Water PH and soil question

Hi, I tested my water last night and it hit an easy 8 on the Ph scale. I used Ph Down and did a good solid watering with Ph 7.5 water.

The soil is a quality seedling soil from yates, I have not got a soil test kit but I assume it would be a suitable Ph. (50/50 soil/Perlite)

Will it be ok to bring the next watering tonight to a Ph of 6 and return to a regular watering schedule from this point on? The seedlings are very young.

Should I purchase a test kit for the soil anyway?

Thank you.

for soil, i would say you want to keep your ph anywhere between 6.3 to 6.8.. too high or too low and you will experience lots of problems with nutrient uptake and lockout..
once you start to feed them with nutes, only ph your soil after you add the nutes as i know that my tapwater has a ph of 8.6 or so, and after i add my foxfarms nutes, it drops down by a full two points.. so if i was to ph my water before adding the nutes, i would have to add the ph down, and then after i added the nutes, i would now have to add ph up..

LogicalEvolution said:

Hi, I tested my water last night and it hit an easy 8 on the Ph scale. I used Ph Down and did a good solid watering with Ph 7.5 water.

The soil is a quality seedling soil from yates, I have not got a soil test kit but I assume it would be a suitable Ph. (50/50 soil/Perlite)

Will it be ok to bring the next watering tonight to a Ph of 6 and return to a regular watering schedule from this point on? The seedlings are very young.

Should I purchase a test kit for the soil anyway?

Thank you.

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As it seems like you already know a pH of 8 is way too high for any type of marijuana growing. Ideal pH for soil growing is 6.5 so its good that you are trying to bring it down. Make sure you bring the pH down slowly over the course of a couple waterings. I would take 4-5 waterings rather than the 2 your suggesting.

As someone else has already noted make sure you are adjusting the pH after you add any nutrients and avoid under all circumstances using both pH up and down.

I would definetly get a soil pH test kit unless you can verify the pH of your soil some other way. Try contacting the manufacturer or reading the bag closely to see what it says.

Since your seedlings are very young you should wait 2-3 weeks before beginning to use nutrients.

check your run off. If you water with a ph 6=6.5 and watch your run off ph. you'll be fine.

I know its a pain in the ass and some people dont agree with me but this is fact. You must adjust your ph as your mixing your nutrients. I mix my 2 part first. Then adjust the ph. After its good i can now add the additives. Then ph again to make sure its good then add to your res or in your case water the soil. What the differance? When you dont adjust the ph bofore adding the additives you may have a ph level that is harmfull to the microbes etc that are in your additives.
Nitriants are expensive dont waste them by killing the good stuff in them before they get a chance to to thier thing. Hope this helps. Oh you didnt mention if you have a digi ph or not. if not Id get one today.

I agree. I've been using the same for so long it's just the regular procedure.

The seedlings are too young for nutes yet, I have begun adjusting the Ph, it will only work out to about three waterings before it sits at 6ish. I may pick up a soil test kit in the next few days, definitely before I re pot them.

Fun & Games!!!