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Potassium bicarbonate, living soil and PH

need4weed

need4weed

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I have switched from hydro to organic and this is my 1st attempt at living soil. Whilst plants are healthy I noticed early signs of PH issues that I would see in hydro. I purchased a soil ph tester and I'm getting 5 to 5.5. Clearly this is too acidic. I've ordered dolomite lime but wish to correct I quickly with potassium bicarbonate whilst I wait for the lime to be delivered. My concern is, potassium bicarbonate is know to raise ph almost immediately but is also known to be an effective fungicide. I want to assume it works against pathogenic fungi and the likes of Mycorrhizal, thrichoderma will be unaffected. Some feedback from soil guru's would be appreciated
 
moses wellfleet

moses wellfleet

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Sorry man this approach is not going to work imho. You need to be very sure of your base/starting mix, then there will be no need for PH worries. Trying to trouble shoot after the fact with various quick fixes is less than ideal.

Organic soil is a different realm to the rigid, structured and quick fix hydro mindset.

Sorry about the lecture.

Let's first hear about your soil mix? Also I have heard that when trichoderma takes over, plants can acquire deficiencies, I may have seen it myself years back.

Was it you who wants to kill of a solid chunk of mycelium in your containers, sorry can't recall at this moment? I recognize your handle but from where escapes me...
 
need4weed

need4weed

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Ok, for my starting mix I used 50 litres of biobizz all mix, this is good to go straight from the bag but I'm told doesn't hold enough nutrients to get through the cycle. I amended 50 litres with fish, blood and bone, kelp meal, alfalfa meal, insect frass, additional ewc, high phosphorus seabird guano. Humid acid and mycorrhiza, great white shark. It's not perfect and doesn't have every addition under the sun but I intended to top dress with neem meal, guano, palm tree ash along the way. I also do ewc teas and SST.
 
need4weed

need4weed

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I think the issue is, is that I had some black peat at work and sprinkled a handful on the surface of each pot. Not sure why i did this but i think it's the reason for my pots being acidic. I understand that a living soil will take care of ph but if it's too acidic I'm sure there will still be imbalances. It would be my preference to neutralise the peat if possible
 
moses wellfleet

moses wellfleet

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When you say amended, top dressed or mixed in?

Did you let it 'cook' for six weeks?

Are the plants still in veg?

I recycle soil so I top dress at the beginning of every round. The ingredients are similar to yours if not exactly the same. In addition to those nutrients I add a mix of minerals. Dolomite lime, calcitic lime, gypsum, volcanic rock dust. One benefit of the minerals is ph buffering. Any raw organic inputs are going to be acidic.
 
need4weed

need4weed

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Sorry, I amended the the 50 litres. Cooked for 6 weeks. I put a layer of leaf mold in the bottom of the fabric pots. Topped up to about 1/4 full with amended biobizz all mix, then fill the remaining 3/4 with just straight biobizz all mix
 
need4weed

need4weed

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So apart from the minerals, I've done most things right which leads me to think it is the peat. I didn't know peat was highly acidic (school boy error) bit as I say, I would like to neutralise is. So the question still remains, will potassium bicarbonate have an adverse effect on good fungi in the soil?
 
moses wellfleet

moses wellfleet

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I have no experience of adding that to organic soil and I have never heard of it being done. It makes sense that if it is used as a fungicide it will kill off beneficials in your soil which will turn out disastrous.

If it was me and the plants are in veg I would top dress a mixture of high cal lime, dolomite lime and gypsum.

Have you got earthworms in your containers?
 
need4weed

need4weed

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I tend to think the same and there is very little scientific literature about.

I'm 3 weeks in veg

Should I add earthworms to the pots?
 
moses wellfleet

moses wellfleet

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Yeah the earthworms will do all the work mixing the lime into the soil.

How much lime is in all mix to start with?

In terms of cups how much amendments did you add?
 
M

MICrazy

New member
I completely forgot to lime my peat based mix. I top dressed 3:1 Dolomite/Oyster shell flour. Top watered in 1t/gal of Olympus Up (Liquid calcium carbonate) 2-3 times (once per week). After a few waterings/weeks I was back up near 7. FWIW.
 
need4weed

need4weed

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