Soil pH Question.

[jjf1978]

So according to the chart below...if my soil is a pH of 6.0 my flowering plants are not getting any P?

Whats the best way to raise the pH? Add some soluable lime?

 

[phreakygoat]

your water (if tap) should be somewhat alkaline without nutes added, if not just get the ph up from the hydro/pool store. the legit product is definetly worth it, as its made for plants. your soil should be 6.6-6.9 in veg, 6.5ish in bloom.

 

[jjf1978]

your water (if tap) should be somewhat alkaline without nutes added, if not just get the ph up from the hydro/pool store. the legit product is definetly worth it, as its made for plants. your soil should be 6.6-6.9 in veg, 6.5ish in bloom.

My tap water pH is ~6.5, can't tell exactly (damn color charts). So should I pH ^ that any? I checked pH of my tap + molasses and its reading at 5.0 is that a bad reading or that right?

 

[phreakygoat]

If your water is ph 5, you've got a big problem. ph test it before it goes into the soil, don't trust earlier readings or readings before you added anything. I learned the hard way to be mad careful with ph.

 

[lolapug2175]

FYI, the chart jff1978 is displaying is inaccurate, A bar graph is a very poor method to establish uptake deltas of various micro/macro nutrients. Please also consider PH is not working alone to supply the root with the essential complex it requires. Is not enough to just consider PH due to the assistance of biologicals, Enzymes, Acids (humic/fulvic).... chelating agents...etc. One should note that the maintenance of PH should be observed specific to a strain and the period if its cycle in life. I have seen some instances strains that thrive in vegetative stages with ph5.5 @ 1000ppm then radically shift to ph6.5 @ 850ppm during mid flower. A good baseline to start with in soil (considering no organic acids, teas, etc. being applied) is apply your water/fertilizer with a ph6.3. The soil should register a ph of 6.5-6.8 depending on the vendor.
If you interested in taking things further, experiment with one or two plants from each cycle by dropping/raising the ph 0.2 points until you get a grasp of your thresholds. Record your results learning your strain is essential!!!

 

[NoSaint]

I have further questions on ph levels, tap water and soil. Generally I let my water sit over night before I add it to the plants. The only ph tester i have is the one where you put some water in the tube, add a couple of drops and see what color the water turns. Now I can only do this with the water before any nutes are added because I can't get a true reading due to the nutes changing the water color.

If i set it to 6.5 or 6.8 or so before adding nutes, any idea how much the nutes effect the ph?

Am i better off just paying attention to the ph level every other watering when not adding nutes, when i can test it?
And not really worrying about ph the times I water with nutes since i cant get an accurate reading?

How do you other soil guys deal with this?

I know i need to get a different type of water tester for the ph. I do have one that i can stick in soil and get a reading, but if i water, test and its low i have to add more water then i run into over watering issues.

any one have any input or ideas? I'm sure im not the only one running into this.

 

[HAT TRICK STEVE]

ok im kind of new at this and this ph thing is complicated for me ,.... first of all i have bought 2 ph test kits for water, the second one has the chart but it is hard to read/match the water to the chart, i was thinking of buying a digital ph tester off ebay, because i noticed that if i leave the water in the little test tube, a while after its tested no matter what colour the test comes out it always eventually turns green again by the next day or two,..... the other thing is how do i test the ph of soil? one place on ebay said to mix the soil with a lot of water and then use the same tester,..... wont the soil eventually take on the same ph of the water its watered with over and over?

 

[mismos00]

Your water should be fairly neutral and take on the PH of the soil, no?

I believe it's the nutes in the soil that affect the PH more than anything else.

What kind of soil mix are you useing?

 

[HAT TRICK STEVE]

im using some pro mix, with worm castings and pearlite and a little spagnum moss ,... and right now im watering with rain water with a couple drops of acid to a 5 gal bucket ph comes out 5.5 / 6 and a eye dropper full of miracle grow to 5 gal,.... oh and some hydrogen peroxide, just a splash in the bucket