Yep Im for sure a newbie! Ph is a nightmare. Or is my soil Meter broke?

Hello I am Wiz. New to the forum. New to growing.

PH is a freaking nightmare. I cant seem to get the soil under a 7 to save my life.

I add 6.5 Ph water. Still over a 7.

I add 6.0 still over a 7.

I add 5.5 still over a freaking 7.......

I am using white vinegar to lower the Ph as the water I am using is 8.0.

What am I doing wrong? Any help would be great.

More details about your soil would be helpful.

Wattzzup said:

More details about your soil would be helpful.

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Yep for sure. Sorry I missed that. 3 of the plants are in Mother earth groundswell.

The other 3 are in recipe 420 potting soil

Wizzlebiz said:

Hello I am Wiz. New to the forum. New to growing.

PH is a freaking nightmare. I cant seem to get the soil under a 7 to save my life.

I add 6.5 Ph water. Still over a 7.

I add 6.0 still over a 7.

I add 5.5 still over a freaking 7.......

I am using white vinegar to lower the Ph as the water I am using is 8.0.

What am I doing wrong? Any help would be great.

Click to expand...

Ph'ing your water is important with other mediums, but not so much with soil. Just use your normal tap water. Trying to change the soil's ph would cause you more issues than anything. Most soils are ph buffered and have about 1-2 months of slow release nutes. Just focus on watering properly and the plant will uptake what it needs for nice growth. Advice that you didn't ask for: Try to maintain all the variables with growing, and dont hone in on one thing too much because that's when things become unbalanced.

Dont use vinegar.

Hydrowannabe said:

Ph'ing your water is important with other mediums, but not so much with soil. Just use your normal tap water. Trying to change the soil's ph would cause you more issues than anything. Most soils are ph buffered and have about 1-2 months of slow release nutes. Just focus on watering properly and the plant will uptake what it needs for nice growth. Advice that you didn't ask for: Try to maintain all the variables with growing, and dont hone in on one thing too much because that's when things become unbalanced.

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Appreciate that will keep it in mind.

waterproof808 said:

Dont use vinegar.

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I'm sure your right. Im a understand it type of fella. Care to explain why?

Wizzlebiz said:

Hello I am Wiz. New to the forum. New to growing.

PH is a freaking nightmare. I cant seem to get the soil under a 7 to save my life.

I add 6.5 Ph water. Still over a 7.

I add 6.0 still over a 7.

I add 5.5 still over a freaking 7.......

I am using white vinegar to lower the Ph as the water I am using is 8.0.

What am I doing wrong? Any help would be great.

Click to expand...

I'm pretty sure I already know the problem. Are you testing with this meter?

PadawanWarrior said:

I'm pretty sure I already know the problem. Are you testing with this meter?

Amazon.com: Ruolan Soil Ph Meter for Soil Test Kit with pH Moisture Meter PrecisionTest Soil Ph Plant for Garden Indoor & Outdoor, No Batteries Required: Home & Kitchen

Buy Ruolan Soil Ph Meter for Soil Test Kit with pH Moisture Meter PrecisionTest Soil Ph Plant for Garden Indoor & Outdoor, No Batteries Required: Soil Test Kits - Amazon.com ✓ FREE DELIVERY possible on eligible purchases

www.amazon.com

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This meter reads the same no matter what your PH is. I've tested it. You need a good one as @PadawanWarrior will attest to.

DoubleAtotheRON said:

This meter reads the same no matter what your PH is. I've tested it. You need a good one as @PadawanWarrior will attest to.

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I bought one too. Then I tested it and it always read like 7.2 or something. It was worthless. I sent it back the next day, lol.

Wizzlebiz said:

I'm sure your right. Im a understand it type of fella. Care to explain why?

Click to expand...

vinegar is used as a DIY herbicide.

Are you actually having PH related problems with your plants? There are alternative ways of buffering your ph in soil, like using lime for example.

PadawanWarrior said:

I'm pretty sure I already know the problem. Are you testing with this meter?

Amazon.com: Ruolan Soil Ph Meter for Soil Test Kit with pH Moisture Meter PrecisionTest Soil Ph Plant for Garden Indoor & Outdoor, No Batteries Required: Home & Kitchen

Buy Ruolan Soil Ph Meter for Soil Test Kit with pH Moisture Meter PrecisionTest Soil Ph Plant for Garden Indoor & Outdoor, No Batteries Required: Soil Test Kits - Amazon.com ✓ FREE DELIVERY possible on eligible purchases

www.amazon.com

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Yep. Thats the meter....

Did you calibrate the pH meter? You should do that anytime you use a pH meter because even slight taps against a meter can effect it. I mean, I have a older hanna, that really never needs calibrating, but I still check it before I use it. I also have a few of those cheap pH meters that I have to loan out to people and they even work well, but again, they need to be calibrated before use! And if you don't have any calibration liquid, you can use things like Coke pH 2.5, or Pepsi pH 2.6 for your calibration liquid!

Wizzlebiz said:

Yep. Thats the meter....

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And that's your problem. Send it back if you still can. Your soil pH isn't what you think it is. It's probably fine right now.

EB STONE Recipe 420 is a killer soil and does not need ph adjustments... run tap and just grow.

This is the soil that is comparable to FFOF but a mild version. This the soil i do with my layered FFOF / recipe 420 layered water only grows.

waterproof808 said:

Dont use vinegar.

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yeah i know an outdoor grower trying to use vinegar lmao.. totally ruined his plants.

waterproof808 said:

vinegar is used as a DIY herbicide.

Are you actually having PH related problems with your plants? There are alternative ways of buffering your ph in soil, like using lime for example.

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He's trying to lower his pH so lime isn't going to help with that. Aluminum sulphate would lower it quick but is tricky so not great for rookies.

Wizzlebiz said:

I'm sure your right. Im a understand it type of fella. Care to explain why?

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Vinegar is a weak organic acid and has little power to affect the pH in your soil. Proper pH down will lower the water pH but won't do much to chance the pH in the root zone unless you use lots of it and that's dangerous and probably not needed at all.

Unless your pH is way high you don't need to do anything when growing in real soil. The plants can actually adjust the pH around their roots to make sure it's good and also release sugars to feed the micro-herd if present.

Meters aren't worth crap and even the best and most expensive ones only give a ballpark estimate in soils. You'll make yourself nutso chasing the perfect pH so just leave it unless you're seeing pH related problems with your plants. People that use high ppm, high alkalinity tap water end up with minerals from the water building up in the soil and throwing everything off eventually.

piratebug said:

you can use things like Coke pH 2.5, or Pepsi pH 2.6 for your calibration liquid!

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I would not trust readings that were calibrated off anything that acidic. The reason you calibrate at 7 and 4 is so your meter is dialed into the range that encloses the range you will be working in for accuracy. Not to mention the crap in sodas will likely gum up the reference electrode.

PadawanWarrior said:

I bought one too. Then I tested it and it always read like 7.2 or something. It was worthless. I sent it back the next day, lol.

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Yea..... sounds like what I'm experiencing