Has anyone grown and harvested without checking ph levels?

MeJuana

Well-Known Member
Everyone's pH will be different so it's comparing Apples to Oranges. You can buy a few test strips to determine the pH of your water then record how much pH down you put into the water to get it to 6.5 - 6.8 for soil. I check my RO pH level every few month or when I change filters but it's always the same. It is necessary to assure pH because if you aren't running the right pH some nutrients won't be soluble and completely unavailable to your plants. I don't check run off though I use a soil blend. Soil is so fun and easy
 

Nutes and Nugs

Well-Known Member
I'm on my first grow with a PH meter.
I've had a couple of successful harvests without it - especially outdoors where I still don't monitor PH.
But it's sure been a help, I had yellow top leaves and growth tips just as my PH meter, PH up and PH down arrived.
I was able to recognize my tap water comes out at about 7.5 PH, and that was causing iron lockout :)
All better now.

My tap water has consistently been about 7.5, so I'm starting to assume that as a default and add 2 drops of PH down without bothering to measure PH (when plain watering).
Good points.
My tap water is fairly constant so I add 25 lemon juice drops per gallon of water.
30 and some epsom salts when I add nutes every 3rd watering.
We dont have ph up and cal mag around here.

My plants are much happier once the ph was balanced.
 

TrimothyLeary

Well-Known Member
My last three grows, yes, no pHing. I actually tried, and the numbers scared me. I just had to learn to trust the soil.

But that's soil with primarily organic sources, and all the rhizo friends chipping in, making the pH window much wider.

I HAD to pH when I was using synthetics. Not a big deal, but definitely necessary unless you're using AN pH Perfect stuff.
 

Dan can grow

Well-Known Member
My first couple of out door grows I used rain water, ph of around 7. Worked well. I'm now ph testing all of my water and it does seem to make a difference in how fast the plant grows.
 

GreatwhiteNorth

Global Moderator
Staff member
I grow organically using subs super soil recipe. For two years ive never checked ph. Dont even know what it might be. With organics ph is pretty unimportant.
I'm a SS guy myself & stressed hard on PH for the first couple of years - 7.4 ish outta the tap & I was meticulous about getting it perfect.
I finally said screw it & quit doing that & nothing has changed.
Beautiful plants & a lot less fucking around with chems.
 
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