Adjusting PH with lemon?

New grower here. My 2 plants ph is at around a 7.5. They're both in veg. Been giving them phed water that is at a low 6 yet the ph still measures at 7.5 ish. Next step was going to try to lower it with the use of a lemon like I've read. My question is how EXACTLY do you do it? Put lemon juice in the water that they're fed with? Place the peels on top of the soil and water them with normal phed water?? Or is there maybe a better way to lower the ph altogether?

Thanks in advance

that 7.5 ph soil will buffer that lemon right up to 7.5
you could side-dress with peat......a nice thick layer to water through. i think that will slowly drop your ph. or water in some sulfur.

^^ This

It is VERY difficult to change the ph of soil. the best way to do this is while mixing the soil. So, after the plant is in the soil, you can try watering with phed water, and hope for the best, or you can repot in better ph soil. Break up the root ball some.

check the ph of your runoff and adjust the water higher or lower and flush.

scroglodyte said:

that 7.5 ph soil will buffer that lemon right up to 7.5
you could side-dress with peat......a nice thick layer to water through. i think that will slowly drop your ph. or water in some sulfur.

Click to expand...

Uh, no. please do not gues when it comes to some one elses grow.
Ph adjustment should be made using pH up or pH down (purchased at your local hydro store) along with a good quality pH meter. myron meters are the tits, hanna will do, but rapitest is bullshit.
do not use lemon juice, baking soda, vinegar, or any other cheap form of pH adjustment.
pH is critical to nutrient uptake so treat it as such.
pH the water you plan to water with, or pH your water after you add nutrients, then water. do not try to compensate for pH: i.e, if soil is 7.5 pH, dont water with 5.5 pH in soil to comensate. just use 6-6.7 pH water/nutes every time. water more than you normanll would, but dont increase frequency. example: instead of adding 1 gallon of 6.5 pH water to a 3 gallon pot, add 3-4 gallons of 6.5 water per 3 gallon pot.
if you have questions post again. If you get advice on this, or any other site, without getting at least 2-3 people to back it up, consider it useless advice from people who would rather guess than read a book.

Side note: If you have no idea what the right answer is, look it up, dont guess. have some sense of empathy and imagine it was your grow.

sorry in advance for the rant.
I hope my advice was helpful... ask others and you will see your way through this. your questiuon is not uncommon and is a good question to be asked. good luck in the future with your grow.

I have never tested soil ph in 3 years of growing and have never had a problem.

First off. Thanks for the replies I appreciate it.

When I get ready to water my plants (every 2-3 days depending on moisture meter a little less than 1 gal in 1 gal pot), First I use a brita filter that filters my tap water. Then I boil the water to double check that all contaminants are gotten rid of. Then I test the ph and slightly adjust it to where it is at about a 6.5. The soil I used was foxfarm's Ocean Forest Potting soil. And the ph tester I use is a soil master that also tests moisture of the soil and the intensity of the light. I included pics of both products.

Some feedback on the products used is encouraged. Is the ph tester maybe just inaccurate? It was def one of the cheaper ones. Also when I first transplanted them the ph of the soil was right in between 6 and 7, so perfect but over the past 2 weeks it's gone up. Never water with un phed water. Some more thoughts from you guys????

http://www.mosserlee.com/SiteContent/Documents/Image/most1.jpg

http://foxfarmfertilizer.com/prod_big_oceanforpot.html

You can use lemon juice to lower your water ph...

I think people worry too much about ph to be honest.

My last grow I used lemon juice to lower my water ph from 8.2 down to 6.5.. throughout the grow.

This time I said fuck it, I've been watering with 8.2 ph water from the start...

Do they look like they aren't uptaking nutrients? Well I'll tell you, they aren't any different than the ones that were fed 6.5 water the whole grow.

Like I said. You cannot easily change the ph of soil. Use phed water.

As far as the hydro ph up and down goes, great to use as its easy, but not required. I would use it for hydro, but in soil, the lemon juice in the water would probably also be beneficial to the little critters in your dirt. Don't over think the weed!

Personally, I don't ph water. My soil mix is right, so it buffers the water to the same ph as the soil.

The runoff test is a guide. Not totally accurate!

i have used lemon to lower the pH, i had run out of pH solution, and needed something, it was a holiday, stores were closed, soil was very dry, and i used it. it was fine.

i would NOT do this often.

i ended up buying a "pH Buffer 6.5" for aquariums, you add in 1 tsp, and it makes the liquid 6.5 even. perfect for African Cichlids and in my case, soil for growing herb =) stuff cost like 5 bucks at the local petstore. other option is getting the ph up and ph down stuff there too, i have that as well, but since ive gotten that buffer stuff, i have never had an odd pH.

the idea behind this is its a strong 6.5, adding 1 tsp of this and 1 tsp of something at 7.5, you would think you end up at 7.0, but no, its very determined to stay at 6.5, at most it may vary and go to 6.4-6.6, but like i said, i used it for a while, and LOVE IT. i use it every feeding now, and with 30+ plants, they all seem to really like it, and thrive. run off comes out at 6.2 ish too, which seems fine.

You can try uric acid to lower it

One post wonder woo hoo !!

Aloha, I have the same prong tester. good for fast testing and I like it. Beats the heck out of shelling out over a $100 dollars on a digital meter when this works fine. I do have back up digitals but this one I don't have to muddy my soil. Keep it Green, Aloha

Aloha All, I heard from 2 different hydro shops to save my money on the up-down PH solution and use lemon juice. 1 tsp. per 1 gal. of water. Water as usual but use the lemon water once a week. Stop of course or use 1/2 tsp. per gal of water if the plants shows sighs of hating it. Try it on 1 plant as a tester. It won't kill the plant no mater what. I made 1 tsp. lemon juice ice cubes. Just take what I need out and throw it in the gal. of water to melt. Easy. My PH went from 8 to 7 in 2 weeks. 1 tsp. is supposed to lower PH 1 point, and it did. 2 weeks later I used 1/2 tsp. of juice and now all my vegging plants are at 6.5 Not kidding. but remember try 1 plant first to see. Aloha. It may work differently for me, I am growing out doors in soil and live in Hawaii. Gotta take that into consideration.