pH too HIGH! I've tried everything!

I'm starting my 3rd week of flowering and my soil pH is about 8. I've tried flushing, using lemon juice in my water (pH is about 5), and most recently, using an organic product I bought at home depot called 'soil acidifier'. I always make sure my nutrient solution is pH 6-6.8.
None of these methods have worked, but the plants are still looking good, and bud production looks normal for this stage in flowering.

Here are my growing stats:
Soil: Foxfarm ocean forest
Nutes: Foxfarm
Pots: 2.5 gallon
Light: 250W HPS + cfls


I am going to do a big flush and see if that helps. Other suggestions would be appreciated.

how long did u flush for and how

are you making sure your flush water is phed to about 6.5 to 6.8?

weird....maybe a broken ph meter, lol....but im pretty sure foxfarm buffers to 6 automatically, i dont know how you got it that high...i use FoxFarm, just checked my runoff PH the other day and it was below 6...

If your growing in soil, add some "finely granulated dolomite lime" to the mix, or your watering can.

The lime will balance your ph throughout the whole grow..

An easy Fix

"Mygirls": I flushed by running about 2.5 gallons of pH-adjusted water through the pots at a reasonable flow rate.

"Waggs": Definitely. The pH of the flush water is 6-6.5

"Closetgrowth": I've heard that lime is used for making the soil more basic. It's a buffer?

Thanks for all of your suggestions. I think tonight I will flush these girls good and see what the soil pH is tomorrow. If it's still high I will try adding some lime and soil acidifier to the soil. I just don't want to mess up the roots too bad so maybe ill add it to the watering can.

bsteabagger said:

"Mygirls": I flushed by running about 2.5 gallons of pH-adjusted water through the pots at a reasonable flow rate.

"Waggs": Definitely. The pH of the flush water is 6-6.5

"Closetgrowth": I've heard that lime is used for making the soil more basic. It's a buffer?

Thanks for all of your suggestions. I think tonight I will flush these girls good and see what the soil pH is tomorrow. If it's still high I will try adding some lime and soil acidifier to the soil. I just don't want to mess up the roots too bad so maybe ill add it to the watering can.

Click to expand...

next time its watering or feding time just keep hitting um with ph'ed water till soil ph is in good range

I know this is a stupid question, but I'll ask it anyway,lol.......are you leaving the PH meter in the soil long enough? Mine always reads rellly high at first, then slowly inches it's way down, taking a couple minutes to get a good reading. Of course, i also believe that those soil PH meters with those long metal probes, are worth crap.lol Take a glass of water PHed to 7.0 and throw in a big handful of dirt, then check the PH. Also, you can check your runoff. If your soil is actually 8.0 then your runoff will be well over 7.0.

As mentioned above, I also use FF OF, and never had a problem with high PH, or have ever heard of anyone else having trouble with it. IDK, just seems strange to me.

"jawbrodt": I haven't tried that yet. I do indeed have one of those crappy soil PH meters. I have tried numerous times flushing the soil with acidic, super acidic, and incredibly acidic water, and the pH still rises above 7.5 by the next day. I will try the runoff approach you described and I'll get back to you.

^When you try it, it would be a good idea to use water PH'ed to what you'd use normally,(6.5 or so) instead of something acidic. That'll give you a better indication of soil PH.