Recommendations Welcome for plant health

[Newguy2022]

With soil every watering you want at least 10% runoff. Proper wet dry cycle is crucial in soil or you’ll head for lock out. pH is the thing that’ll mess everything up and lead you down rabbit hole you never thought you’d go down. Get the pH and soil pH in check and you’ll be good. If you want to grow autos, humboldt seed company has really stable auto lines.
Good luck

If my soil ph is say in the 7-8 range, how do I fix that? Add water that is a lower ph?

 

[BurnzYzBudZz]

If my soil ph is say in the 7-8 range, how do I fix that? Add water that is a lower ph?

So many ways to skin a cat. You’d have to flush constantly with a lower pH but that’s pretty useless as you’d be flushing all your nutrients out as well. Here’s a couple clips from a website:

• Alternative Ways to Lower or Raise pH When Growing Cannabis​

Besides using pH adjusters, you can also lower or raise the pH of your soil using a variety of natural products. Manure, compost, worm castings, compost teas, pine needles, and wood shavings all help gently lower the pH of your soil over time.

And another

1. If your pH is too high (too alkaline), we recommend adding small amounts of lemon juice or vinegar into your water when watering your plants (when growing in soil). For the best results, dilute the juice or vinegar in at least 5–10 parts water, apply it gradually, and continue testing your pH until you get a level you're happy with. If you’re using hydroponics, we recommend adding small amounts of pH down (1–2ml) to your reservoir at a time until you get the right pH reading.

Burnz

 

[BigBlonde]

If my soil ph is say in the 7-8 range, how do I fix that? Add water that is a lower ph?

Soil growing tends not to need pH adjustment. I am growing in Happy Frog with rice hulls as my only amendment. (I am also using Fox Farm nutrients.) My water's pH is 7.6. I'm just finishing the second week after the flip and my plants seem to be doing well with the water I'm using. Rice hulls help with drainage and decompose in the soil, which improves the soil (in my opinion).

It looks to me like you've done well. You should be able to harvest a crop. Now is a good time to start planning your next grow, making note of the things you could do better. I suggest filling your pots fuller, because the closer the soil is to the top, the better the air flow. Another suggestion is not to make more than one change at a time, because it's much easier to understand the effect(s) of the change.

Watering these plants is a common problem. They do surprisingly well in dry soil. I am using a soil moisture meter for the first time this grow. The first picture shows the meter. The second picture shows as much of the plant as I could get in the picture. In the picture, you'll see that the plant is doing well even though the moisture meter show that the soil is very dry. Notice also that the probe is pushed into the soil as far as it can go. That's about 10 inches and about 3/4 of the way to the bottom.

I find using these meters (that only cost about $10 on Amazon) has been very helpful. I measure the soil moisture once or twice a day. When the meter is low and the plants looks like they could use some water, I give them water (and nutrients, too, if it's time to feed). When I water, I add water until there's some runoff, but I haven't been measuring the runoff. When I see it start to drip, I stop adding water. I have the pots on plant elevators to help drainage and to aerate the bottom of the pot, as well as keep the soil warmer. Also, I recommend watering slowly to give the soil time to soak up the water. Adding water quickly can cause much of it to go straight through the soil without being absorbed.

The pictures were taken a week ago. Here's what the plant looks like today.

 

[Newguy2022]

Soil growing tends not to need pH adjustment. I am growing in Happy Frog with rice hulls as my only amendment. (I am also using Fox Farm nutrients.) My water's pH is 7.6. I'm just finishing the second week after the flip and my plants seem to be doing well with the water I'm using. Rice hulls help with drainage and decompose in the soil, which improves the soil (in my opinion).

It looks to me like you've done well. You should be able to harvest a crop. Now is a good time to start planning your next grow, making note of the things you could do better. I suggest filling your pots fuller, because the closer the soil is to the top, the better the air flow. Another suggestion is not to make more than one change at a time, because it's much easier to understand the effect(s) of the change.

Watering these plants is a common problem. They do surprisingly well in dry soil. I am using a soil moisture meter for the first time this grow. The first picture shows the meter. The second picture shows as much of the plant as I could get in the picture. In the picture, you'll see that the plant is doing well even though the moisture meter show that the soil is very dry. Notice also that the probe is pushed into the soil as far as it can go. That's about 10 inches and about 3/4 of the way to the bottom.

I find using these meters (that only cost about $10 on Amazon) has been very helpful. I measure the soil moisture once or twice a day. When the meter is low and the plants looks like they could use some water, I give them water (and nutrients, too, if it's time to feed). When I water, I add water until there's some runoff, but I haven't been measuring the runoff. When I see it start to drip, I stop adding water. I have the pots on plant elevators to help drainage and to aerate the bottom of the pot, as well as keep the soil warmer. Also, I recommend watering slowly to give the soil time to soak up the water. Adding water quickly can cause much of it to go straight through the soil without being absorbed.

View attachment 1318709

View attachment 1318710

The pictures were taken a week ago. Here's what the plant looks like today.

View attachment 1318712

This is great thank you so much

 

[Newguy2022]

So many ways to skin a cat. You’d have to flush constantly with a lower pH but that’s pretty useless as you’d be flushing all your nutrients out as well. Here’s a couple clips from a website:

• Alternative Ways to Lower or Raise pH When Growing Cannabis​

Besides using pH adjusters, you can also lower or raise the pH of your soil using a variety of natural products. Manure, compost, worm castings, compost teas, pine needles, and wood shavings all help gently lower the pH of your soil over time.

And another

1. If your pH is too high (too alkaline), we recommend adding small amounts of lemon juice or vinegar into your water when watering your plants (when growing in soil). For the best results, dilute the juice or vinegar in at least 5–10 parts water, apply it gradually, and continue testing your pH until you get a level you're happy with. If you’re using hydroponics, we recommend adding small amounts of pH down (1–2ml) to your reservoir at a time until you get the right pH reading.

Burnz

Great tip thank you for this!

 

[simonkay]

@BigBlonde
Hi, id appreciate some advice on water ph. Im using organic living soil with mushroom compost,peat,perl,verm,ewc,rockdust,leaf compost (aka humus i believe)& DE sprinkled on top soil.
I have 3 water sources: 1st- RO water @40ppm/ph 6.5- 6.8
2nd: pond water @200-250ppm/ph 7.0- 7.2
3rd: tap @450ppm/ph7.8- 8.0

Im currently mixing pond and ro water to get 150ppm/ph7ish then lemon juice to bring down to 6.5ph & EC 250ish.

Is this ok or would i be fine with just ro water and rely on the rockdust for minerals?
Im tempted to dilute the tap water with ro but locals say tap's got salt leeched in from being by the coast (not that it tastes funny)
Im just not sure on the parameters for water and dont wanna mess up. Tia