question about soil ph ??

[Dr. Who]

Yeah, 'buffering/buffered' is adding the liming agent and its effects. If the mix gets out of wack from no buffering, a top dress will work in time. Just sprinkle 2tbl/gallon of mix on the surface (scratch it in some if you can), and regular waterings will do the rest.

Adding it to the mix before use is by far the easiest and most effective way of using lime. It is the second ingredient when I make my mix, peat moss being the first.

I mainly use dolomite lime, both powdered and granular. The granular is nothing more than the powder in a clay binder that dissolves with the first watering and is done for ease of application. It works just as fast. Both are ~$4.50/40lb bag at HD or Lowes.

HTH

Wet

I agree with everything your saying!

Thought I might add a little point. Dolmite works fine but,
Dolomite has Mg in it. For the most part you don't "need" that much "extra" Mg when soil building or amending.

I prefer oyster shell flour and crushed/pulverized eggshells (not to mention garden Gypsum) to adding much Dolo.....Dolo can be very nice for re-amending and reusing soils for replacing used Mg....But, again, in prudent amounts..

I'm sure you use eggs?
Dry them out and pulverize in a coffee grinder or your food processor! They add a nice little nute boost in non harming amounts.
You can roast them too....This brings out other beneficial things to the table besides raw dried ones!
Roast them so they actually "brown" on the inside where the UNWASHED remnants are.

That's right. I don't "wash" my egg shells or remove that left over remnants from inside. I will dry them and use them when dried or store till I have enough to use for what I want....

 

[Jimdamick]

I agree with everything your saying!

Thought I might add a little point. Dolmite works fine but,
Dolomite has Mg in it. For the most part you don't "need" that much "extra" Mg when soil building or amending.

I prefer oyster shell flour and crushed/pulverized eggshells (not to mention garden Gypsum) to adding much Dolo.....Dolo can be very nice for re-amending and reusing soils for replacing used Mg....But, again, in prudent amounts..

I'm sure you use eggs?
Dry them out and pulverize in a coffee grinder or your food processor! They add a nice little nute boost in non harming amounts.
You can roast them too....This brings out other beneficial things to the table besides raw dried ones!
Roast them so they actually "brown" on the inside where the UNWASHED remnants are.

That's right. I don't "wash" my egg shells or remove that left over remnants from inside. I will dry them and use them when dried or store till I have enough to use for what I want....

your a fucking genius, you should write a book

 

[Wetdog]

I agree with everything your saying!

Thought I might add a little point. Dolmite works fine but,
Dolomite has Mg in it. For the most part you don't "need" that much "extra" Mg when soil building or amending.

I prefer oyster shell flour and crushed/pulverized eggshells (not to mention garden Gypsum) to adding much Dolo.....Dolo can be very nice for re-amending and reusing soils for replacing used Mg....But, again, in prudent amounts..

I'm sure you use eggs?
Dry them out and pulverize in a coffee grinder or your food processor! They add a nice little nute boost in non harming amounts.
You can roast them too....This brings out other beneficial things to the table besides raw dried ones!
Roast them so they actually "brown" on the inside where the UNWASHED remnants are.

That's right. I don't "wash" my egg shells or remove that left over remnants from inside. I will dry them and use them when dried or store till I have enough to use for what I want....

A sticky keyboard made my reply short. Speeending (<-) more time deleting multiple whatever is a PITA besides derailing my train of thought.

I did say *mainly* with the dolo, but left out the rest of the story. I also use calcitic lime (no Mg), for reasons you mentioned. This is available locally and pretty much equivalent to oyster shell flour, or egg shells for that matter. All being nearly pure CaCO3.

I don't do OSF because $36 shipping for a $9 product makes no sense to me. The same amount of calcitic lime is $12 locally (40lb bag).

I stopped with the egg shells to keep my wife happy. She insisted on washing and storing them and got tired of the chore. I just tossed them in a bucket and that wouldn't play with her. Plus, the cost of replacing her burnt out blender would have bought 100+lbs of calcitic lime.

Happy wife, happy life. She still saves the coffee grounds for the worm bins and I'm happy with that and to let her toss the shells.

Oh, I also use gypsum and other Ca sources, I just don't count them as liming agents, nor try to substitue. I use the same mix for everything, but waaay more container veggies/herbs/stuff than MJ and Ca needs vary a good bit, but the lime stays pretty constant. BTW, the calcitic is mainly used for re-amends as there is usually sufficent Mg left from the dolo in the initial mix.

We pretty much totally agree.

Wet

 

[Dr. Who]

A sticky keyboard made my reply short. Speeending (<-) more time deleting multiple whatever is a PITA besides derailing my train of thought.

I did say *mainly* with the dolo, but left out the rest of the story. I also use calcitic lime (no Mg), for reasons you mentioned. This is available locally and pretty much equivalent to oyster shell flour, or egg shells for that matter. All being nearly pure CaCO3.

I don't do OSF because $36 shipping for a $9 product makes no sense to me. The same amount of calcitic lime is $12 locally (40lb bag).

I stopped with the egg shells to keep my wife happy. She insisted on washing and storing them and got tired of the chore. I just tossed them in a bucket and that wouldn't play with her. Plus, the cost of replacing her burnt out blender would have bought 100+lbs of calcitic lime.

Happy wife, happy life. She still saves the coffee grounds for the worm bins and I'm happy with that and to let her toss the shells.

Oh, I also use gypsum and other Ca sources, I just don't count them as liming agents, nor try to substitue. I use the same mix for everything, but waaay more container veggies/herbs/stuff than MJ and Ca needs vary a good bit, but the lime stays pretty constant. BTW, the calcitic is mainly used for re-amends as there is usually sufficent Mg left from the dolo in the initial mix.

We pretty much totally agree.

Wet

We sure do!

Note: Out here we have auctions all the time......food processors and blenders and coffee grinders go for like 2-3 bucks.....No short supply.....lol.....As long as my shells do not remain for 24hrs (In the wife's eye's) she has no problem with them (she better not as they go to her tropical jungle of house plants that make life so pleasing in our home and the new windows stopped the condensation from them too!) Not that the windows were intentionally a bribe or anything like that...nooo.......Suckers dropped the heating costs by around 40% too!

Being primarily Farmers and living in rural farm country where the biggest business in town (about 700 population) is the local elevator. Oyster is cheap (egg farm needs)! So is Calcitic (grain farming needs)! Having chickens as a major part of our now 4 farm organic co-op. The Oyster is more "on-hand" then the Calcitic as that is bought in weights to use and not to have to store any....."space" and if you have it in house that's money sitting and not working. Hmm, reminds me I need to check on oyster levels and have more cracked grains available for the birds this next cpl of weeks as the temps are supposed to crash again. Cracked and coarse grains help keep birds warmer in colder weather among other things...

Peace on!

 

[Msmagicbeans]

Ahhhh ... Enlightenment

Instead of the "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" mindset, a good bit of advice on MJ forums tend to, "If it ain't broke, give me a minute"

Wet

it kinda is broke, ph keeps dropping slowly, so im trying to figure out how to make it drop even slower

 

[Corso312]

Do your plants look good? Look @ the plant, not the PH meter.

 

[Wetdog]

it kinda is broke, ph keeps dropping slowly, so im trying to figure out how to make it drop even slower

A top dress with the lime of your choice will fix that. 2tbl/gal of mix. Scratched in if you can, but your regular waterings will work it in also.

Whatever you can source locally will work fine. Don't pay to ship rocks, unless you like wasting $$$.

Lowes or HD will have what you need. Just make sure it is NOT hydrated lime. Usually stacked on pallets in the garden area, in 30-40lb bags. Dolomite and/or Garden is usually what they have.

HTH

Wet

 

[Msmagicbeans]

A top dress with the lime of your choice will fix that. 2tbl/gal of mix. Scratched in if you can, but your regular waterings will work it in also.

Whatever you can source locally will work fine. Don't pay to ship rocks, unless you like wasting $$$.

Lowes or HD will have what you need. Just make sure it is NOT hydrated lime. Usually stacked on pallets in the garden area, in 30-40lb bags. Dolomite and/or Garden is usually what they have.

HTH

Wet

i got some lime thats how i bring ph back up, i just use very little and it will put the ph back where i want it

 

[Msmagicbeans]

Do your plants look good? Look @ the plant, not the PH meter.

yea they look good now, they had some problems right be 4 flower due to low ph i fixed that and been keeping a better eye on it