Calcium is generally a good choice for raising your ph.. aka Garden Lime can be found pretty much anywhere.

You can use ph up I beleive nectar of the gods do a good one , from what I hear . Or get a half cup of dolomite lime mix with 2 gallons of water and use a cup or two mixed in with your watering regime be careful autos don't like to be wet . Also in future mix some dolomite in with your soil say a tablespoon full per pot (20 litres) . Did u inoculate with bacteria and fungi suplements . If not get a small bottle of yukult put half in with 2 litres bible overnight and keep around 20-25 c . Add to your next water . Dolomite bring ph up and cal/mag . The yolk as go bacteria to soil witch helps keep things regulated .

Raw911 said:

im using black gold soil for my auto flowers (1st time growing) and I'm putting in 6.5 water but run off is coming out at 4.6. So after doing some searching I've seen some calculation that says take ph of water in minus ph of water out this gives you soils ph.... (6.5-4.6=1.9 ph of soil?)
Not sure if that's right but anyway I know my soil ph is low. I'm in my 3 rd week of this auto flower and I know I don't have much time to adjust. What is suggested to use and how to apply to correct this issue?

All suggestions are appreciated!!!!

Also this is only my 2nd grow so not experienced at this at all YET!!!!

Thanks

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Get ur self some oyster shell flour. Mix 1 tbls per gallon of mix. It's a much better choice than dolomite. Reason being dolo is loaded with mag and it tightens up ur mix to much. If u can't get oyster shells dolo is fine. If u already have plants in the pot top dress a tbls at a time. Scratch it in an water. First couple waters may not show it but over time u will be fine. Soil usually starts out a little low out the bag but over time fixes itself. You should be fine. Good luck.

Sounds like you need to flush to me

I thought my pH in sunshine mix 4 was off..and no matter my intake ph ..my runoff stayed 7.0ish..if sroze up to 7.5 after tryna flush with low ppm..

So I learned to ignore runoff and only worry about the pH going in...if your plants are happy leave it alone..

Also I believe the pH runoff is very i

Inaccurate

What's the thought of soil recycling. ?

Here is my suggestion. As long as you are growing organic I wouldn't think of your runoff too much. My very first grow I can guarantee you that my runoff would have scared a lot of people into believing there was something wrong. I never Ph'd anything with organics. If your plants look good I wouldn't worry about it at all. If you are the type to try and "FIX" this no matter what, then my suggestion would be to pick up some hurculean harvest and Olympus up from nectar for the gods. Do a thorough flush with those two and that should help get your ph back in line

87Strange said:

I thought my pH in sunshine mix 4 was off..and no matter my intake ph ..my runoff stayed 7.0ish..if sroze up to 7.5 after tryna flush with low ppm..

So I learned to ignore runoff and only worry about the pH going in...if your plants are happy leave it alone..

Also I believe the pH runoff is very i

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this is wrong, if you know how to do a proper runoff test it works every time perfectly...i check runoff ph and tds constantly to make sure my feedings are ok, ph about once a month and tds about every week

when growing in soil, your soil ph is more important that your water ph...your soil can buffer the water ph to what it needs to intake the elements, you can haave a water ph of 8, and have a great soil with a ph of 6.2 but with a good buffer system loaded with microbes and it wont change a thing....but if you got soil ph at 8 aand water at 6.2, it wont change your soild ph and your roots wont be able to take that in...

whenever i mix my soil i always add about 4-6 cups of lime per 150 liter mix of soil...i like dolomite, but will use garden lime if they dont have dolomite...i also like to add crab shell meal, great source of calcium(15%)

Also want to throw in that a lot of folks use mycorhizae in organic soil grows. When they break down the organic matter they put out food for the plant in a pretty acidity form. As long as your microbes are in abundance and healthy you should be just fine with low ph runoff. If you are that concerned with getting it up into the range you're looking for then you should do a slurry test for ph in the soil. Much more accurate way to see what is going on.

Joe Fresh said:

this is wrong, if you know how to do a proper runoff test it works every time perfectly...i check runoff ph and tds constantly to make sure my feedings are ok, ph about once a month and tds about every week

when growing in soil, your soil ph is more important that your water ph...your soil can buffer the water ph to what it needs to intake the elements, you can haave a water ph of 8, and have a great soil with a ph of 6.2 but with a good buffer system loaded with microbes and it wont change a thing....but if you got soil ph at 8 aand water at 6.2, it wont change your soild ph and your roots wont be able to take that in...

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if im wrong then explain why people have posted "i flushed my 5gal plant with 40 gallons of water and the runoff wont go down"

My advice, do a slurry test. Much more accurate. Also olympus up and herculean harvest from Nectar for the gods, will definitely help you solve this issue. Anyone who tells you to ignore your run off, or ignore the ph of your medium is wrong. Its much easier to control your waters ph , but if soil is off your plants will lock out and not take in any food, causing a build up and leading to ph problems within soil. I dnt test runoff i prefer slurry much accurate and gives you a much clearer picture of whats happening in the soil. I would say i agree w/ @Tnelz @Ned Kelly & @Danky Mcnugs
Respect

Danky Mcnugs said:

Also want to throw in that a lot of folks use mycorhizae in organic soil grows. When they break down the organic matter they put out food for the plant in a pretty acidity form. As long as your microbes are in abundance and healthy you should be just fine with low ph runoff. If you are that concerned with getting it up into the range you're looking for then you should do a slurry test for ph in the soil. Much more accurate way to see what is going on.

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Which Black Gold soil are you using? I have never used it, & don't feel like looking them all up. It may have Mykos already in it, which if you read Danky's post I quoted above, could explain what is happening. Or perhaps you added Mykos into the soil yourself (I always do) When you made the soil recipe did you add lime? In other words, what was your soil PH before?

As mentioned, (I'm just tacking on another vote) do a slurry test, much easier to see what is going on in my opinion. You are using calculations to try to figure something out, when there is already a simple, direct, test you can do to know your soil PH.

I can also vouch for the Nectar for the Gods Olympus Up if you are soil. Also mentioned, the Herculean Harvest. All the soil grows I have done have been with Nectar for the Gods, so I'm pretty familiar with them. If you find the right store, they were giving away free boxes of the intermediate nutrients. I think I got 8 bottles with the Olympus Up & Khaos Bloom added. The boxes are sent to the retailer with a large sticker that says "Free samples only, not for resale," or something to that effect. Of course, if you find a store that still has that, you have to spend a little money for them to want to give you a large box of nutes.

But see what your soil PH actually is, & we can go from there. As mentioned, your water PH is not as important in soil. My water is 6.4, I would say the average ph of my soil was 5.8, but my runoff would also be right around 5.8. Which, I guess, is not happening for you.

As a side note, I'm willing to bet you are doing Autos because someone told you to start out easy. In my opinion, there is nothing easier about Autos except for not having to change the light cycle if you so desire. But how hard is it to put a light on a timer? I think I've run 10 autos total, just for the experience, & I didn't find anything about them that made me prefer them over photos. In fact, the only one I grew that was actually a good product was an Ak49. All the others were nothing like their photo cousins. Obviously, I haven't tried them all, but the ones I have tried, I was not impressed with.

So, some people say to start out with Autos, because it's easier. I think they are actually harder, because you don't have veg time, or control of when it flips. If you were doing photos, you can easily control exactly how you want your plant to grow. Top it, lst it, & I like to do a variation of a scrog. Once you have your plants where you want them, with tops nice & even, good spacing etc, you yield far more, & in my opinion better bud. A real example, the auto White Widow & the photo WW I grew, from the same company were nothing alike, in any aspect. The auto yielded 1.5 oz, the photo yielded 10 oz. Taste, high, yield, smell...just not in the same league.

So I would do photos on your next run. If you prefer the autos, I'll eat my hat. If you want suggestions on easy photos to run (not fragile or finicky) you can message me, or start a thread in the appropriate section. Some strains are not the easiest for a beginner, but there are SO MANY others strains that will take almost anything you can throw at it.

Do that slurry test! I'm interested in what is going on here...

87Strange said:

if im wrong then explain why people have posted "i flushed my 5gal plant with 40 gallons of water and the runoff wont go down"

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probably because their inexperienced and dont know how to feed or flush properly? or maybe too luch lime in the soil the ph wont drop?... lol idk...but if you know anything about agriculture, than you would know soil ph is way more important than water ph, they are both important, but soil ph and cec will be bigger factors than water ph

i didnt say the PH in the medium wasnt important,i just stated that the way they are checking the runoff is noted as not being accurate, there for they are trying to adjust the mediums inaccurate PH ***reading***,making actual problems for the plant when maybe there was none in the first place.

which is why others have mentioned the slurry test.