Need help lowering Ph in organic soil mix

[tpc_mikey]

Im currently in my 4th week of veg and think my soil is way to hot it is phing at around 6.9 to 7 what is the quickest and safest way to get that ph down? Im in FFOF with wormcastings kep meal and tomato tone ameneded in and im in 5gal smart pots?

 

[Richard Drysift]

Sounds like your soil is fine as it is; what makes you think you need to adjust it? Did you allow time for the stuff you added to be cooked in?

 

[tpc_mikey]

Sounds like your soil is fine as it is; what makes you think you need to adjust it? Did you allow time for the stuff you added to be cooked in?

Yes i had all of that in a 20gallong tote and watered it in and it set in that tote for about 3 weeks with me mixing it once a week. I just have one plant that is really odd and stunted in growth and tonite its showing some signs of lockout of nutes or micro nutes i will post a pic of it in a sec. was thinking maybe lowering the ph may help it. but this may just have to be a sacrificial lamb lol.

 

[Richard Drysift]

It takes 30 days to cook most dry amendments in if they have NPK value. Minerals like rock dust do not really need cook time but anything that has nitrogen needs to be cooked in. 3 weeks should've been about enough time but it is possible that your mix is a little hot still; checking the runoff ph tells you nothing. You need a soil probe ph meter to check the actual PH right at the root zone to be accurate. Next time add in some kind of buffer like oyster flour when you amend/recycle; helps regulate ph but it only works at the root zone. FFOF soil is notoriously low in macros like calcium & magnesium which help with absorption; until you can get some good sources like composted eggshells and garden gypsum into your mix you may need to add a liquid cal/mag like general organics cal/mag +. When I use RO or reclaimed water from my dehumidifier I will add six drops per gal which goes to about 25 ppm on my TDS meter.

 

[Los Reefersaurus]

You can never wait too long to use a soil, a big problem for our ilk is rushing things. I am sure you are now aware. IF you have damaged one plant I wouldn't worry about it, run it though see what you get and reuse the dirt next run. IF you start trying to adjust things it will more likely then not get worse then better, PLUS a damaged plant can recover but it will never fully heal. Even when I am recycling a non nutrient soil mix I let it rest for at least a month.

 

[tpc_mikey]

It takes 30 days to cook most dry amendments in if they have NPK value. Minerals like rock dust do not really need cook time but anything that has nitrogen needs to be cooked in. 3 weeks should've been about enough time but it is possible that your mix is a little hot still; checking the runoff ph tells you nothing. You need a soil probe ph meter to check the actual PH right at the root zone to be accurate. Next time add in some kind of buffer like oyster flour when you amend/recycle; helps regulate ph but it only works at the root zone. FFOF soil is notoriously low in macros like calcium & magnesium which help with absorption; until you can get some good sources like composted eggshells and garden gypsum into your mix you may need to add a liquid cal/mag like general organics cal/mag +. When I use RO or reclaimed water from my dehumidifier I will add six drops per gal which goes to about 25 ppm on my TDS meter.

the dolomite lime i used has the cal/mag in it is that not enough?

 

[tpc_mikey]

It takes 30 days to cook most dry amendments in if they have NPK value. Minerals like rock dust do not really need cook time but anything that has nitrogen needs to be cooked in. 3 weeks should've been about enough time but it is possible that your mix is a little hot still; checking the runoff ph tells you nothing. You need a soil probe ph meter to check the actual PH right at the root zone to be accurate. Next time add in some kind of buffer like oyster flour when you amend/recycle; helps regulate ph but it only works at the root zone. FFOF soil is notoriously low in macros like calcium & magnesium which help with absorption; until you can get some good sources like composted eggshells and garden gypsum into your mix you may need to add a liquid cal/mag like general organics cal/mag +. When I use RO or reclaimed water from my dehumidifier I will add six drops per gal which goes to about 25 ppm on my TDS meter.

ive done this with one of the 3 prong soil testers and its right at 7

 

[ShLUbY]

ive done this with one of the 3 prong soil testers and its right at 7

if it's one of those cheapies you get from the hardware store... it's unfortunately not very accurate. i mean it might be semi close, but i wouldn't use it as a defined measurment. a good Ph probe (one by blue labs for example) is a little more expensive but much much much more accurate.

anyway a ph of 7 would be fine. some of the best results i've ever had were when ph was closer to neutral (but still slightly acidic). what is your soil mix my man?

 

[tpc_mikey]

if it's one of those cheapies you get from the hardware store... it's unfortunately not very accurate. i mean it might be semi close, but i wouldn't use it as a defined measurment. a good Ph probe (one by blue labs for example) is a little more expensive but much much much more accurate.

anyway a ph of 7 would be fine. some of the best results i've ever had were when ph was closer to neutral (but still slightly acidic). what is your soil mix my man?

FFOF wormcastings kelp meal tomato tone and a small amount of dolomite lime as ph buffer and for cal/mag all are espoma so organic. this soil was mixed and cooked in a tote for about 3 to 4 weeks

 

[ShLUbY]

how much of each ingredient did you add to the FFOF

 

[tpc_mikey]

how much of each ingredient did you add to the FFOF

-4 gallons* Fox Farm Ocean Forest soil
-2 1/2 quarts* Chunky Perlite (soil already has a good bit of perlite in it)
-1 tablespoon* Hi-Cal lime (figured it would be a bit of a PH buffer in addition the FFOF Oyster Shells, but didn't want to go overboard)
-4 quarts* Earth Worm Castings (Provide bacteria and help supplement Nitrogen production for the plants)
-1/4cup* Espoma Tomato Tone 3-4-6 (mainly to provide a little extra N-P-K across the board)
-1/2cup* Algamin Kelp Meal 1-0-2 (mainly for trace elements)

 

[ShLUbY]

Sounds about right. Got a plant pic?

 

[tpc_mikey]

Thought i had posted one on this thread sorry, bunch in my journal as well

 

[ShLUbY]

doesn't look bad at all to me. I see what you're saying about the squiggly kinda growth but it really doesn't look bad. I'd LIFTA. what are you using for light and watts? also you should consider a mulch, shredded brown leaves, rice hulls, barley straw, cardboard.... any of those will be fine.

 

[tpc_mikey]

doesn't look bad at all to me. I see what you're saying about the squiggly kinda growth but it really doesn't look bad. I'd LIFTA. what are you using for light and watts? also you should consider a mulch, shredded brown leaves, rice hulls, barley straw, cardboard.... any of those will be fine.

im using a 430HPS

 

[ShLUbY]

im using a 430HPS

ahhhh i see. i mean i know that people use HPS to veg and don't report any problems.... but maybe you would see some better growth with a metal halide or even LED for vegging... just a thought. hps could be stressing the plant a little bit. this a bag seed grow?

 

[tpc_mikey]

ahhhh i see. i mean i know that people use HPS to veg and don't report any problems.... but maybe you would see some better growth with a metal halide or even LED for vegging... just a thought. hps could be stressing the plant a little bit. this a bag seed grow?

Hate the term bag seed lol always think of mexican ditch weed, but yes i had 2 diffrent batches of gorilla glue from norther cali and i was fortunate enough to hit the bag seed lottery and i found a seed in each batch, i get tons of high quality smoke and occasionally hit the jackpot and get a seed. my profile pic is from a seed i found in some lemon haze og

 

[fridayfishfry]

I use Citric Acid but that is in hydro

 

[tpc_mikey]

doesn't look bad at all to me. I see what you're saying about the squiggly kinda growth but it really doesn't look bad. I'd LIFTA. what are you using for light and watts? also you should consider a mulch, shredded brown leaves, rice hulls, barley straw, cardboard.... any of those will be fine.

whats LIFTA?

 

[ShLUbY]

Hate the term bag seed lol always think of mexican ditch weed, but yes i had 2 diffrent batches of gorilla glue from norther cali and i was fortunate enough to hit the bag seed lottery and i found a seed in each batch, i get tons of high quality smoke and occasionally hit the jackpot and get a seed. my profile pic is from a seed i found in some lemon haze og

lots of those bag seeds from mexican is land race stuff... nothing wrong with that!! GL with the GG. I have the #4 cut.... it's ridiculous!