Lemon Juice & Vinegars As PH Down?
- Thread starter Odin88
- Start date
purpaterp
Well-Known Member
Not sure about killing the microbes but those solutions for ph don’t work well. They will adjust the ph temporarily but they lack the buffering agent of a ph solution and will not keep the ph where it needs to be. Hope this helps.
Odin88
Active Member
I didnt know that. Thanks for the reply.
Odin88
Active Member
I'm not clear on what you're saying. Are you saying that if the soil is built correctly I won't need to ph the water/feed?
xtsho
Well-Known Member
Both lemon juice and vinegar have antimicrobial properties and can harm soil bacteria. But if used in small amounts to adjust pH they won't have a significant impact and the beneficial microbes will recover in a very short time. But if you're growing in organic living soil you shouldn't need to pH anything as the soil should take care of it if built correctly.
Richard Drysift
Well-Known Member
Just water your plants. No need to screw around with the ph in a soil grow.
Odin88
Active Member
Even if the water ph goes down to 4.5, just water anyway? The ph gets really low.
These are the nutes l use. Please tell me if I'm using anything unnecessary.
Alfalfa Worm Tea
5 Gallon H2O
1T Fish Hydrolysate
2T Kelp Meal
1-3c Alfalfa Meal
3c EWC
2oz Fulvic-Humic Acids
2oz Azomite
2oz Molasses
2oz Budswel
2oz Big Bloom
4oz Brewers Yeast
5oz Malted Barley
10oz Coconut Water
10oz Aloe Juice
2T Mycos
xtsho
Well-Known Member
I guess I don't understand what you're doing. Are you growing soilless in something like peat or coco? I was going on the assumption that you were growing in a living organic soil and just water and wanted to know if you could lower the water pH with lemon juice or vinegar. Now I see you're mixing up a tea and I don't understand why you asked a question about organic pH down if the pH of that tea is 4.5.
I'm not the brightest star in the sky so maybe I'm missing something. Could you clarify what kind of soil your plants are growing in?
Odin88
Active Member
This is only my second grow so I'm not at all experienced with this. I'm confusing you because I'm confused. LOL!
I'm using Fox Farms soil and making a tea with the nutes I mentioned. I was asking about the ph AFTER I add all of the nutes to water and how I can adjust the water/tea ph because the ph goes down to about 4.5.
Sorry about the confusion. I really appreciate the time you've have taken so far to help answer my questions.
I'm using Fox Farms soil and making a tea with the nutes I mentioned. I was asking about the ph AFTER I add all of the nutes to water and how I can adjust the water/tea ph because the ph goes down to about 4.5.
Sorry about the confusion. I really appreciate the time you've have taken so far to help answer my questions.
PadawanWarrior
Well-Known Member
Are you bubbling the tea for 24-48 hours? That will help the pH come back up.
Nizza
Well-Known Member
Ph and water temperature Of your water should match the soil as close as possible , your goal is to maintain the micro-herd in soil. Properly ammended soil and added teas are great even if you shock the micro herd when you water you are re introducing fresh microbes every time you use tea
xtsho
Well-Known Member
Well first thing is that it's not complicated. With Fox Farms you have enough food for water only in that soil for a few weeks. After that you'll need to feed. Something.
I've been looking at the ingredients of that tea and I don't see anything lowering the ph to 4.5. The molasses, brewers yeast, malted barley at most 5.5. How are you measuring the pH? And what do the plants look like?
Critical Canuck
Active Member
I wasn't aware white vinegar would be harmful, I learned to use it early on and never questioned it.
I've seen a lot of posts now that say it's bad, but never in what quantity.
I use 1/4-1/3 tsp to a gallon. My nutrients get the ph down to ~6.7 and I use the vinegar to get it to 6.0-6.2
Is this an ok amount? Should I even bother trying to get it down to 6 from 6.7? I'm growing in pro-mix hp soiless medium so the soil.
I could buy a $20 bottle of commercial stuff, but I already have ample vinegar (white, cide, wine) or lemon juice.
PadawanWarrior
Well-Known Member
If you use vinegar just use organic apple cider vinegar.
Skewbong
Well-Known Member
Dude, I used to do this, added citric acid from the bulk barn works for ph down, when I was a freerider...most water needs it, but nutes also drop your ph. Got a 5 dollar PH meter, and spent a whopping $16 (8 ea) on 1 liter/quart of ph up, and the same for ph down. Just do it...cheap investment, big change! I do everything on the cheap.
2Hearts
Well-Known Member
Yer i saw them handing out free ph test kits with every bag of soil at hardware shop this weekend. Says without that the shit wont work and a simple adjust ment of passing 6.5ph water through it will fix it straight away.
Something about some noobster saying his pot plant died when he did his first grow so it must be the bad ph and dodgy lime they pur in it.
Something about some noobster saying his pot plant died when he did his first grow so it must be the bad ph and dodgy lime they pur in it.
PadawanWarrior
Well-Known Member
Well I don't usually pH my water. I let the soil buffer it for me. The only time I've used citric acid in my water was to help flush out some extra Ca to lower my soil pH. I usually just give plain water that's between 7.2-7.5. But occasionally I will feed some organic liquid nutes that lowers the pH to around 6.0, sometimes less.