Natural pH Up/Down Replacements?

Are there any cannabis-friendly household alternatives that can be used besides ph up/ph down fluids? I read that citric acid/lemon juice and baking soda can be used to adjust ph levels, but I wasn't sure if those are safe for cannabis?

I was also wondering if this is one of those cases where the ph adjusting solutions are so concentrated that they may be the better option, due to how fast they might be able to adjust the ph levels vs household items like lemon juice and baking soda.

citrus desolves fast and is basicly usless 24h later ph will be back. you can use vinegar if i remember correct.
general hydroponics sells powder ph- 1kg is 20euros. and i use 1gram for 6L

Yes those are safe alternatives to raise and lower ph in cannabis they are pretty natural none chemical related ways so to speak

Be careful with the vinegar use it too much and your soil will become acidic over time but amnesia is right about the citric acid it’ll only work dill it’s diluted enough and your ph problem comes back. May I ask what are you growing in?

You already have your solution.
You can look about and find other things to substitute as well.

Here's the critical thing to consider:
If you are re-using your soil or soilless medium,
Ph up and down solutions can accumulate in the organic material.
You can begin to have issues that you cannot properly diagnose due to excess concentrations.

Your instincts are superior. Look into the ph adjusting effects of certain amendments you may be using. When SubCool was designing Supersoil, he needed to find a way for the ingredients of his soil to end up in the sweet zone automatically. He easily succeeded. You will too.
Nature believes in redundancy. She offers choices.

The alternative to using household items like using straightforward ph up and ph down will show you results immediately or with a few minutes of being mixed but keep in mind any water that sits for long periods of time be it stagnant or flowing will fluctuate in ph some over time depending on the nutrients added it may drop it may rise

I use citric acid and the plants don't seem to mind it all. It's cheap, effective and a small package goes a long way, half a tablespoon is enough for a big bucket of water.
Also Biobizz uses citric acid in their pH down, and they are great organic nutrients, so if it works for them it must be good.

I never pH up since my water is very alkaline, but i got some baking soda at hand, and a bottle of Biobizz Up as well. They use humic acid.

Astral22 said:

I use citric acid and the plants don't seem to mind it all. It's cheap, effective and a small package goes a long way, half a tablespoon is enough for a big bucket of water.
Also Biobizz uses citric acid in their pH down, and they are great organic nutrients, so if it works for them it must be good.

https://www.biobizz.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Data-Sheets-General-EN-BIO_DOWN.pdf

I never pH up since my water is very alkaline, but i got some baking soda at hand, and a bottle of Biobizz Up as well. They use humic acid.

https://www.biobizz.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Data-Sheets-General-EN-BIO_UP.pdf

Click to expand...

Which citric acid are you using? Dry or liquid?
Brand and source please- i am getting ready to get more ph down and looking for alternatives. Thanks

Earth juice ph down is dry and just straight citric acid.

my ph up is Olympus up but that is because I run nectar for the gods and this has a lot of calcium in it. It’s just dolomite lime in liquid form

Citric Acid - Down
Dolomite Lime - Up

Citric acid is a really nice substance to use for pH control because
1 - you don't need to use a lot of it for good control
2 - its a GREAT chelator for your metals such as Iron, Manganese, Calcium, and Copper
3- its non-toxic to basically to all life on earth.

If you use citric acid for pH control you should do the following:

1. Make a 5mM solution by dissolving 3.7 grams of powdered citric acid per gallon of water preferable RO or distilled water - you should be using a pH meter as you do this and you will notice that the pH will TANK to like 4.0 or 3.0 (especially if you are using RO/DI water), this is normal!
2. adjust the pH to 6.0 - 6.2 using 2M Hydrochloric acid stirring as you go
3. Use as much as you want - at a pH of 6.2 the citric acid will be able to buffer out the effects of other nutrients and chemicals in your soil.

This is also a case were less is more - there are no real noticeable benefits from using 10mM or 20mM citric acid. By keeping the concentration down you wont run into EC/TDS issues caused by using citric acid.

A quick side note for those outdoor growers: test your soil before adding a chelating agent, if there are any HEAVY metals in the ground Citric Acid will chelate them and your plants will uptake that complex rapidly and readily.

Doesn’t KNF LAB has a ph of something like 2? Curious if it could be used as a ph down supplement.