Is ph up and down needed for soil grows?

[VACAVILLE,CA.GROWER]

Hello I was just wanting to know if ph up/down really needed for soil grows?

 

[a senile fungus]

Depends on your soil and what you're feeding them.

I haven't pHed at all in over a year, but my situation is likely different than yours.

How about some background info on what soil you use and what nutrient program you're going with?

 

[zchopper420]

Ph up for sure i use h&g and the ph comes out to like 4.3 before ph. I have never had to use ph down. I don't see how people that use chem ferts can get away without checking ph. Every base i have ever used drops the ph way down in ro water

 

[VACAVILLE,CA.GROWER]

Depends on your soil and what you're feeding them.

I haven't pHed at all in over a year, but my situation is likely different than yours.

How about some background info on what soil you use and what nutrient program you're going with?

I will be using 50% ocean forest and 50% happy frog with perlite also added. I will be using GH nutes veg/micro/bloom.

 

[VACAVILLE,CA.GROWER]

Ph up for sure i use h&g and the ph comes out to like 4.3 before ph. I have never had to use ph down. I don't see how people that use chem ferts can get away without checking ph. Every base i have ever used drops the ph way down in ro water

Thank you for the reply. I will be using just tap water.

 

[zchopper420]

Thank you for the reply. I will be using just tap water.

With the tap water the nutes might put you right where you need to be. Ro is way more sensitive.

 

[az2000]

I will be using GH nutes veg/micro/bloom.

Those are made for hydro. They do well in soil. I used it for a long time with the so-called "useless" schedule. But, being made for hydro they may come out more acidic since hydro is supposed to be 0.7 lower. You probably want to see what the ph is after mixing them, then ask if that will affect your soil (I don't remember what they came out to for me).

GH says they're buffered in some way to hold their ph. This must be a benefit for hydro users. But, for soil, that probably means they'll be harder to sway to soil's ph (potentially swaying the soil's ph lower.). Best thing to do is get a Control Wizard Accurate 8 ($60) soil probe and see what un-ph'ed nutes do to the soil over time. Be sure to water for >20% runoff so you won't confuse salt buildup with the soil's ph changing.

Use added dolomite in your soil to help hold it stable. Bagged soils may say they contain it, but it's usually low. Add 1-2 tbsp/gal. It doesn't seem to have a linear effect on ph. I did a test where I added up to 8 tbsp/gal. Past 2 tbsp, the ph didn't rise much. The difference between 2 and 8 tbsp was like ph 0.2. (I mention this because it's common to think there's some precise amount of dolomite required to hit a magic ph value. It's not like that. It's more like a buffer that's used when anything acidic happens in the soil, dissolving the carbonate, releasing ca and mg.).

GH Flora 3-part was easy to use (notwithstanding the complexity of mixing 3 bottles). I'm not trying to discourage you from using it. But, at some point you may want to consider more soil'ish products like Grow More Sea Grow, or doing your own thing with blood/bone meal, fish emulsion, etc. I use Sea Grow and supplement with fish emulsion and humic/fulvic acids. It's going very well. When you promote a healthy soil biology I believe it contributes to the ph being healthy.

 

[cc2012]

jiffy lemon works a treat for lowering pH..My Tap Water comes in at 8.1 and after using 2.5ml of Jiffy Lemon I can get the pH down to 6.5 same deal with when I add Nutes etc, mix up the nutes then check the pH and then adjust..I think you can also use bicarbonate (baking soda) for pH up...though I've never had to try this... I also let the water stand in a big plastic food bucket for 24hrs at room temp before using..also Helps with chlorine..

atb

 

[ebcrew]

I just recently got a pH pen for my soil grows and found out my tap water is around 8, after feeding and watering the runoff is round 5.

So in my opinion both are needed in soil grows depending on your water. I have to run to the hydro store monday for pH up/down

 

[Southerner]

A good soil never needs pHing.

 

[ebcrew]

A good soil never needs pHing.

I use FFOF and FFHF. But my water is very basic.

 

[mr sunshine]

You need to make sure your ph is always on point...Some people don't need to use a pen or a ph kit to keep their ph where it needs to be but that's only because they have experience and already know ...it doesn't matter if you already know or if you have to use a pen...ph is important. the plant will still grow even if you don't ph it, just not vigorously.......

 

[limolax]

I am new grower myself but from what I gather if you have a balanced organic soil ( by balanced i mean balanced ratio of NPK and also suitable Ph which is archived by adding some kind of lime to the soil) and feed it with just recommended common organics or organic fertelizers, then you should never be worried about the Ph of your soil or even mention the word flushing. But if you plan on feeding chemichal fertelizers or if u r growing in soilless mix using hydroponic then I think you should pay attention to your mediums Ph level and maybe testing the Ph of water run off.

 

[sunny747]

Tap water can also come from different sources during different times of the year.. My Tap water PH is normally close to 8.0.. This week I went to mix nutes and realized that the tap water was coming out at 6.5. If I didn't have a pen I wouldn't have known this.

I say get a pen. It's a pain to calibrate and adjust PH, but it's probably important..

 

[ebcrew]

Tap water can also come from different sources during different times of the year.. My Tap water PH is normally close to 8.0.. This week I went to mix nutes and realized that the tap water was coming out at 6.5. If I didn't have a pen I wouldn't have known this.

I say get a pen. It's a pain to calibrate and adjust PH, but it's probably important..

I just recently got a pen last week. They calibrated it infront of me at the store. My question is how often does it need to be calibrated?

 

[sunny747]

I just recently got a pen last week. They calibrated it infront of me at the store. My question is how often does it need to be calibrated?

Every time you use it I believe.. The sauce used to calibrate can be expensive.. I recently purchased a bottle that was only $7 though,,, It's a 7.0 liquid that I also used to store the pen. I don't use 4.0. Just 7.0..

Remember to never let it dry out. I believe that ruins it,

 

[ebcrew]

Every time you use it I believe.. The sauce used to calibrate can be expensive.. I recently purchased a bottle that was only $7 though,,, It's a 7.0 liquid that I also used to store the pen. I don't use 4.0. Just 7.0..

Remember to never let it dry out. I believe that ruins it,

Damn looks like im making a trip to the hydro store soon. I never purchased the 7.0 solution. Perhaps thats why im getting such high readings from my tap water.

 

[Sativied]

The pH is largely influenced by nutrient concentrations and gradients in the soil. It's not the same pH value throughout the pot. That's actually a major advantage of using soil. By trying to steer the pH of the entire pot one can do often more harm than good as it kills that advantage, possibly causing lockout as a result.

Unless you use high pH tap water (or very low ph water and lower it with nutes) there's really no need to ph in soil, organic or 'salts', plant balances it as long as you fertilize the soil properly (same goes for hydro...). ph up and down is mostly needed if you over or miss-fertilize and cause a major difference in cation vs anion uptake.

 

[Earl Dean Smooter]

my 2 cents... being a noob with a first grow, Ph'ing makes a difference. I use RO from a water machine it's 6.0.. after nutes it drops down to 4.5-5.. add some GH ph up and test to 6-6.5... makes the plants healthy and happier...ph'ing helped turn my grow around ...they were not up taking the nutes (P&K).. I had lockout due to low Ph.... my soil is really good.. Recipe 420

 

[cc2012]

I just recently got a pen last week. They calibrated it infront of me at the store. My question is how often does it need to be calibrated?

Well IDK? bout other Folks, but I've only calibrated Mine twice in over 6 months? or somewhere in that region...