A few questions regarding PH and Hydrated Lime ect.

I was told at the garden center today that I should just use tap water to raise the PH of my soil and use PH Down to adjust it. This seemed all fine to me so I bought the PH Down.

Now I'm confused...

Should I start watering my soil well before I plant my seed? I heard that if you plant it in acidic soil it will lack the nutrients and is prone to disease.
(Ect. Start watering the soil, and using PH Down a week before I plant the seed / Germinate 2 days before I plant seed in soil)

And do I really need Wood Ash or Hydrated / Dolomite Lime in order to fix my PH?

Also when I transfer the plants, how should I take it out?

Moist the soil before you plant the seed. Do not use Hydrated Lime at all. Use Dolomite Lime at 2tbps per gallon to stabilize your ph and help with some Cal/Mag. When you transfer the plant, let it dry and squeeze the cup softly, and just pull it out. Scrape off some soil if you can without shocking it too awful bad, then put it in the new pot, then water a lil bit.

I guess I'll have to say it at some point but I have aspergers and I need things explained to me like you would not believe, especially over a forum where you can't see anything happening as it's being explained to you.

So this is what I've gathered thus far. I need to let it dry, squeeze the cup softly, and grab the soil / the plant? with my hand and hold it over the new pot AS i'm sprinkling the new soil around and on the bottom of the pot along with the gravel (That helps strain the water easily - that's what I was told) Except I got a bag of these clay like balls

And what is cal / mag?

Is it bad to use regular tap water? Why would he lie to me?

Also do i need to stabalize it for a week before I plant the seed?

After you let it dry and squeeze it, you just flip it over into your hand and it comes out shaped like the cup (you should have your new pot filled, with the cup in it saving the new plant a spot that fits right in). The clay balls are Hydroton, and they are good for draining. Cal/Mag is Calcium and Magnesium, two nutrients your plant need. It depends about using your tap water, you gotta test the pH of it and see if it has tons of chlorine in it. You can buy a filter and use it just fine. I'm not sure what you mean by stabilizing it a week before you plant the seed. You just germ the seed, and then put it in the newly made cup.

I would say that you are way over thinking growing in soil,all the hub bub over soil ph is nonsense for the most part,there will allways be a grower somewhere who pops out & says keeping his ph in soil proper was the best thing he ever did,the cold hard truth is that he is in the minority,most successfull soil growers do nothing with ph because in most cases it isnt needed..

If you plan on having a soil mix that is full of amendments that add fertilizer to the soil then you need to chase ph values,if you plan on using multiple fertilizers on the plant then you need to worry about ph,if you plan on feeding the plants max ppm's of fertilizer in order to bulk the plant up then you need to deal with ph.

If you go to a hardware store or home depot & buy some regular non fertilized soil,then amend the soil with 20% perlite to loosen the soil for root growth & oxygenation,this coupled with a very cautious fertilizing program with off the shelf fertilizers then you have no need to bother with ph ever.

I grow hydro & soil,lotsa plants in hydro & phing is a must,i also have some outdoor soil plants,home depot soil,some perlite & $6 worth of fertilizer & thats it,at harvest i will pull atleast 8 ounces of kick ass bud per plant,never once checked ph,added lime ect,for the new grower its best to keep it as simple as possible.

Transplanting is easy,after they are ready just take your time ,flip the pot upside down,give the pot a firm slap on the bottom while your holding the stalk & it'll slide right out.

Just so ya know there are threads on this site where very successfull soil growers point out how unneeded ph'ing soil plants really is if you play it safe when growing.