Soil pH

[LilDad]

Hey folks!

I’ve got 4, 7-gallon pots with Fox Farm Ocean Floor, and I can’t seem to keep the pH below 7 right now. I’ve been using vinegar and soil acidifier this past week and every morning it seems to pop right back up to 7. It’ll read 6.5 during the hotter parts of the day, but it doesn’t read that consistently.

Would this be a problem for my plants (indica autoflowers - outdoor grow)? I’m hoping to germ this weekend and get things rolling next week. Thoughts?

 

[WeedHopper]

Sometimes you just need a good pH up and down to get your pH between 6.5 and 6.8
What's the pH of your run off?

 

[LilDad]

Sometimes you just need a good pH up and down to get your pH between 6.5 and 6.8
What's the pH of your run off?

Not sure about the runoff. I’ll check that this morning (probably…I have two kids…we’ll see).

 

[WeedHopper]

I have found that its just better to purchase a good PH up and down solution to get the job done. Especially in soil.

 

[OGKushman]

how do you know what the soil ph is? How are you testing this?

 

[RosterMan]

Most do a runoff ph test but the best is a slurry test of soil itself

 

[LilDad]

I have found that its just better to purchase a good PH up and down solution to get the job done. Especially in soil.

I’m using a soil acidifier and just doing daily applications and I’m starting to see it trying to make moves, but I don’t know if I’ll be comfortable putting plants in it till it’s around 6.5 consistently. This is my first grow, so I’m really only hoping for minimum yields from my plants, am I being too anal here?

My rationale is to have plants I don’t fuss over. I only intend on watering, and using LST. So I figure if I fuss over the soil now, it’ll save me headache in the long run. Am I fair in that assumption?

 

[CrashMagnet]

I tried using vinegar to lower PH and found it doesn't last. I think in the long run it can make things worse. After a few weeks of using it daily in a hydroponic solution I was seeing PH rise from 5.8 to 7.5+ within several hours. I switched to the standard PH Up and the rapid PH rise went away in under a week.

 

[user 60570]

I’m using a soil acidifier and just doing daily applications and I’m starting to see it trying to make moves, but I don’t know if I’ll be comfortable putting plants in it till it’s around 6.5 consistently. This is my first grow, so I’m really only hoping for minimum yields from my plants, am I being too anal here?

My rationale is to have plants I don’t fuss over. I only intend on watering, and using LST. So I figure if I fuss over the soil now, it’ll save me headache in the long run. Am I fair in that assumption?

es that is a fair assumption

take care of the soil and the plant shows the results

 

[oldfogey8]

I have never tested my soils pH. I grow organically and aside from when I tried chemical fertilizers I have never even tested my water/nutrient solutions. Fox Farm is organic soil so as long as your water isn’t really acidic or alkaline, your plants should be pretty happy in that soil without changing its pH. However, the growers on here know their stuff so I defer to them. You will be the first weed grower I have heard of that doesn’t fuss over their plants though. It gets to be a bit of an obsession…

 

[LilDad]

Alright folks, the results are in! Here are readings of the pH from the soil reader, and from the runoff (runoff collected with 6.55 pH hose water):

	Pot 1	Pot 2	Pot 3	Pot 4*
Soil pH reading	7	7	7	6.9
Runoff pH reading	5.91	6.05	5.53	5.87

* As a note, I did apply fresh coffee grounds to pot 4 this morning.

Thoughts?