

I hope you come right.(all IMHO)

Namaste

 

[the gnome]

Anyone know if molasses and Dolomite lime can be used together? That's alot of calcium and magnesium. I ask because don't actually want to use carboload. I mena, I would but then I would need atleast three other products form AN, that's alot of money.

dolomite and calcitic garden limes will both add cal+mag availability but its not instant release thing.
some plants are calmag hogs tho and need more supplement.
use powdered lime, it will do its job faster.
if all you have are the pellets a small spice/coffe mill powders it quick-n-easy
2tbps per gallon of soil is a good amount to add to your soil.

I ask because don't actually want to use carboload. I mena, I would but then I would need atleast three other products form AN, that's alot of money.

you don't need 3 other things, especially from AN$$
listen to greenmatter and read, it will only help you be a better grower to understand the mechanics of
when and why's and effects when you add something

 

[igrowkushbitch]

It takes 6 months for dolomite lime to start releasing cal/mag but it instantly helps with ph. So i wouldn't use it in place of molasses. But as for using pelletized I really don't know I just go to lowes or homedepot and get some pulverized dl for 2 bucks.

 

[smoke1sun]

This thread is all over the place.

To the original Poster, I just started and organic grow, just to see if i could tell the difference. One of the problems I had was my plants after awhile in LC's mix #1 looked to have a PH issuse. I came to this conclusion by checking the runoff when I water this way

How can I measure the pH of soil/soilless runoff?
Added by: snoofer Viewed: 764 times Rated by 9 users: 9.33/10
Contributed by: bald1
Submitted: January 9th, 2005

How to test the pH of your soil mix

Measuring the pH of soil is just as important as with hydro applications, but few people know how to test soil pH to see if it is within the optimum range for growing robust healthy plants. Here I will try to explain my method of testing any soil / soilless mix, enabling me to spot any problems and correct them if necessary.

Firstly, wait till your soil has dried out and is due for its next watering schedule. Then take some plain water that you usually water your garden with, and adjust the pH to 7.0. You must make sure that you know the exact pH of the water going into your soil, and the neutral 7.0 is best, but anywhere from 6.5 – 7.0 will suffice.

Then place your pot into a bowl of some sort to catch the runoff water, and then start to water your soil slowly (with your pH- corrected plain water) till the water starts to drip from the bottom.
It’s the first drops of water that will give you the best reading of your soil, so make sure to water slowly till you see the first droplets. Then remove the pot from the bowl to eliminate excess water entering the bowl. Then perform the pH test on the runoff and compare it too your initial test.
The results of the runoff test will likely be lower than your starting value of 7.0. If this is the case, a small drop of 0.5 pH to 6.5 pH (example) would be ok and your soil needs no further alterations at the moment. But that’s not to say that it won’t need any future tests at all, just not at this time.

[Editor’s note: It may be beneficial to obtain an initial sample, as well as a ‘full flush’ sample in seperate bowls. In addition, test several plants in the garden just to verify your results]

What if the pH is off?
If your results prove to have dropped considerably, say to around 5.5 (which can happen in late stages of flowering), you will need to add some lime into your soil to help buffer the pH back up again.

Remove the first inch or so of soil, taking care not to damage any roots whilst performing this task. Then sprinkle the lime into the pot, nice and evenly at a rate of 1 teaspoon (5 ml) of lime per gallon of soil. Then replace the soil you removed earlier, and saturate the soil good to wash in the lime.

Do the same test next time your plants need watering just to check that everything is fine, if more lime needs to be added then just repeat the process again till you reach close to 6.5 – 7.0 with the runoff.

Ensuring that your pH is correct should be done throughout the life cycle; this will help eliminate any nutrient lockout that may occur. I recommend doing this once a month just to keep the PH in check, and you should never have a problem with deficiencies caused by pH lockout.

From my reading and understanding (not the gospel) is that is not as easy as using PH up / down to rise and lower the PH of you medium. Over time you might be able to alter it by doing this. Me I transplanted to Fox Farms, and started cooking up another batch of LC mix for next round. And am really focusing on getting my mix right so I dont have to worry about PH like a "good" organic mix should be. But I have to take into account my ingredients available to me, and my tap water.

But the advise about lime is what I would go with if I were you. GOODLUCK!!!!!!

Yes you can, but like I said earlier if you are growing organic (it doesn't seem like you are trying to do a strictly organic run) after you use a chemical PH up or down you will either have to replace the beneficials and organic fertilizers or just use chemical nutes.

Midnight I use GH ph up/down, and have heard the argument about it killing Bene's but why would i need to replace my organic ferts?

 

[Midnight Tokar]

I probably should have worded that like "...replace the bene's/organic fertilizer", as most of the organic fertilizers have beneficials such as mycos.

 

[smoke1sun]

I probably should have worded that like "...replace the bene's/organic fertilizer", as most of the organic fertilizers have beneficials such as mycos.

ic thanks bro

 

[ganjah shaman]

Just because you've been using it for years doesn't mean it doesn't kill the bene's in organics! Besides according to your posts you do Hydro---not the same! People do just fine with all chemical nutes and don't have the beneficial microbes like an organic garden does. Just two different methods to get the same result.

I never told him not to use it, just how to protect his soil if he was growing organic.

according to my post i do soil and i use organic nuets,i dont really like hydro,now maybe if you were to dump ph up or down into your soil it would kill the beni's but im talking about if its added to water

and midnight all do respect bro but what is bat guano? or dolimite lime or worm castings?these are all materials that contain n.p.k. and secondary minerials,these are chemicals and even in an organic garden you can over feed and you always have to watch your ph its what allows or stops nuetrient uptakewhat is the difference between organic and non organic? synthisized chemicals