Lemon Juice/ph Down Side By Side

  • Thread starter Growin Grass
  • Start date
  • Tagged users None
Growin Grass

Growin Grass

823
143
Has anyone here done it or seen results of it???
I'm talking about a real side by side, not "I grow pounds so my way is the only"
 
caregiverken

caregiverken

Fear Not!
Supporter
11,535
438
I use citric acid powder to lower my ph
20150129 055902 1
 
Last edited:
Growin Grass

Growin Grass

823
143
Not sure why you need a side by side study of lemon juice as a ph down. it doesn't hurt the plant and it works, so why bother?
When looking it up I saw (I don't think it was on this site) a huge thread war over the topic so I thought maybe someone would have given it a try
 
HiGro

HiGro

187
63
Just wondering what kind of setup you running? Lights, System, Grow Media, Nute's?
 
Growin Grass

Growin Grass

823
143
1000w mh, closed enviro 240cfm exhaust/passive intake, coco/soil mix, GH Flora Series
Lots of upgrades planned but I figured for my first, it'll do.
 
HiGro

HiGro

187
63
Nice yeah the lemon juice works but from experience its takes a lot of it and for me raises my PPM too high I've been using GH up n down works good doesn't raise my ppm to high good luck happy farming
 
tobh

tobh

Supporter
4,194
263
I've used both, though not side by side. only complaint with lemon juice, as previously stated, is it raises the ppm a lot. my tap water comes out at around 8 to 8.3 pH, and i use 2 1/2 tsp. of lemon juice to get the pH down to 5.7. imo, ph down would be better simply for the sake of having more ppm available for nutrients.

I did however monitor the pH of a gallon of tap water that i used lemon juice to pH and it didn't have a crazy swing like i had read. it did rise, but only by a point and this was over a span of like four days. so i don't really believe a lot of the animosity toward it. if it works, use it. if you don't like it, then don't. no need to fuss over it.
 
Bob Dobelina

Bob Dobelina

2
3
If you're growing in soil and want to grow organic, lemon juice or citric acid powder both work well for adjusting water ph. In my case, we're on a well and my tap water is on the soft side (50 ppm) with a ph in the high 6's. Once I add calmag to up the ppm of dissolved solids to an ideal range (around 150-200 ppm) it's up to around 7. 1 teaspoon of lemon juice per quart of water takes it down to around 6 for me, but different waters can behave differently depending on the types of dissolved solids so be sure to use a ph test kit to ensure you've got your water where you want it. Also, be sure to add the lemon juice or citric acid powder last if you're adding liquid nutes like nitrogen or calmag to your water since some nutes can change the ph of the solution. I've never grown hydro so I can't comment on it's effectiveness in that medium.
 
Bob Dobelina

Bob Dobelina

2
3
If you're growing in soil and want to grow organic, lemon juice or citric acid powder both work well for adjusting water ph. In my case, we're on a well and my tap water is on the soft side (50 ppm) with a ph in the high 6's. Once I add calmag to up the ppm of dissolved solids to an ideal range (around 150-200 ppm) it's up to around 7. 1 teaspoon of lemon juice per quart of water takes it down to around 6 for me, but different waters can behave differently depending on the types of dissolved solids so be sure to use a ph test kit to ensure you've got your water where you want it. Also, be sure to add the lemon juice or citric acid powder last if you're adding liquid nutes like nitrogen or calmag to your water since some nutes can change the ph of the solution. I've never grown hydro so I can't comment on it's effectiveness in that medium.
PS, besides being organic, an added benefit to using citric acid or lemon juice is that it levels out higher than it initially reads. According to Soma, since different nutes have different ph levels for optimum absorption that range from 6.2 to 6.6, using citric acid allows you to drop the ph to 6, then as ph raises over the next 8 hours the plant gets some time with ph at optimum levels for nutrient absorption of various nutrients.
 
prospero

prospero

119
43
Hi folks. I ran out of ph down and im using lemon juice instead. Everything seems fine 4 days later. Need a lot of juice though mixing 20 ltr nutes. Saved my neck any way :-)
 
Top Bottom