TLO - ph adjustment - without killing microlife

[bigbossbud]

ive switched from commercial ph down to apple cider vinegar. dont know how well this works if at all... trying to see if anyone else has experiance in this area.

 

[MARTA]

It works, but is not that stable...

Citric Acid is what you want for pH down.

I use Earth Juice Natural Down, which is granulated citric acid, for TLO.

 

[L-Immortal]

Ph adjustment is really insignificant in the grand scheme. Meaning whatever it does kill will only be a small % of the millions of bennies you are introducing to your soil.

 

[MARTA]

Ph adjustment is really insignificant in the grand scheme. Meaning whatever it does kill will only be a small % of the millions of bennies you are introducing to your soil.

This is acceptable, but not optimal.

The difference in performance is measurable.

 

[bigbossbud]

thanks for that... i was thinking that it was unstable myself but wasnt sure if i had other problems. thanks for the tip on the citric acid.i shouldve known that.

 

[casmel]

What will i use when i want ph more alkaline ??

 

[LBH]

baking soda, but again, not optimal. Why not just use the products designed for this?

 

[MARTA]

What will i use when i want ph more alkaline ??

Earth Juice also makes Natural Up, which is a stabilized Hydroxide.

This is optimal for raising pH, while maintaining a productive soil-food web with organic chelation.

 

[andytoker]

another vote for citric acid - not only does it bring pH down but it also keeps P in solution.

buy food grade citric acid crystals - cheep on ebay - it's used in wine and jam making. use 1 tablespoon of the powder in a pint of water and you have a bottle of very cheep pH down. i use a couple of tablespoons of this solution in a can of water to get my pH down to around 6.

 

[Buddy Hemphill]

oops .. shoulda posted in this thread. Paying attention aint my forte'...

EJ catalyst is strong and organic for down.

hell...it's bene food, right? molasses, seaweed, bran, oats..

 

[time2shine]

as i see it ph dosent matter in tlo and as long as your soil life is happy they will deal with that for you..make sure your microlife is thriving and your ph will fall right into line.... if your using chem products in tlo and it killed your microlife thats probaby why your ph is out of wack.

a healthy portion of dolomite lime in your mix should also help buffer it at 7

 

[Brosnan2]

lemon juice man.

too easy i use it all the time

 

[Buddy Hemphill]

as i see it ph dosent matter in tlo and as long as your soil life is happy they will deal with that for you..make sure your microlife is thriving and your ph will fall right into line.... if your using chem products in tlo and it killed your microlife thats probaby why your ph is out of wack.

a healthy portion of dolomite lime in your mix should also help buffer it at 7

No chem products.

IMHO...better safe than sorry. It takes 5 minutes, tops, to ph. Somebody like me, that is still learning basics, prolly shouldn't be advised not to ph. Unless they KNOW about the micro's and herd health AND their particular soil situation. Which a noob usually doesn't.

 

[Seamaiden]

Buddy, if you're only taking 5mins to watch pH, you're not watching it long enough. It will move, then bounce, depending on alkalinity of the source water and other compounds (how they might latch onto cat/anions). It takes me fully 30mins to pH my feed for my coco girls, and if I wait long enough it absolutely will shift further.

What will i use when i want ph more alkaline ??

I personally would dissolve dolomitic lime in RO water. It takes some agitation and some time, but believe you me, once dissolved that pH will NOT fucking shift!

The best method I've found for driving pH down and keeping it shifted down is to filter through peat. I used to do it for my more delicate wild-caught South American fishes when other methods would kill them. And what kills most quickly is a huge pH bounce, IME (with fish). Getting it shifted down is a pain in the ass, especially if it hasn't been filtered of mineral content at all, because if it hasn't it's going to bounce back up.

Getting pH shifted up is so easy, so incredibly easy, here are three things that you can just keep in the water that will keep it shifted up. and you'll get the added benefit of calcium:
Dolomitic lime (or dolomite, same thing pretty much, but dolomite is prettier to look at).
Crushed coral
Crushed oyster shell

 

[Buddy Hemphill]

Buddy, if you're only taking 5mins to watch pH, you're not watching it long enough. It will move, then bounce, depending on alkalinity of the source water and other compounds (how they might latch onto cat/anions). It takes me fully 30mins to pH my feed for my coco girls, and if I wait long enough it absolutely will shift further.

I personally would dissolve dolomitic lime in RO water. It takes some agitation and some time, but believe you me, once dissolved that pH will NOT fucking shift!

The best method I've found for driving pH down and keeping it shifted down is to filter through peat. I used to do it for my more delicate wild-caught South American fishes when other methods would kill them. And what kills most quickly is a huge pH bounce, IME (with fish). Getting it shifted down is a pain in the ass, especially if it hasn't been filtered of mineral content at all, because if it hasn't it's going to bounce back up.

Getting pH shifted up is so easy, so incredibly easy, here are three things that you can just keep in the water that will keep it shifted up. and you'll get the added benefit of calcium:
Dolomitic lime (or dolomite, same thing pretty much, but dolomite is prettier to look at).
Crushed coral
Crushed oyster shell

I mix whatever I am using that day and bubble it for a few hours and then adjust the ph and feed immediately.

Are you saying wait a half hour or so after I ph? and then readjust after it settles down?

 

[genepool]

I've been using mostly organic nutes & seeing good results while using ph down. haven't seen much of a problem with the plants being unhappy. I really think it's a matter of how much u use. I'd agree that the micro life if healthy in the medium will over come the ph down but I'm no pro just goin from what I'm seeing with my own eyes. But that don't mean that I'm not taking down notes of what everyone else is doin. lots of good info thanks peeps good talk.

 

[bigbossbud]

the post stating that the ph fluctuates hits a nerve with me. ive given up on ph meters because pf this. i was thinking the water might have been to cold but i dont know. i started using the liquid test kits. i know it seems cheesy but it seems to work. but i dont know now i think i need to just wait longer and adjust accordingly. anyone else have problems with squirelly ph readings from the meters.

 

[Seamaiden]

I like colorimetric titration tests, it's what I cut my teeth on. But, there's a lot to be said for switching a meter on and dropping the probe into the mix and getting numbers right out of it. I recalibrate my meters pretty religiously, too.

I mix whatever I am using that day and bubble it for a few hours and then adjust the ph and feed immediately.

Are you saying wait a half hour or so after I ph? and then readjust after it settles down?

A few hours is a minimum period, but reactions may not have finished at that point. What you might want to do is mix up a half batch the way you usually do it, and mix one up where you adjust, then wait and measure again and see what happens. If the pH is still stable a half hour after you've made adjustments, then you know that your combination is stable and don't have to worry about it so much.

But I have found that, especially when working with RO/DI water, the pH bounces around quite a lot and I have to wait a while to let things settle down. I'm better off mixing a day ahead and letting it bubble, then worrying about adjusting pH (which still takes a while).

I don't know if volume mixed has anything to do with the time spent on pHing, but it does seem like I spend more time on it now that I'm mixing up several times more nutrients at once.

 

[Damu420]

I replyed on wrong topic sorry

 

[CT Guy]

What is your pH that you're adjusting from? What's your soil mix? Why do you feel the need to adjust your pH anyway?

The microbes will buffer your pH in your soil naturally for you. I don't even bother with a pH meter, and for the most part in an organic system it's unnecessary. (though I'm sure I'll get eaten alive for this). :-)