Vinegar for PH adjustment?

[TheBEAK]

Hello in Mandalaworld.

I've read on your website, that you recommend using cheap vinegar for PH adjustment.
On the back of my bottle of regular vinegar, it says that one of the ingredients is salt, and i was under the impression, that the reason you're using vinegar, is to avoid a salt buildup?

 

[GrassRoots]

I thought I had read somewhere from Mike to use apple cider vinegar. My bottle of apple cider vinegar doesn't say it has any salts in it and I would probably avoid using the one you have.

Since we're talking about vinegar I just went out and bought a new bottle because my old one had some small stringy shit floating in it. Like some kind of bacteria growth or something. Now I noticed the new one has a couple clumps of stringy shit floating in it too. It's a frosted bottle that's why I didn't notice when I bought it. Is this normal or acceptable? Before I grabbed this (cheaper) brand I had some heinz brand in my hand in a clear glass bottle and I certainly didn't notice anything in there. Also mine says on the bottle it's got water added to reduce it to 5% acidity. Do your brands say this as well or is this something specific to the brand I purchased? Don't want to say brand names in case it's local or something (doubt it but you can never be too safe).

 

[clowntown]

I know when I tried white vinegar after running out of pH-, it didn't work in my hydro (DWC) setup. Initially it looked like it was working perfectly... add enough to set the pH to what you want, right? But 10-15 minutes later, the pH would shoot through the roof.

 

[O RLY?]

I don't know why you would use vinegar instead of a pH down product. I got a pint bottle of pH down for about $10. I have used it for over a month and only used about a table spoon or two. I use 6 drops per half gallon and 13 per gallon. That drops my pH to about 6.2.

Not trying to sound cocky or be a jerk but in my experience I have always gotten burned by trying to go the cheap rout. By what does the job best and correctly your plants will reward you for it.

 

[clowntown]

Well, I thought that too. Why bother trying to save a couple of dollars just to use some "off" method? The answer? I was flat broke and didn't even have money for a $6 bottle of pH-.

 

[GrassRoots]

Mike recommended the vinegar instead of the pH down for this reason (quote from the Mandala seeds FAQ):

• How and what should I water?
- always adjust the pH: 6,2 to 6,5 on soil. Use cheap vinegar or concentrated lemon juice. Products such as pH-Down and pH-Up contain highly concentrated soluble mineral salts such as phosphorus, nitrate, or potassium and can lead to toxic salt buildup in the soil and over-fertilize your plants. Especially seedlings and young plants are prone to “burn”.

 

[TheBEAK]

Mike recommended the vinegar instead of the pH down for this reason (quote from the Mandala seeds FAQ):

• How and what should I water?
- always adjust the pH: 6,2 to 6,5 on soil. Use cheap vinegar or concentrated lemon juice. Products such as pH-Down and pH-Up contain highly concentrated soluble mineral salts such as phosphorus, nitrate, or potassium and can lead to toxic salt buildup in the soil and over-fertilize your plants. Especially seedlings and young plants are prone to “burn”.

Exactly

 

[romdog11]

ive used vinegar and ive just started using earth juice organic ph down. so far the earth juice product is doing waaaaaaaay better. waaaaaaay more stable. no more ph probs i was having when using vinegar.

 

[Gadsden]

I just checked my bottle of distilled white vinegar and there are no ingredients listed. I've found on the web somewhere that Heinz brand vinegar is sodium free too.

 

[O RLY?]

The only difference between pH down and vinegar is the type of acid that you are adding to the water.... but both contain strong acids. Vinegar contains acetic acid and pH down usually contains phosphoric acid (but i have found other products that contain nastier acids... just read about it in my current grow).

Couldn't acetic acid also lead to toxic salt build up or over fertilization?

 

[bugbud63]

I heard its ok to use vinegar in siol but ph down for hydro.Vinegar works for me in soil;i wouldn't even try it in hydro.I read about a guy who uses soda water for ph down;not sure if he used hydro or soil.He said the ph is like 4.2 or something close to to that.It was the first time i heard of this.Anyway,Stay Safe!

 

[Goldhamster]

The more I read about pH level the more frustrating it gets.

I read the growing info on the Mandala homepage and Mike suggests to use apple vinegar 5%.

Several grow forums I checked stir away from that because apple vinegar was not stable enough in the long run.

They say it is okay to correct your pH to 6.5.
But 1-2 days after you watered the plants the pH will rise again and cause problems in your soil.

Now I don't know what to believe.