Recycled amended soil high in ph/ppm

[StalkerAF]

Hello all.

I am testing out recycling my organic soil from the last grow and added an assortment from down to earth amendments gathered from a recipe I found from 420 scene on you tube. I test and learn a lot from him.

Question :

The current soil ph level is 7.5+ which looks like I can add elemental sulfur to easily fix this. I have not replanted with this soil yet and it’s in a compost bin.

When I check the ppm level of the soil from a slurry mix, it’s maxed over 3000ppm. Should I be concerned about this? How would I control this other than flushing because the soil is in a compost bin currently.

Not in a rush to transplant because I’m in the middle of mainlining the next lady so there’s some time to play around with the recycled soil.

Thanks a lot for any advice!

 

[dankstranger]

Don't freak out man, those numbers aren't as bad as they look. You got time to fix this before you transplant.

That pH of 7.5 is a bit high but fresh soil mixes always read high at first, especially if you added lime or oyster shell. It'll come down as it cooks. You want it around 6.2-6.8 for cannabis.

The 3000+ PPM thing - don't put too much stock in that. Those EC pens read everything dissolved in there, not just what the plants can actually use. In living soil a lot of that stuff isn't even available yet. It just means the mix is hot for seedlings right now.

Let it cook for a few weeks. Get it to that wrung out sponge moisture level and let it sit, turn it once a week. That alone usually drops the pH and evens out the salts as the microbes do their thing.

If it's still too hot after cooking, just cut it with some fresh base mix. Like 30-50% fresh peat or coco with some perlite and a little compost. Way easier than trying to flush a whole bin.

For the pH you can add a little elemental sulfur, maybe 1-2 teaspoons per cubic foot. Don't go crazy with it though, takes time to work and you can overshoot. Or just mix in some peat moss, that'll bring it down too.

Before you transplant anything test it with some radish seeds or a throwaway clone. If they don't burn up after a week you're good to go.

You can also transplant into lighter mix around the root ball and let them grow into the hotter stuff once they're established. Works good.