how much lime to add to soil?

Total Head

Total Head

Well-Known Member
i always seem to have issues with ridiculously low runoff ph (below 4 sometimes)even though I always make sure the ph of the water or nutes is around 6.5-7. I don't know if it's my water or what but its causing problems and i want to amend my next batch of soil. last time I used oceanforest right out of the bag. is there some kind of formula for how much lime to use if i want to have my soil ph a bit higher or do i have to pretty much wing it? my 2 week old plants need bigger pots. i have them in no name starter soil and the runoff is already at 4 with plain water only so far. any advice on this? i plan on using oceanforest again.
 
Cali chronic

Cali chronic

Well-Known Member
I bet you are reading your meter wrong. MJ likes acidic soil but usually no lower then 5 so if you are at 4 for wsph and the plants look good you are not reading the right meter or reading the meter wrong is my bet. Lime will stabilize Ph and actually keep it from creeping up. If you want higher Ph ammend with a little baking soda in the water. What kind of guage or meter are you using? And for what application?
 
Total Head

Total Head

Well-Known Member
I use drops. the ph of the water (plain water) is around 7 (deep lime green). the runoff from the bottom is around 4 (deep pink). the problem is that the plants are NOT doing ok. each try i always lose almost a third of my seedlings to what i have finally determined are ph issues. here are some pics of my latest crop. they are only 16 days old from seed, red diesel and satori. even the ones that look like they will make it are showing signs of nute def. only explaination
is this ph. it can fluxuate like crazy and i can't seem to rein it in over the course of a grow. since this happens every single crop no matter what soil i use (when i get to the nute stage shit really can go south) and i can't afford any other kind of water, I am going to amend the soil before I transplant these young'ns into their final pots. I guess a better question for the pros would be whether i should mix the lime in to the soil or sprinkle it on top before I water like with a lawn. My whole thing is that I don't want the ph to go up then down then up then down. thats what i always do and the plants suffer for it. in the pics remember that ALL the plants are the same age. the green pots are barneys farm red diesel and the orange pots are mandala satori (which is amazingly resiliant so far but is still suffering). they are all either stunted, spotted, or have yellow or brown dead tips.
 

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Total Head

Total Head

Well-Known Member
anyone use lime in their soil that can give me a general idea of what proportions to use? i'm using dolomite lime with oceanforest and perlite.
 
H

Haight1985

Active Member
I use a mixture of Fox Farms Happy Frog, Ocean Forest, Light Warrior, Perlite and its a very acidic mix so about 2 tablespoons of lime for every 5 gallons of soil works for me brings it from 4.5-5.0 up to 6.5-6.6.
 
suckrpnch

suckrpnch

Member
Total Head said:
I guess a better question for the pros would be whether i should mix the lime in to the soil or sprinkle it on top before I water like with a lawn.
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Far from a "pro" but I read a lot :).

From what I've read in other posts, it seems to be more effective mixing it in the soil. There are some posts saying that top dressing may help a bit though. I kinda screwed up and have my conversions all screwed up but I added 2 cups lime to (about) 85lbs of my soil mix, which I think is ~5Tbls per 5 gallons. I've grown tomatoes in pots in a similar mix and they did considerably better than other soils I've used.

Not hijacking your thread but is it possible to o.d. on lime?

Sorry, I'm done taking up space on your thread here but I hope you get it figured out, and good luck.
 
Total Head

Total Head

Well-Known Member
jamboss said:
I bump this thread because I want to know the same thing.
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drolove said:
bump for the same reason ^^^^
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well it should delight you both to know that i have a complete grasp of this whole lime proportion thing at this point (notice the date of the first post).

due to my semi-perpetual cycle and limited living space i find myself needing to mix up soil on a per-pot basis. long story short i use around 3 tablespoons per 3 gallon pot (ish). i see some people use less and some people use more, but i find this amount to work for me. i should point out that i use pulverized (powdered) dolomite and not the kind in chunks or pellets. i also no longer bother with ffof soil or chemical nutrients, so ph is pretty much a concern of the past, but the lime is still important in my mix.

as far as after-the-fact liming goes, i highly recommend liquid lime. i find 1-2 tablespoons per gallon of water makes a bigger impact than top dressing with dry lime and watering. it goes to work a lot faster than dry lime and water. i think it has to do with the particles having been run through a finer mesh than the dry lime but i lost the link with the only study i found of liquid lime and potted plants.

as far as ODing on lime, i've never done it with a weed plant but i've seen it on lawns. you can burn the hell out of a lawn if you use way too much, but the amount i saw used was absurd, so i don't know what the threshold is.
 
W

Wetdog

Well-Known Member
jamboss said:
The lime I have access to is hydrated lime, is that an issue?
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YES !!!!!!

Do NOT use hydrated, quick, burnt, or slaked lime. These have all been treated and can burn roots in a heartbeat.

Regular lime is just crushed limestone and won't burn. Dolomite (Dolomitic limestone), or 'garden' lime (calcitic limestone) is what you want. ~$4 for a 40lb bag at Lowes or HD

If you're in the Caribbean, you have it everywhere. Oolitic limestone=ancient coral rock/sea bed. Used it for years in SoFla since that's what we're sitting on.

​Wet
 
Slipon

Slipon

Well-Known Member
Im just looking in to this as I also have isues with low soil PH ...

I water with 6,5 or so (light green) runn off is normaly 6 (yellow) but lately it have been in the 5ish (oranges)

3 weeks in to flowering I may add ..

and useing a GH drop test kit so Im not 110% on PH levels .. but enough to notice it drop so made a soil test ..

same type of test just for soil and yea .. in the 5ish .. maybe high 5 :) (5,5-5,9)

but still to low with 4 weeks and lots of nutriens left in my 7 gallon pots ..


specialy one plant do show signs (curling leaves)

so got some Maerl to day (from Plagron)

View attachment 2230852

A popular product in the Plagron range is the Plagron Maerl. This tried-and-tested natural soil conditioner is extracted from coral reefs in the Atlantic Ocean. Plagron Maerl (algae calcium) is rich in magnesium and trace elements and has an extremely high acid binding value. Plagron Maerl offers plants an abundance of essential minerals. The acid binding value is extremely high. Plagron Maerl is ideal for soils with an excessively low pH value. A correct pH level in the soil ensures that the nutrients in the soil can be maximally absorbed by the plants.. Plagron Maerl contains: carbonic acid magnesium calcium, acid binding value 54% and 9% magnesium oxide, soluble in mineral acid.

The dosage of Plagron Maerl depends on the type of plant and the pH value of the soil.
Usage in full soil: 5 to 12 kg per 100 square metres.
Usage in potting soil: 250 to 500 grams per 1000 litres, depending on the plant being grown and the acidity level of the potting soil.





18$ or so at my local grow/hydro store ..

was looking for Dolomite lime as I read about that evrywher ..

but did`t have that ...had this insted .. nice sales person said he use it and its about the same just from another source ..


so now Im looking in to it to see what exatly it is and how much to use aso.

so I just found this "old" thread .. guess somebody els will look for this info aswell .. and since it seems to be impossible to find any info on this product or any other reef coral lime ...

I was thinking to make some :)

will add it on top of my soil (only way for me in my 7 gallon pots 3½ week in to flowering)

from what I can read and with my limit mat skills .. I schould use 25-50 grams per 100 liters of soil ..

I got 27L pots .. maybe with 25 liters in them ..

I will try in the low ranges fist and see what happen .. so 25 grams per 100L = +6 gram in my 25L

after "shaking it all over my soild I water with normal 6,5PH water (with a low ½ strengs nuts solution .. my plants are hungry)

a pics of my small bud leaves:

DSC00745.jpg

notice the curling .. hopeing the new grow will look more normal now when/if I get my PH up in the 6ish ..

I will update this with more info and pics ..
 
polyarcturus

polyarcturus

Well-Known Member
1tbs per gallon of soil my man.

even if your just throwing it on top, it will disolve down, also nor reason to ph for while after you do this.
 
Slipon

Slipon

Well-Known Member
damn that was quick :)

do you use this product ? or have any experiance with it ? or do you use Dolomite lime ?

but your dose is about right I guess .. would be around 12 grams or so .. as I said I start low with 6grams (reccon it was 2-3 tbs for my 6 gallon of soil)


btw
how often can/schould you use this ?

ps.
I used Epsom Salt a week back .. had light green canorpy .. helpd a lot on that .. but I expect that might have sumthing to do with my low PH .. did a "small" flush .. but did`t seem to help much ..
 
lowblower

lowblower

Well-Known Member
am i right that calcitic/garden lime and dolomite lime also provide a good source of cal/mag for the plants. I got some garden lime for my new grow thanks to advice for wet. Cheers man, i hope it goes well. U can check it out its called 'Auto LST 500w cfl 3 x ultra lemon haze 1x afghan kush ryder' only jus under a week in at the moment but gonna be transplanting into final pots today. The final pots are biobizz light mix with some added perlite and some garden lime. Gonna be adding about 2 tablespoons per 3 gallon pot.
 
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