Too much humic acid?

[big ballin 88]

Is it possible to overdo humic acid? I guess since its an acid it can alter the pH if too much, but are there any other problems?

Currently my soil mix didn't start with dolomite since i didnt have it for my mothers at the time. I decided to use the humic acid powder i bought. I diluted 2 ounces dry powder, to 1 liter of water. There was leftover powder that i decided to dilute and water my plants with. I

wake up this morning and most of my plants aren't looking good. Some exhibit a burn, some more of a deficiency. Could this be due to pH problems? I mixed together dolomite with water and drenched all my plants and also mixed some dolomite into the top layer of soil.

Any suggestions? I transplanted 2 seedlings and a clone to peat pellets to hopefully save the babies i really want to keep.

 

[guest2012y]

The peat needs dolomite,I learned the hard way.

 

[NUG-JUG]

The peat needs dolomite,I learned the hard way.

So basically all peat based mediums need lime?

 

[guest2012y]

So basically all peat based mediums need lime?

They come saying they are "balanced" with dolomite or gypsum,but most of the time they suck. Ph measurements all over the spectrum. Peat breaks down and becomes more acidic than it was when the manufacturer first added amendments after a while in the pot. There seems to be an issue with quality control IMO as well. Just follow the simple directions in the organics for beginners thread. PEACE

 

[big ballin 88]

i think regardless it says its been added or not, i'd still add dolomite. I'm just way too concerned and like Capt. said, peat becomes acidic over time.

 

[guest2012y]

I LEARNED THIS STUFF HERE. Dolomite won't raise the ph over 7.0 anyway,but that's not exactly ideal ph to work with,that's why there is a recommended amount to add to your mix. Over time it raises the ph of acidic soil mixes to a range that works for the plant.

 

[mad librettist]

Peat breaks down and becomes more acidic than it was when the manufacturer first added amendments after a while in the pot.

I am pretty sure it's the opposite. Bacteria make peat more basic.

 

[guest2012y]

I am pretty sure it's the opposite. Bacteria make peat more basic.

So as they break it down,it moves more towards neutral? I was reading on this forum somewhere that as it is breaking down,the acidity of the peat is still going to exist as long as it is breaking down.....Don't remember which thread I recently saw this in. makes sense both ways...but I'm no scientist.

 

[mad librettist]

well, with my carnivorous plants, which live in peat bogs, there is a problem when peat breaks down as the pH climbs. It kills the plant, and the only cure is transplant. Or live sphagnum but I'm not ready for that.

not sure if it's only polysaccharides they use to hang on to particles, but the effect is definitely observable.

 

[guest2012y]

well, with my carnivorous plants, which live in peat bogs, there is a problem when peat breaks down as the pH climbs. It kills the plant, and the only cure is transplant. Or live sphagnum but I'm not ready for that.

not sure if it's only polysaccharides they use to hang on to particles, but the effect is definitely observable.

Do you think that peat changes when we dig that stuff up and move it into a totally different environment? I mean it's not getting a natural cycle anymore,no seasons,no rain,no sun. If anything it's going into a situation that it has not dealt with in thousands of years,or if ever. Although it probably gets quite hot in the summer,and quite moist(obviously)...so it can handle some extensive changes. I'm stoned and this peat stuff has always been a seemingly odd thing to use as a medium to me.

 

[mad librettist]

that stuff is not getting weathered in nature. it is buried and preserved, and constantly wet. fall through in a peat bog and you are gone. but at least you will be preserved for 1000 years.

 

[guest2012y]

that stuff is not getting weathered in nature. it is buried and preserved, and constantly wet. fall through in a peat bog and you are gone. but at least you will be preserved for 1000 years.

I've bounced around on them up north,and remember actually checking out what it's made of. The stuff looks way better when it's in that condition. But that was the top foot or so,I didn't dig down past that. I can imagine the build up over many years,and see why it's acidic.

 

[mad librettist]

well why it's acidic is not a question I can answer. I don't know enough about peat. I do know it isn't sterile though.

 

[guest2012y]

So anyway,we still have to use dolomite as a buffer because peat is a highly acidic part of the mix. Right?

 

[mad librettist]

I'm confused about it now. I think it's maybe partially lime and partially microbes regulating pH. And perhaps pH does not need to be higher in the medium at large if it's higher in the rhizosphere. All I know is aerobic bacteria will raise the pH on a perpetual basis, but it's good to have calcium and magnesium.

I also know using the dolomite works, and people who don't use it have trouble. That's the relevant part.

 

[hkush]

Just a little sidetrack. Peat is amazing stuff. It is the first stage of lignite coal, and can be burned for fuel.

Worthy of a read -

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peat

 

[mad librettist]

and here is something I rarely see on IC- a poem.

Bog Queen

By Seamus Heaney

I lay waiting
Between turf-face and demesne wall,
Between Heathery levels
And glass-toothed stone.

My body was Braille
For the creeping influences:
Dawn suns groped over my head
And cooled at my feet,

Through my fabrics and skins
The seeps of winter
Digested me,
The illiterate roots

Pondered and died
In the cavings
Of stomack and socket.
I lay waiting

On the gravel bottom,
My brain darkening,
A jar of spawn
Fermenting underground

Dreams of Baltic amber.
Bruised berries under my nails,
The vital hoard reducing
In the crock of the pelvis.

My diadem grew carious,
Gemstones dropped
In the peat floe
Like the bearings of history.

My sash was a black glacier
Wrinkling, dyed weaves
And phoenician stichwork
Retted on my brests'

Soft moraines.
I knew winter cold
Like the nuzzle of fjords
At my thighs -

The soaked fledge, the heavy
Swaddle of hides.
my skull hibernated
in the wet nest of my hair.

Which they robbed.
I was barbered
And stripped
By a turfcutter's spade

Who veiled me again
And packed coomb softly
Between the stone jambs
At my head and my feet.

Till a peer's wife bribed him.
The plait of my hair,
A slimy birth-cord
Of bog had been cut

 

[guest2012y]

Just a little sidetrack. Peat is amazing stuff. It is the first stage of lignite coal, and can be burned for fuel.

Worthy of a read -

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peat

Man........peat sucks! that's my opinion and I'm going to try to continue in this world without it from now on.

 

[big ballin 88]

Man........peat sucks! that's my opinion and I'm going to try to continue in this world without it from now on.

I dont know i really like peat, I've recently gotten into it just because i like the how light,fluffy it is and its ability to hold water without compacting. It seems to be of a nicer consistency than soil to me because it doesn't get all heavy even when watered. Secondtry's soil mix really got me into some of these amendments/bases and i like them a lot. I used to like coco more but this stuff is great as long as you use dolomite.

I still think that when peat decomposes that it releases more acid into the medium causing a more acidic medium. I have heard of peat giving erratic readings when not treated with dolomite and also going down to 2.5. I don't want to know how that happens.

Even if the micros and everything else buffers, i think its hard to counteract the acidity of peat without calcium/magnesium from dolomite lime since it works slowly just as the peat breaks down.

 

[guest2012y]

I'm just frustrated with peat,I've been growing in peat based mixes for around 20 years. As far as it being a "medium",it is good in the way that it stays fluffy without compacting while holding water. I just don't like it's issues. The fact that it is acidic and needs to be buffered,the fact that the ph is all over the place depending on where it came from,the fact that it often comes infested with gnats,and who knows what else,the fact that as much as some people say it is renewable and sustainable,it has environmental issues(habitat disruption,peat bogs take thousands of years to form,it is burned as fuel and adds to a global warming crisis,shipping it here and there,etc.) The stuff is like crack,once you're on it,it's hard to break the habit. I have 3 gallons of sunshine #4 left and it's going in the compost. I'm breaking the peat habit,whatever small amount is in my mix (1 gal per 6 gal of mix) will be used as is in a recycled manner. I'll be one less peat consumer. The idea here is to get to a point where I don't have to buy grow store crack,rather I will just re-amend with what is already available near me, (compost,soil,EWC,plants that hold nutes of benefit) I'll find it hard to put down the coco.kelp,fish,and guano though,that's going to need some professional intervention from my peers. But all in all,things will be just fine without it. I'm sure of this.