Help with new Organic feeding schedule VITAL EARTH ORGANICS

foreverflyhi

foreverflyhi

Well-Known Member
alright so according to vital earth organics(www.vitalearthsproducts.com), in their feeding program, they state to pH the tea or every feed with there products.
now this goes against everything i learned in organics, i was under the assumption that pHing the tea or feed can potentially kill all the beneficial microbes.(benefical microbes thrive in low pH)

According to Teaming with Microbes, pH only matters in the soil, if its good quality soil, then your pH should always be balanced in the soil.

after doing a bunch of reading and researching, i realized that vital earth hasn't mention that their soil haves dolomite lime, which acts like a pH balance or keeps pH up.

so when i did a pH check about a week ago it was down to 6.3-.6.4 so i added dolomite lime and bumped it back up to 6.9.

so my concern is, should i follow vital earth and pH my tea? or should i focus on the soil and not worry about the feed pH?
i did email them and no answer..

im still all for vital earth, im just concerned on which route to take.


what u guys think?

vital earth tea
http://www.vitalearthsproducts.com/c...ost-tea-recipe

heres there FAQ on there website, it answers my questions, but at the same time it makes me ask a bunch more questions, that arnt answered.
http://www.vitalearthsproducts.com/faq

IMG_0199.jpg
 
L

l8lDANKl8l

Active Member
i cannot give you a for sure answer to your question but i do have some input..i know that nutes lock out at different ph. so the only reason you keep at 6.5 is to get all of them. so if its above or below it only means ur getting certain things. Well id say if you do have a good soil then dont worry. I use a custom blend of mostly happy frog and a local nursery mix which both have a good bit of d.l. along with castings and guano. Ive never had a deficiency or any problems from or with ph but my nutes mix doesnt always read 6.5. Im usign general hydroponics GO box. So there is about 5 or 6 bottles that you use at a time or well balanced nutrition. I play around with these(increase one decrease the other to give my plant a custom diet all while keeping the PPM the same but the ph will differ) and it doesnt seem to cause issues. ive tested my run off several times from just a regular tap watering to a full feed run off. PH is 6.5 no more no less all the time. So yea IMO if you have a good soil you dont have to worry about it. Im not as experienced as others tho so..but i do know biology/botany and it doesnt look like anybody else has input..good luck with your nutes mate!
 
missnu

missnu

Well-Known Member
I use organic nutes, but do check and maintain the pH of my feed water...but really everything for me is too high, I am always having to bring it down...and as long as you are lower than 8 but higher than 6 in soil you are good...so 6.5, 6.9, 7.3---are all fine in soil.
 
missnu

missnu

Well-Known Member
The soil will balance it out...but if I water with 9, or with like 4, it causes issues...
So less than 8 but more than 6...
I shoot for 7...
 
missnu

missnu

Well-Known Member
if they say to check it, then check it...I use the GO box and they say not to check it, but man it gets super high and the plants start acting all crazy if I don't add a little dash of pH Down to all the feed waters...
 
StickEnugzz

StickEnugzz

Well-Known Member
foreverflyhi said:
alright so according to vital earth organics(www.vitalearthsproducts.com), in their feeding program, they state to pH the tea or every feed with there products.
now this goes against everything i learned in organics, i was under the assumption that pHing the tea or feed can potentially kill all the beneficial microbes.(benefical microbes thrive in low pH)

According to Teaming with Microbes, pH only matters in the soil, if its good quality soil, then your pH should always be balanced in the soil.

after doing a bunch of reading and researching, i realized that vital earth hasn't mention that their soil haves dolomite lime, which acts like a pH balance or keeps pH up.

so when i did a pH check about a week ago it was down to 6.3-.6.4 so i added dolomite lime and bumped it back up to 6.9.

so my concern is, should i follow vital earth and pH my tea? or should i focus on the soil and not worry about the feed pH?
i did email them and no answer..

im still all for vital earth, im just concerned on which route to take.


what u guys think?

vital earth tea
http://www.vitalearthsproducts.com/c...ost-tea-recipe

heres there FAQ on there website, it answers my questions, but at the same time it makes me ask a bunch more questions, that arnt answered.
http://www.vitalearthsproducts.com/faq

View attachment 2265013
Click to expand...
PH is usually maintained by a healthy soils microherd. I never PH any of my teas as I know they will always run a little on the acidic side; However, if you are having obvious problems that might be PH related you should look into the make up of your medium i.e. add dolomite lime. And I would ask some hard questions of your retailer since there seems to be a problem. Lastly, if you are or have read Teaming with Microbes you are already ahead of the curve. Feed the soil!
 
L

l8lDANKl8l

Active Member
missnu said:
if they say to check it, then check it...I use the GO box and they say not to check it, but man it gets super high and the plants start acting all crazy if I don't add a little dash of pH Down to all the feed waters...
Click to expand...
Really? what kind of water are you using? also what is the exact mix your using? I used distilled water from walmart. like i mentioned earlier most times i feed as recommended sometimes i slightly adjust the diet while keeping ppm the same. Pls get back with me on this as id like to know your conditions? ive never had to use and ph adjustment(if i did id use something more natural with considering the nutes lol) but anyway my ph is never below 6.5 or above 7.2 so my soil doesnt really have much work to do as it is plus i use a custom blend of happy frog and nursery mix BOTH containing dolomitic lime.
 
1337hacker

1337hacker

Active Member
Your microherd is going to survive better without huge ph swings... so if there is a giant fluxuation in the ph of what you use every time then you might as well be ph'ing the solution... Certain things such as humic / fulvic and silicate products swing pretty hard on the acidic and basic side, so it's most efficient to add those to your solutions prior to mixing in the biologicals as to avoid the ph swings ;)


I use EJ, which after you add a healthy amount of bloom / grow usually goes pretty acidic: never had a hard time , but I've never straight up watered with a really basic solution ever... I doubt there is much fluxuation of ph in my soil if any throughout the grow season.
 
foreverflyhi

foreverflyhi

Well-Known Member
1337hacker said:
Your microherd is going to survive better without huge ph swings... so if there is a giant fluxuation in the ph of what you use every time then you might as well be ph'ing the solution... Certain things such as humic / fulvic and silicate products swing pretty hard on the acidic and basic side, so it's most efficient to add those to your solutions prior to mixing in the biologicals as to avoid the ph swings ;)


I use EJ, which after you add a healthy amount of bloom / grow usually goes pretty acidic: never had a hard time , but I've never straight up watered with a really basic solution ever... I doubt there is much fluxuation of ph in my soil if any throughout the grow season.
Click to expand...
So just by me bumping my ph up from 6.4 to 6.9 in a matter of days is bad for the micro heard?
 
L

l8lDANKl8l

Active Member
it should be around 6.5 i would have left it where it was honestly imo. but no thats not a huge swing i think he means like from 4 to 9 lol or something similiar.
 
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