An assortment of questions

newGrows

Active Member
My package of dolomite lime gives me measurements of lime for soil in terms of sq foot of soil…. WTF
Depending on how I choose to slice a gallon container of soil that could be 2 sq feet or 10 sq feet or a million sq feet. How do those people expect me to convert from 2 to 3 dimensions?
Since i have no idea i just over saturated water with lime and painstakingly added the water to the soil and measured the runoff a little bit at a time. Took about 2/3 a cup of lime and 25 gallons of water to raise the ph of the runoff from 5.5 to 6.3.

But… when i measure the runoff and remove my ph meter it goes up by .2 every time. And I don't know why. I also noticed that when i stick my ph pen directly into the soil its always about .2-.3 more basic.

Since hydroponics are supposed to be at about 5.5 i'm wondering if that means runoff should be at 5.5? Should i be measuring the soupy soil water or the runoff?

Also, i was wondering what I can do with the runoff water. Isn't that stuff basically fertilizer or a sort of compost tea? Can i save it in a jar and use it later? If so how long can it sit before some kind of killer bacteria grows ?
 

Pinworm

Well-Known Member
A good general rule of thumb is an ounce of dolo per gallon of soil. Ideal soil ph is 6.8ish. I wouldn't recommend keeping/using your runoff to feed anything.
 

tekdc911

Well-Known Member
ok the lime is top fed 1-2 tbsp a gallon and just water it in normally ........ run off is a bad way to judge PH IMO
 

tekdc911

Well-Known Member
and the run off is picking up stuff from the soil or whatever you are growing in
it may or may not be effecting the plant
 

oilmaker68

Well-Known Member
I don't think you can actually add too much lime. I'm pretty sure it's impossible. But I may be incorrect.
 

racerboy71

bud bootlegger
imo, run off ph is a worth less number, it tells you nothing but the run off ph..
and why are you adding the lime the the water? you should have at least top dressed with it, and watered it in imo..
 
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