Sos ! Ph Of My Soil Low Any Help Appreciated.

[newbie1]

Hi folks. Ive got 5 plants growing under 600 watt dual spectrum lamp (cool tube reflector) i have an exhaust fan and carbon filter and a straight pipe drawing fresh air. I am growing in a 120 - 120 - 200 cm grow tent. Im growing in soil, verve b& q special lol. I have a mixture of roughly 25% perlite and 75% soil. Ive been feeding bio grow 2ml per ltr, and earlier in the grow was adding calmag, which ive now stopped using after some good advice. i water and feed every 3 days. My tap water after being left to stand more than 24 hours phd at 7.3 however when i done a slurry test on 2 of my plants one phd at 5.4 the other 5.6. After looking on a chart it would seem im well out of range. Quite worried as to how this is going to effect my plants :-( is there a method where i can raise the ph of the soil. They are due to be watered and fed tonight. Many thanks NEWB.

 

[Homesteader]

What is in your soil? Is it mostly peat? Can you get some lime? dolomitic limestone would help raise it the fastest I believe but it wont happen overnight. Garden lime, oyster shell, egg shell.

 

[keiksweat]

Ph your water a couple of points higher than were you wanna be at.so say you wanna be at 6.0,then water em at 6.2 and so on.always works for me.and give plenty of run off.also sillic acid will bring up your ph but be careful.always do a bucket full and double check.hope this helps.personally I'd go with the sillica if your not using a sillica product already. keiks....

 

[Slownickel]

Lime at this point is going to take a while to get your pH up. Calcium nitrate will raise your pH quickly and will get some calcium into the system. Lime will help if you get a fine grind. I would also put on a bit of gypsum to get more soluble calcium into your mix quickly. Gypsum will get down deep quickly. Lime will take a year or so to get down deep.

 

[newbie1]

What is in your soil? Is it mostly peat? Can you get some lime? dolomitic limestone would help raise it the fastest I believe but it wont happen overnight. Garden lime, oyster shell, egg shell.

Unfortunately Homesteader the soil does'nt list ingredients so not sure if its more peat or not. I think Garden centre stocks lime, ill check it out. Many thanks :-)

 

[newbie1]

Ph your water a couple of points higher than were you wanna be at.so say you wanna be at 6.0,then water em at 6.2 and so on.always works for me.and give plenty of run off.also sillic acid will bring up your ph but be careful.always do a bucket full and double check.hope this helps.personally I'd go with the sillica if your not using a sillica product already. keiks....

Hi Keiksweat. Ive looked at sillica on ebay, firstly going to try the adjustment of water ph as you first mentioned. And if that fails ill try the other. How do you adjust ph in your water ? i have ph up/down but have been told not to use in organic grow. many thanks for your help :-)

 

[Slownickel]

Download and read the book that I posted in the stem rot conversation. It will explain what you need to learn about the most important element in any grow.

 

[keiksweat]

Ph can be adjusted with lemon juice,vinegar,citric acid lime,sulphur...personally I'd ph up a bucket of water,you'll be fine.only need a couple of drops.aint gonna wipe out your bennies this once.then if prob return,get some sillica.

 

[Homesteader]

I believe you are going to have a hard time raising and holding a soil that acidic with just water.
http://www.spectrumanalytic.com/support/library/ff/soil_buffer_ph.htm
http://homeguides.sfgate.com/ph-water-affect-ph-soil-74237.html

 

[newbie1]

Download and read the book that I posted in the stem rot conversation. It will explain what you need to learn about the most important element in any grow.

Thanks Slownickel i will do that. Much appreciated :-)

 

[newbie1]

Ph can be adjusted with lemon juice,vinegar,citric acid lime,sulphur...personally I'd ph up a bucket of water,you'll be fine.only need a couple of drops.aint gonna wipe out your bennies this once.then if prob return,get some sillica.

I believe you are going to have a hard time raising and holding a soil that acidic with just water.
http://www.spectrumanalytic.com/support/library/ff/soil_buffer_ph.htm
http://homeguides.sfgate.com/ph-water-affect-ph-soil-74237.html

Thanks Homesteader that made for an interesting read. :-)

 

[Toaster79]

What do your plants look like?

 

[newbie1]

What do your plants look like?

Ive got 5 going. 1 has some leaf curl developing :-( the others look surprisingly healthy :-)

 

[Toaster79]

So what is it you're trying to fix here?

 

[Tomba]

5.6-5.8 sounds good to me

 

[keiksweat]

Is that were your at?thought you were way off.if they look ok ,leave em.if not,ph it a little.plenty of run off.you'll be ok pal.good luck.

 

[newbie1]

So what is it you're trying to fix here?

Hi Toaster my run off ph was very low and put me in panic mode. Dont know if something caused misreadings first time but like i say last watering run off was 5.8 - 5.9 Had a little leaf curl on one of plants making me think it was a ph issue but they seem fine :-) Thanks for your help bro :-)

 

[newbie1]

Is that were your at?thought you were way off.if they look ok ,leave em.if not,ph it a little.plenty of run off.you'll be ok pal.good luck.

Last watering was very low ph bro but this time seems a lot better so not sure waht occured but all seems fine now :-) thanks for help bro :-)

 

[Homesteader]

Temp of soil possibly?

 

[keiksweat]

Last watering was very low ph bro but this time seems a lot better so not sure waht occured but all seems fine now :-) thanks for help bro :-)

see,all good lad,no need to panic.now build a joint n kick back...