Recommended PH test?

[2Hearts]

my tap water comes out at 9. You really going to try to tell me thats fine?

Yes, not sure about its alkalinity though, maybe stop trying to use loaded questions at me.

The real question is "You telling all us soil growers we now need a ph meter?" couldnt care less about water buffers of a couple hundred ppm or less as i did chemistry and learnt what that means in a soil buffer.

 

[JoeBlow5823]

Yes, not sure about its alkalinity though, maybe stop trying to use loaded questions at me.

The real question is "You telling all us soil growers we now need a ph meter?" couldnt care less about water buffers of a couple hundred ppm or less as i did chemistry and learnt what that means in a soil buffer.

Wasnt a loaded question. My tap water is 8.8-9. No way I would put that in my pots with bringing it down to 6.5

 

[2Hearts]

You have yet to fully understand water or soil then. Ph9 is fine for me, quite often above ph8 anyway. Its that way for a lot here we just dont worry about it as its soil and how soil works.

Wasnt a loaded question. My tap water is 8.8-9. No way I would put that in my pots with bringing it down to 6.5

 

[JoeBlow5823]

You have yet to fully understand water or soil then. Ph9 is fine for me, quite often above ph8 anyway. Its that way for a lot here we just dont worry about it as its soil and how soil works.

k well im not hurting anything by adjusting to 6.5 so i dont really care.

 

[Rakin]

Im a huge fan of gh drop

 

[2Hearts]

k well im not hurting anything by adjusting to 6.5 so i dont really care.

Not sure, growers reported problens adding phosphoric acid and stuff to soil, i found the same if you add too much over time.

What you will find is soil is a buffer and water dosent really contain much worth worrying about. If your water report says 700ppm id look for better water, if it says 200ppm and under im happy. At no point is ph a problem over alkalinity cos could have shit 2000ppm water saying ph 6.5 and think your fine when your not.

Your waters ph is also not much, couple mil of ferts overpowers it easily, soil will destroy it dosent matter what ph it was the power of soil dominates massively not 200ppm water.

 

[shuu80]

I'm new but this yellow vivosun doesn't read well it take a while, it cost like 14 on amazon but it reads well. Once you calibrate it right

 

[chico1st]

Your waters ph is also not much, couple mil of ferts overpowers it easily, soil will destroy it dosent matter what ph it was the power of soil dominates massively not 200ppm water.

I can get on board with not measuring water PH because it kind of makes sense and I like having to do less. Then you would need to measure your soil PH (monthly??). I was taught by my grandpapy to test the runoff but you would use the drips with a soil sample or PH pen of the runoff?
Or is a spear type soil PH tester is better?

 

[2Hearts]

The reason some are testing ph runoff etc is because they hit problems growing and first thing everyone blames.

We all just get our water report online from our local company, if ppms are ok and its not high in bad stuff you dont ever need to check again. If it is bad you just source better water or run a ro system.

Bags of soil are made for simpletons not ph meters and adding a bunch of ph stuff, even those in bad water areas seem to do ok as well.

Learn to make it work the easy way not the hydro way.

I can get on board with not measuring water PH because it kind of makes sense and I like having to do less. Then you would need to measure your soil PH (monthly??). I was taught by my grandpapy to test the runoff but you would use the drips with a soil sample or PH pen of the runoff?
Or is a spear type soil PH tester is better?

 

[Gentlemencorpse]

Not sure, growers reported problens adding phosphoric acid and stuff to soil, i found the same if you add too much over time.

What you will find is soil is a buffer and water dosent really contain much worth worrying about. If your water report says 700ppm id look for better water, if it says 200ppm and under im happy. At no point is ph a problem over alkalinity cos could have shit 2000ppm water saying ph 6.5 and think your fine when your not.

Your waters ph is also not much, couple mil of ferts overpowers it easily, soil will destroy it dosent matter what ph it was the power of soil dominates massively not 200ppm water.

The one thing your overlooking here is soil itself is not a buffer, it's certain organic and inorganic elements (like lime) that exist in most potting mixes that help "soil" buffer pH. These elements break down or wash out of the medium over time and become less effective. For many standard grows this isn't an issue, but if your vegging for a really long time already in the final pot or growing in really small pots sometimes these buffers will be ineffective before you finish your grow. Also, it would appear salt build up from bottled nutes can affect these buffering agents ability to do their job. I found this out the hard way in my last SOG grow. I wound up with a really low root zone pH. The only way I could keep an appropriate soil pH and continue to feed my plants was to raise the alkalinity of my nutrient solution. So there's a first hand example of soil not buffering alkalinity.

So do all soil growers need an expensive pH meter? No, probably not. But if you end up with pH issues like I did, you will, and it's not like it hurts to have one.

 

[2Hearts]

Bacteria is probably the biggest buffer in soil.

The quickest way to break the buffer is overfertilize and overwater, apart from that any decent grower can make it last enough for most grows, wouldnt be hard to find a growercwho does so here.

The one thing your overlooking here is soil itself is not a buffer, it's certain organic and inorganic elements (like lime) that exist in most potting mixes that help "soil" buffer pH. These elements break down or wash out of the medium over time and become less effective. For many standard grows this isn't an issue, but if your vegging for a really long time already in the final pot or growing in really small pots sometimes these buffers will be ineffective before you finish your grow. Also, it would appear salt build up from bottled nutes can affect these buffering agents ability to do their job. I found this out the hard way in my last SOG grow. I wound up with a really low root zone pH. The only way I could keep an appropriate soil pH and continue to feed my plants was to raise the alkalinity of my nutrient solution. So there's a first hand example of soil not buffering alkalinity.

So do all soil growers need an expensive pH meter? No, probably not. But if you end up with pH issues like I did, you will, and it's not like it hurts to have one.

 

[Gentlemencorpse]

Bacteria is probably the biggest buffer in soil.

The quickest way to break the buffer is overfertilize and overwater, apart from that any decent grower can make it last enough for most grows, wouldnt be hard to find a growercwho does so here.

Well shit, guess I'm not a decent grower then ....

 

[chico1st]

Learn to make it work the easy way not the hydro way.

Ok I get it but do you not even recommend testing my soils pH? I make my own compost etc so I thought that would be mandatory. No? Then ide need a spear type soil pH tester?

Or you mean if I buy a soil mix then I can close my eyes?

 

[2Hearts]

Making your own soil is a seperate subject, did you follow a professional mix that accounts for everything or just some canna chuck loads of stuff in a bucket best guess because subcool once did it recipie type of thing?

I use bagged soil made by professionals with 60+ years of experience, i follow their basic guidelines and have no problems. If you make a professional mix you would know its average ph, double check with a lab test and still not buy a ph meter.

Just stop growing cannabis and try toms, the thrill of doing a million stupid things will soon wear off and you will learn to be a gardener not drug producer.

Ok I get it but do you not even recommend testing my soils pH? I make my own compost etc so I thought that would be mandatory. No? Then ide need a spear type soil pH tester?

Or you mean if I buy a soil mix then I can close my eyes?

 

[Gentlemencorpse]

Making your own soil is a seperate subject, did you follow a professional mix that accounts for everything or just some canna chuck loads of stuff in a bucket best guess because subcool once did it recipie type of thing?

I use bagged soil made by professionals with 60+ years of experience, i follow their basic guidelines and have no problems. If you make a professional mix you would know its average ph, double check with a lab test and still not buy a ph meter.

Just stop growing cannabis and try toms, the thrill of doing a million stupid things will soon wear off and you will learn to be a gardener not drug producer.

You got a grow journal dude? You know so much and are so quick to put other people's suggestions down, even ones that are largely backed by both science and experience, you must have some killer grows to prove it ... and I'd like to see them.

 

[Gentlemencorpse]

Making your own soil is a seperate subject, did you follow a professional mix that accounts for everything or just some canna chuck loads of stuff in a bucket best guess because subcool once did it recipie type of thing?

I use bagged soil made by professionals with 60+ years of experience, i follow their basic guidelines and have no problems. If you make a professional mix you would know its average ph, double check with a lab test and still not buy a ph meter.

Just stop growing cannabis and try toms, the thrill of doing a million stupid things will soon wear off and you will learn to be a gardener not drug producer.

Also, Subcool didn't do it once, he dedicated his life to developing super soil mixes in his last year's in the cannabis industry, and his recipes work awesome. You have terrible opinions. In fact, don't answer me, your going on the ignore list. I hope no one takes your advice.

 

[2Hearts]

Dosent matter, your the one advising ph neters for soil, its a dick move no wonder your upset demanding journals.

That ignore button wont help you get stuff right.

Also, Subcool didn't do it once, he dedicated his life to developing super soil mixes in his last year's in the cannabis industry, and his recipes work awesome. You have terrible opinions. In fact, don't answer me, your going on the ignore list. I hope no one takes your advice.

 

[PadawanWarrior]

Dosent matter, your the one advising ph neters for soil, its a dick move no wonder your upset demanding journals.

That ignore button wont help you get stuff right.

I too would like to see some of your grows.

 

[2Hearts]

I too would like to see some of your grows.

Anytime your local pop round.

Id like to see some good advice on soil, everytime i pop round here but all i get told is i need a ph meter.

Maybe if there were less pictures and better write ups!

 

[chico1st]

I use bagged soil made by professionals with 60+ years of experience, i follow their basic guidelines and have no problems. If you make a professional mix you would know its average ph, double check with a lab test and still not buy a ph meter.

Just stop growing cannabis and try toms, the thrill of doing a million stupid things will soon wear off and you will learn to be a gardener not drug producer.

1. I'm following the leafly super soil guide. Which includes 1/3 compost. Compost to my understanding can be all sorts of chaos coming out the other end. So I would still need to test soil pH no? and you're saying if I wanted to I should do it with a spear probe digital sensor. Not runoff/drips? Yes?
   1. (I did miss some things in the mix because COVID made buying odd ingredients basically impossible, oh well, I'm fine with the idea that my first grow isn't perfect but I wanted to get started)
2. I'm not trying to try a million things but I do want to make/ammend/recycle my own soil. It's just what I want to do. No logic to it. My plants right now aren't super happy so I need to work on something. Believably it's PH, could be a lot of things but I would want to rule it out if I can.
3. A lot of these threads get really heated! It's nuts.