Soilless (peat) PH 5.8 or 6.5

As the title says is Soilless mixes meant to be kept at what optimal level. 5.8 or 6.5??

I am running into some problems with my current grow. I am sure is a Ph lockout due to high levels. Water in 6.5 and runoff is 6.9. The dolomite i added is keeping it fixed around 7.

I understand this is high for but thought after a few waterings it would come down. I made the mix myself consisting of 50%peat 30% perlite and 20% vercimilite. I read online the ph should be kept like soil but i am thinking now it should be kept at 5.8 like hydro.

The 7 plants are fucked. I did manage to take 20 clones and are in straight perlite at the moment. I just want to confirm what PH i should keep them at before i put them in their pots. Really confused as there is a lot of conflicting info online. Seems people are running both but they cant both be right.And if 1 is wrong why arent they running into these problems too?

for straight hydro-coco witch you are running i like 5.6 to 5.8 and then i'll let it drift up to like 6.1 to 6.3. What Nutrients are you using ? Whats your ppm at ? usually if your ph is off you can correct it in time not to be totally fucked.

yeah i agree. i think with soilless it works when treating it almost with a hydro mindset. unless your planning on growing purely organic then i think a ph of 6.5 is good

things have got bad. The plants are on week 7 now. They don't seem to be dying or growing. I repotted them without the lime. Feeding them Scotts pro 30-10-10 at 1/3 strength with added seaweed.

Yep, at 7 weeks they are definately stunted.

wes2wright said:

things have got bad. The plants are on week 7 now. They don't seem to be dying or growing. I repotted them without the lime. Feeding them Scotts pro 30-10-10 at 1/3 strength with added seaweed.

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1. Peat is normally around 4.5-5.5 pH, too acid, which will induce element deficiencies. You need lime to raise the pH to around 6.5 and provide Ca. Recommend dolomite. Hydrated or quick lime is OK, IF, and that's a big IF, you know what you're doing.....know how to conduct an accurate pH test on your soil or runoff.

2. Your food is not complete, it is designed for a well rounded organic mix. Your medium is void of all elements. Get some Dyna-Gro Foliage Pro or the Grow, ASAP, and start using it at a rate of no more than 1 tsp/gallon. Those one part foods contain all 16 essential elements. Easy peasy.....

If your tap water is not out of whack regarding a super high TDS or pH, use tap water. The extra minerals will help especially if they contain a lot of Ca and Mg like my well water does.

I know I'm preaching to the choir, but be careful regarding your source of info. And contrary to what you often read, chlorinated tap water is fine right out of the tap. I prefer rain water for several reasons.

Good luck,
Uncle Ben

When you repotted, how was the root system?

white but not as developed as i would of expected

wes2wright said:

white but not as developed as i would of expected

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If you didn't have a well defined rootball, you may have jumped the gun on upcanning. All's well if the rootball was left completely intact.

I had to repot due to lime keeping PH fixed at 7. Didnt break any roots doing so though. And Wasnt that young so they would of grown back

wes2wright said:

things have got bad. The plants are on week 7 now. They don't seem to be dying or growing. I repotted them without the lime. Feeding them Scotts pro 30-10-10 at 1/3 strength with added seaweed. View attachment 3155169View attachment 3155170 View attachment 3155171 View attachment 3155172 View attachment 3155173 View attachment 3155174 View attachment 3155175 View attachment 3155176

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I would make sure to feed straight h2o for awhile, maybe until budding. they look pretty good man. ive never used anything like scotts so im not sure how they will react but from your pics they looks happy. how much light are you using

TylerG99 said:

I would make sure to feed straight h2o for awhile, maybe until budding.

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You just recommended that he kill his plants.

wes2wright said:

I had to repot due to lime keeping PH fixed at 7. Didnt break any roots doing so though. And Wasnt that young so they would of grown back

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You did not have to repot. I have grown pot perfectly well in soils up to a pH of 8.0. Don't fall into the pH trap. It's another cannabis forum myth trap that has very little credibility. Cannabis is pretty pH tolerant. Nutrient uptake is what's key and yes that is related to a degree by a soil's pH.

Did you find a source for Dyna-Gro?

ph and nutrient uptake go hand in hand. im sure they will still use the nutrients at 8 but its definitely not optimal. also risky of getting lockout

Well there is a problem for sure. They look much better in the pics. Remember they are 7 weeks old!!! I have been growing now for a few years and usually have trees by now. I took some clones and also cut off dying leaves. Since then they have kind of been in stasis.

What is pissing me off is i just finished a grow using some seeds i had laying around the house. Dam customs nabbed last 2 orders of seeds. I finally got 1 though so started fresh. This is the result. All under the same dam conditions, same water and nutes etc. My runoff is 6.3 which should be great for them and whats really confusing is 1 is organic soil only being fed EWC tea and also has some symptons. A real mind fuck. I feel like its my first grow again!

I really need them to work as i live in Asia at the moment and getting seeds delivered is a real pain in the ass.

As i said i had cut off all bad leaves and was kind of in stasis for about 2 weeks after. now growing but not dying. The past few days the same cholrosis is starting to appear. Also have purple stems and tips pointing down. It seems like a lockout but PH is fine now

it almost looks like it could be a zinc deficiency..

it has to be a problem with your ph being too acidic from all that peat, you did say you added some dolomite. i would check my runoff and if thats not the problem i would do what ub suggested and getting yourself some grow nutes that contain all the micro's as that may well be where your problem lies.

As i just said Tyler runoff is 6.3 When watered with 6.5 so not this. Nutes are same i have been using for years, so again not this

You are right that it does sound like a zinc def maybe.

wes2wright said:

You are right that it does sound like a zinc def maybe.

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the only other thing i could think of is a lockout from chlorine or chloramide. but if youre using distilled and not tap then i really dont know what else it could be man, if you are using distilled maybe a calcium or magnesium deficieny.