Peat_Phreak
- 540
- 143
peat, perlite, dolomite, silicate. SS#4 mix.what medium do you speak of ?
you don't have to periodically flush your media, a large drain each feed is enough
also monitoring your runoff ph is misleading
ph naturally climb in the medium as plants veg
perfectly normal
as long as you give enough nutrients, ph 5.5 with a large runoff you will not have issues
never flush plants heavily, especially at ph 3;0
If you have hard water (rich in calcium bicarbonate) use some nitric acid
also it gives a plant a boost in calcium byt conveting the calcium bicarb in calcium nitrate
so you basically grow in soil. i dont understand if you grow organic, or a mix of organic with mineral feed?
you do not need all these snake oils
If your veg nutrition is well balanced your ph should not climb so much
and i repeat myself, if you have hard water use nitric acid
if you do not listen to good advices i can't do anything for you
also i never understood the goal to grow in soil with mineral nutrients ? you would get 2x better results in coco or rockwool
you will never see pro growers or greenhouse operators feed at pH 3,0
20 grams of citric acid per gal
sweet jesus
you are on the wrong track
all you do by flushing heavily your roots is stressing the plants
as i said, DO NOT watch the ph of your runoff, just feed at the right ph (around ph 6 for peat), with some runoff, and OBSERVE the plants
Troll much?
A lot you still have to learn son.
@ PeatPhreak - I've run into your issue but at the opposite spectrum when growing in Coco Coir. My runoff and soil PH's always seemed to drop to around 4.8. In that setup I had RO water as my base that was PH'ing at around 8.5 or 9. With the addition of nutes it would test at around 7. I'd water at this PH level and test runoff that was testing at 5.8 - 6.0. I agree that your method is valid through my own experience although the addition of acid at those PH levels makes me nervous. I know you said you had no issues. I just wonder if you had any stunting due to shocking the roots with such an acidic solution.
I just wonder if you had any stunting due to shocking the roots with such an acidic solution
In nature, there are massive colonies of acid producing microbes that are in direct contact with the roots. They crank out undiluted acid 24/7. The pH of the acid is lower than 3. The acid is kept in check by the media and plant's alkaline exudates.I would think that regardless of the alkaline soil composition the raw acid that goes into contact with roots is what makes me nervous but if it's been working for you with no ill effects then continue.
Hmmmm....interesting....if you have any links to the studies I'd love to read them!!In nature, there are massive colonies of acid producing microbes that are in direct contact with the roots. They crank out undiluted acid 24/7. The pH of the acid is lower than 3. The acid is kept in check by the media and plant's alkaline exudates.
I have seen scientific papers where they are using a lot more acid than me and they are using stronger acids like sulfuric. They are able to drop the pH by 3 points with one super hot dose of sulfuric acid. That sounded too risky for me. So I did this.
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