Soil pH question...

Hey all,
If I pH my water at 6.5-7 and test soil runoff at about 5.5, what's the best way to bring soil pH up to ideal? Do I flush with 2-3xs volume of pH 7 water until runoff gets into the 6-7 range? Or do I increase my water pH to like a pH of 8 to bring up soil pH more rapidly? I'm beginning to truly learn the imprortance of pH and how if it's off everything's gets all jacked up.
Thanks

You want to check your soil PH, not just runoff. Some dolomite lime in your soil helps to regulate it.

I would be really careful about adding too high PH of water.

What is your soil?

Thanks. I'm using Fox Farm Happy Frog with 40% perlite.

What stage of growth are you in? Usually ph problems are due to overfeeding and/or feeding without enough runoff. Usually happens in early to mid flower.

If that's the problem, flush plain water for about 100% runoff.

I am going to give you some advice that you probably aren't going to take. Stop PHing, all you are doing is stressing yourself out and you are going to start stressing the plant out when you try and correct the PH. Some people would call bullshit but I have proof that growing without phing can still result in a perfectly healthy garden.

Here are the tips you need to be successful

Stop fucking with the PH
Never use full strength of nutrients, I don't give a shit what week it is. Give your ladies water at least two days in a row before you give them a half strength dose of nutrients.
Make sure you give them either cal mag or epsom salts it will keep them nice and healthy.
Turn your lights to 11 on 13 hours off and save yourself some money on the power bill

You too can grow dank

BTW I am going on 3 runs not phing a thing, I do one small tray of hydroponics and I changed the resevoir out 0 times. Didn't PH one time and all my leaves are green and healthy all my buds are frosty as fuck. Trust me man, do it on one plant at least if you don't believe me but those ph up and down don't do anything but fuck with your soil system.

BTW I use fox farms soil , tap water for the hydro and tap water for the soils. The ppms are only 40 here.

Did you check the PH level that is in the Ocean Forest? If you're using Organic Soil you shouldnt be concerned about PH. Thats doig too much. This is why it is always "wiser" to not be influenced by other opinions unless you are seeing their work. There are many variables... But if you dont research with the intent to exceed past making money perception youll never get your green thumb crown. Read your bags ingredient content and see if it is already PH sufficient. 7 days new.

gardengardian7 said:

Did you check the PH level that is in the Happy Frog? If you're using Organic Soil you shouldnt be concerned about PH. Thats doing too much. This is why it is always "wiser" to not be influenced by other opinions unless you are seeing their work. There are many variables... But if you dont research with the intent to exceed past making money perception youll never get your green thumb crown. Read your bags ingredient content and see if it is already PH sufficient. 7 days new. View attachment 3356697

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I never PH. King is Right!

gardengardian7 said:

I never PH. King is Right!

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I still cant believe I went 9 weeks with no water changes, just addback. If I didnt do it myself I wouldnt believe it.

not important far more important to test the nutes once mixed,But has for ph i dont bother any more but ec a must

I think the need to PH depends on your water supply and how out of whack it is. I can say from my experience with my municipal water that it had a large negativ impact when I got lazy on PH.

Thanks for everyone's input and advice. I'm at 6 weeks from seed. I think I ran into the issue with messing with pH when I overfed. I did dilute till 1/4 strength but I think NPK was too high to start. I got 20-20-20 based on some shit I read a while ago but maybe that's too high for veg. Anyway, a few of my plants showed bad burn and a few look pretty good. So on the next watering I got mixed up in the whole pH debacle. Likely my pH was low due to all the left over nutes still in the soil. I'll flush good and then next time nute with better nutes and not mess more shit up with the pH.

dont flush just ease back on nutrient strength until you find what they like

kimoolos said:

I did dilute till 1/4 strength but I think NPK was too high to start. I got 20-20-20 based on some shit I read a while ago but maybe that's too high for veg.

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No product is too strong. It's just a matter of how much you use. Whether you have 4-4-4 or 20-20-20, it's all the same ratio of 1-1-1. You'd just use more of the former, less of the latter. Measuring the ppms should give you an idea of how much to use. (I have a spreadsheet in my grow journal/blog area which lets you see how projected ppms from the amount you use.).

kimoolos said:

Likely my pH was low due to all the left over nutes still in the soil.

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I agree. I don't know if I'd flush now. Just feed milder nutes and mix twice the amount so you get a lot of runoff. After that, feed with about 20% runoff. If you feed exactly the right amount you shouldn't need any runoff. But, I think runoff is good insurance. It also replaces some of the leftover nutes, rebalancing them. (A plant needs different nutes at different times, taking what it needs, leaving behind what it doesn't. I think it's a good idea to replace what's left behind so it's rebalanced a little.).

kimoolos said:

Hey all,
If I pH my water at 6.5-7 and test soil runoff at about 5.5, what's the best way to bring soil pH up to ideal? Do I flush with 2-3xs volume of pH 7 water until runoff gets into the 6-7 range? Or do I increase my water pH to like a pH of 8 to bring up soil pH more rapidly? I'm beginning to truly learn the imprortance of pH and how if it's off everything's gets all jacked up.
Thanks

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just ph your water to 6.5 after adding your nutes.

you can easily accomplish this through lemon juice/ph down and baking soda/ph up.

don't worry about runoff, you'll just be chasing your tail making yourself crazy.

this will help you dial in if you don't have already:

http://www.amazon.com/Blue-Lab-PPM-Pen-Combo/dp/B008UFKMVO

when you're in soil take care of manufacture info and start at 50% of recommended because there is so much is soil already.

1. when i first started i didn't ph or ppm and it showed. i know do both.

also this has nothing to do with thread just want to say:

2. a common newb mistake is getting busy and letting them get thirsty (leaves down). do not give them nute water if they are due. only water with water until their leaves are back in place. then you can nute again.

This is

King Arthur said:

I still cant believe I went 9 weeks with no water changes, just addback. If I didnt do it myself I wouldnt believe it.

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This so true.. You can not talk about if you have not done it.

Way to hi and ive never dealt in hi NPK yet... But what ive come to realize is it depends on indoor&outdoor, veg time, and bloom time... etc as far as hier levels of NPK. You only need to stick to the basics with a keen sensibilty to master....

Thanks everyone for the replies. Learning a lot. It's good to see what experienced growers do, some with different ways of approaching a problem but in the end for the same goal, producing some dank. Appreciate all the insight!

kimoolos said:

Thanks everyone for the replies. Learning a lot. It's good to see what experienced growers do, some with different ways of approaching a problem but in the end for the same goal, producing some dank. Appreciate all the insight!

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you will often get loads of advice here, pick and choose wisely.

do what works best for you and your set-up.

when new..KISS..keep it simple stupid..is the best way to go!

In my first grow I tried to correct soil PH and I ended up fucking up my plants. Last couple of grows I didn't even check the ph of the soil or the water and they came out beautiful.