How important is water PH????

This is my first grow so if this is stupid I do apologize. I was wondering how important water PH is to the outcome of the grow? I have read grow journals and a book. Some people say it is very important and others do not mention it. I am just starting and do not want to f^&k it up already. Any advice is appreciated Thanks Oh I should add we have a water softener. It came with the house. This is the reason for the question. I do not think it is one of those reverse ones.... Just a softener....

irishgirl said:

This is my first grow so if this is stupid I do apologize. I was wondering how important water PH is to the outcome of the grow? I have read grow journals and a book. Some people say it is very important and others do not mention it. I am just starting and do not want to f^&k it up already. Any advice is appreciated Thanks

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VERY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!GIMME A KISS

ok I am so fresh off the farm.... what does that mean?

Huge. Wrong pH can lock up/out whatever ferts you have. Know your water system pH.

If you are blessed with pH 6.8 - 7 out of the spigot, your nutes will bring it right in line. My system has starting pH 8, which is way too alkaline without pH down. If you don't have a meter, get pH paper. If you don't paper, at least investigate your water system web site - they usually provide an analysis of water which indicates average pH.

For example, with wrong pH, you're plant may not get enough N. Your pour more and more N in, but the plant can't uptake the nutes because pH is out of range.

i have one but never use it, if everything is going alright, i guess its not necessary but don't add water softner

cookin said:

i have one but never use it, if everything is going alright, i guess its not necessary but don't add water softner

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The water softener came with the house. It is in the basement. I guess I will have to look up how to turn the thing off. I honestly do not think it works work a damn. The water here still taste like crap. Better to be safe than sorry though. Thanks for the imput

atavistic said:

Huge. Wrong pH can lock up/out whatever ferts you have. Know your water system pH.

If you are blessed with pH 6.8 - 7 out of the spigot, your nutes will bring it right in line. My system has starting pH 8, which is way too alkaline without pH down. If you don't have a meter, get pH paper. If you don't paper, at least investigate your water system web site - they usually provide an analysis of water which indicates average pH.

For example, with wrong pH, you're plant may not get enough N. Your pour more and more N in, but the plant can't uptake the nutes because pH is out of range.

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Can you get the strips at Lowes or Home depot?

Water softner water is no good. Ya may have water in the house that is not softened. If ya have an out door spicket(ya know for washing a car/garden hose) That water is not softened. Ph is important.

Dirtyboy said:

Water softner water is no good. Ya may have water in the house that is not softened. If ya have an out door spicket(ya know for washing a car/garden hose) That water is not softened. Ph is important.

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Yea I have those and I wonder what else is not used by that thing. I am going to have to go down stairs and look.

Can get strips at any pool supply place cheap. L/HD likely have them or a water based kit (you put a few drops of in a couple of ounces of water and solution turns colors).

Hanna Combo meters all over - I've used my meter for about 2 years.

pH can cause lots of trouble, and it's it a big one to eliminate if you run into trouble in your grows. If pH is wrong, lots of other things start going wrong. While you chase them all down, plants can get sicker and sicker. If its right (pH), your potential problems are usually narrowed down to one 2 things, which you can usually quickly recover from.

first of all, hi, this is my first time on this site, but i will take a minute and explain a few things to you..just bebause you are like myself, irish ;0)

ph is everything...you have to keep it in a certain margin to allow the plants to intake what it needs to grow. simply put, evry plant has a beloved ph value. and for weed, this ph = 5.8-6.5 in water, and 5.4-6.2 in soils. dont mind what other ppl tell you, remember this,and i promise u success!!

its great you have a water softener,this will keep your EC low,and allow you to add as much as 2.5times as much food as normal, without over-feeding your loved ones
but this is another topic, and if you like, i will explain another time.

if your ph is too high, or low it will take in too much or too little of vital elements the plant needs to survive! ...you will find yourself dealing with all sorts of problems and in the end you will stress yourself and the plants and your hard work will be in vain
get a ph meter.!! now!! im not sure where you are living, US? europe?
the cost of these things vary, from about 10, to 300 euro's. a device in in the middle price range (50€) is ok for hobby growers. know how much feed you will need to make to water your plants. allow this water to sit for 24hours to loose whatever chlorines it contains, and the ph value should also drop by a small ammount. at this time you can add your foods,or nutrients to the water, correct the ph (there are many ways to do this,depending on the system you have,soil? hydro?) and then, you may feed your plants.... this may seem complicated, i know, but tell me what you plan to grow, and with either soil or hydro system, and i will tell you more.
hope this helps more than it stresses ,

Ive been researching this and found Nitric acid is used to bring the ph down for vegetative stage and phosphoric acid is used to lower the ph for bloom stage... I have bought these 2 chemicals now and they are dangerous.

Any one have an opinion about this?

Ive also got a question . . . what is the optimum ph for seed germination of a 25% sativa 75% indica strain as i have failed two seeds already and thats pricey for me?

Personal opinion is that any old tap water will germ seeds fine. Be nice to use water with no chlorine, but honestly I've used fresh tap on occasion and the seeds always germ fine. I would be more inclined to blame the seeds vs the water. Be sure to use a little heat too - I soak a paper towel, fold in the seeds and then put them in a baggie and set it on the cable box with a little towel over them to block the light. I'm not at 100% germ rate, but pretty darn close. I think the PH up and down chemicals might do more damage to the seed that having the PH a little off, the seed just needs to sense moisture, you don't have to worry about PH lockout at this point.

For a soil grow I prefer using lemon juice as the acid and baking soda for the PH up. Just seems more natural to me than bottled chemicals. Hydro is a different bird - I would only use PH up and down sold for that purpose as lemon juice can muck up a res.

H2H said:

Ive been researching this and found Nitric acid is used to bring the ph down for vegetative stage and phosphoric acid is used to lower the ph for bloom stage... I have bought these 2 chemicals now and they are dangerous.

Any one have an opinion about this?

Ive also got a question . . . what is the optimum ph for seed germination of a 25% sativa 75% indica strain as i have failed two seeds already and thats pricey for me?

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Vinegar drops PH Baking soda raises it, both are cheap, safe, and effective measures at increasing or decreasing PH 6.8 every time for soil! NO EXCUSES! unless you want lockout.

ok so in my hydro i can use vinegar to drop the ph?

atavistic said:

If you are blessed with pH 6.8 - 7 out of the spigot, your nutes will bring it right in line.

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Ive herd this befor but never really understood what it meant. I was told that Fox Farm liquid nutes would correct the ph of tap water (and was suppose to be used this way). Is this true? Ive just started my grow and am now really concerned about my ph.
Others tell me that it would be better to use reverse osmosis water and correct the ph myself. Thoughts?

Rooter said:

Ive herd this befor but never really understood what it meant. I was told that Fox Farm liquid nutes would correct the ph of tap water (and was suppose to be used this way). Is this true? Ive just started my grow and am now really concerned about my ph.
Others tell me that it would be better to use reverse osmosis water and correct the ph myself. Thoughts?

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Last grow I started out with RO water and used Foxfarms and I still had to PH down a good bit. There are so many variables that it's hard to give you an answer that wouldn't be a guess. I think you should either buy a PH meter or wing it and if everything grows fine then you're fine.

So ideally a grower should adjust his watering water pH to below 7 always?
After adding additives? Check after adding nutes, and reduce if necessary?

I tried to check the pH of my water w/molasses in it last night, but didn't trust the additional coloring already there from the molasses itself. It seemed like the molasses was "base" (I guess it is) or neutral, ieH stayed stable.

Is it normal for a plant to do fine thru 4-6 weeks of 7.6, but then start showing possible pH issues after a while? I mean, it vegs fine at 7.6, but flowering veg is yellowing too early.
Bottom line, can reducing pH to 6.5 before watering hurt a plant, assuming tap is a pH 7.6?

first off a water softener works by puttin the water thru a filtered batch of salt so hence forth it would be bad because of the salt content it might kill the plant atleast in my experience using water from a water softener it has been bad for the [plant

Is there anything bad that can result from lowering 7.6 tap water to 6.3-6.8 prior to using it?