Compost Tea And Ph

[Growin Grass]

I'm using a five gallon bucket with a pvc aerator approx 18 hrs brew time
2 cups Oly Compost
3 TBS alfalfa meal
3 TBS Kelp meal
1 TBS molasses
3 ml Sea Green before and after brewing
ph starts at 6.8
ph is 6.8 one hour after
but next morning is just under 8 (before and after adding second dose of Sea Green)
Is it the bennies that cause the ph spike as they colonize or ???
It also seems to take much more ph down (GH) to get it in the ideal range

 

[john martin]

I brew my Roots Organics nutrients before applying them. The brewing process raises the PH from high 4s to low 6s.

Maybe you can figure out which ingredient is mostly responsible for the raise in PH and go lighter on that.

I don't think you want to ever go over 6.8, but I also think the microbes will balance things out once in the soil.

Nectar for the Gods line has good PH up/down products that won't kill your micro-herd.

 

[Blaze]

If it's a good tea the microbes will balance out the pH where it needs to be. From my understanding of it, you can't really get an accurate pH or PPM reading on tea anyway so I wouldn't worry about it too much.

 

[Seamaiden]

You can get an accurate pH reading from a tea, what you can't get is an accurate mS (EC) reading.

@Growin Grass -- my guess is that what you're observing is the alkalinity of the source water causing a pH bounce, and in my experience you're better off leaving it be rather than trying to push it down. If you need it pushed down, push the water column down before you start brewing the tea, then brew. Also, try to use softer water in the mix.

 

[Growin Grass]

You can get an accurate pH reading from a tea, what you can't get is an accurate mS (EC) reading.

@Growin Grass -- my guess is that what you're observing is the alkalinity of the source water causing a pH bounce, and in my experience you're better off leaving it be rather than trying to push it down. If you need it pushed down, push the water column down before you start brewing the tea, then brew. Also, try to use softer water in the mix.

so start ~ 5.5 in hopes of it not bouncing back up so high?

 

[Seamaiden]

I can't really say without knowing a little more about the source water. If it's high in carbonates or bicarbonates, you're going to have to push it down to around 4.0 or so to prevent a bounce above 7. That means either using RO so it's easier to shift pH, or using a good bit of acid to push it down, or a combination of the two. If you're growing outside, I seriously would not worry about it, though, I'd just go with the tea as it is.