is ph down killing my micro herd?

was wondering if ph down would kill my micro orhanisms? and if it does how about lemon juice for a ph down that would be safe then wouldn't it? and the last ? does ph really matter when using organics? my water is about 7 and with molasses it can go alot lower? so im curious if i need to do all this adjusting and if im hurting my colonies in the soil..thanks much guys

Ph does matter yes,


Ph down only bad side effect is it can throw the Ec off a bit, it's better to use it and have the right PH level than to not use it and have the PH level off.

your microherd will manage your ph.

let them do their thing, If you want to, make tea's. No precise measurements, and straight thunder results.

It does not devestate your microherd but any type of chemical will have a negative effect. This may or may not matter. If you are growing organic then yes it is something you should be concerned about. If synthetic then you dont need a microherd to break down your nutrients.

I am an organic grower and I have found the best thing to use for me is Fulvic acid for ph down and Silica for PH up.

thanks muc appreciate it guys

Depending on what type of nutrients or soil mix you use, depends on if you should pH. I run a soilless and an organic soil run, and I never pH either of them. I don't any chemically derived nutrients. I rely on my microherd to balance my pH. But my buddy uses Fox Farms in a soilless mix. He has to keep his pH closer to 7 to avoid lock out.

Moral of the story, if you use any chemically derived nutrients, you should pH balance it, but you want to make sure you are reinnoculating every 2-3 weeks to send in reinforcements. If you use completely organic nutrients and whatnot, your microherd will do the work for you.

soil is a good buffer, but consider how long your plants have left, and how often you plan to scorch the microbiota.

NightbirdX said:

Depending on what type of nutrients or soil mix you use, depends on if you should pH. I run a soilless and an organic soil run, and I never pH either of them. I don't any chemically derived nutrients. I rely on my microherd to balance my pH. But my buddy uses Fox Farms in a soilless mix. He has to keep his pH closer to 7 to avoid lock out.

Moral of the story, if you use any chemically derived nutrients, you should pH balance it, but you want to make sure you are reinnoculating every 2-3 weeks to send in reinforcements. If you use completely organic nutrients and whatnot, your microherd will do the work for you.

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isnt' foxfam organic? i use that and sometimes earth juice.

either way all of these answers seem to conflict with each other..so yes and no and yes and no bah...im doing soilless with fox farm on some and earth juice on others which i thought was all organic...this shit is confusing

Big bloom is organic but grow big and tiger bloom certainly aren't

If your using a hot soil mix like supersoil, you dont need to worry about ph. The amendments in the soil should take care of the ph. The ph up or down will kill your beni's in the soil unless it is organic ph up/down. Ive been growing organic for over a year or two now, and I havn't used ph up/down since I switched over to organic growing. And foxfarm is not organic, unless its bigbloom!

if u have a good microherd in ur soil u shouldnt worry about ur ph, ph up and down will kill off ur micros, dont try to ph adjust ur teas either, the microherd will take care of ur ph if ur growing all organic and dont use alota organic liquid nutrients then u should be fine, let mother nature do her thing, and fox farm big bloom is the shit!! if u do use alota liquid nutrients u could get a bad affect, not guranteed tho there is a big debate going on if the organic chelating acids in organic liquid nutes will affect the micro herd, idk fasure and both side of the arguement have good points, but to be safe remeber tha old liquid nutrient rule, less is more, if u got a good soil mix u should really only need to add liquid nutes to correct nutrient deficiencys or if they are longer flowering sativas and theyve used up the nutes in soil

matt1420 said:

If your using a hot soil mix like supersoil, you dont need to worry about ph. The amendments in the soil should take care of the ph. The ph up or down will kill your beni's in the soil unless it is organic ph up/down. Ive been growing organic for over a year or two now, and I havn't used ph up/down since I switched over to organic growing. And foxfarm is not organic, unless its bigbloom!

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fox farm just released a couple new organic liquid products, root drench, microbe brew and sledge hammer i think is what theyre called, but i never used em so idk how good they are, big bloom is the shit and should be a must in every organic gardeners tool box lol isnt the happy frog soil and additives from fox farm? i used to use fox farms peace of mind line which is all organic and r excellent products but its been alot harder to find since the happy frog line came out

Kb's seeds said:

fox farm just released a couple new organic liquid products, root drench, microbe brew and sledge hammer i think is what theyre called, but i never used em so idk how good they are, big bloom is the shit and should be a must in every organic gardeners tool box lol isnt the happy frog soil and additives from fox farm? i used to use fox farms peace of mind line which is all organic and r excellent products but its been alot harder to find since the happy frog line came out

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The new organic liquids are just yet another product line providing microbial innoculants, the sledgehammer is a flushing agent with molasses if memory serves me correctly.

Peace of mind is what I use, happy frog is the same formula just in a different bag to help keep the ingredients fresher longer.

hyphae said:

The new organic liquids are just yet another product line providing microbial innoculants, the sledgehammer is a flushing agent with molasses if memory serves me correctly.

Peace of mind is what I use, happy frog is the same formula just in a different bag to help keep the ingredients fresher longer.

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well that make sense, cause they are the same ingredients, dont why they changed the design to the happy frog logo tho, they couldve jus kept the name and designed a new bag but ah well, hey quick question, i know the sledgehammer has yucca extract in it but i didnt know it had molassess, why would u add molasses to a flushing agent? i mean ya molasses is a natural chelate itself but it also has high amounts of nutes in it like potassium, magnesium, calcium, and iron, doesnt most organic molasses ballpark at 1-0-5 or around those numbers, i add molasses to my teas and stop adding molasses round wk.6 of flower cause if i dont u can taste it in the smoke, taste hot not smooth, so why does fox farm add it to a flushing agent? i know u prolly dont work for them and thas a question for someone who works there but ive always found other growers opinions better than a nutrient companies representives, so what do think, do they add the molasses to sell more nutes, i know a few new growers who were spending hella money on nutes jus because they were brand name, maybe fox farm is running outa ideas for new nutes and are jus tossing shit onto the market, idk maybe there is a benifit of flushing with molasses and yucca extract before harvest, im assuming the correct way to use slegdehammer is to use it round wk5 an wk6 of flower then stop, idk any thoughts?

UnderCoverAgentOrange said:

isnt' foxfam organic? i use that and sometimes earth juice.

either way all of these answers seem to conflict with each other..so yes and no and yes and no bah...im doing soilless with fox farm on some and earth juice on others which i thought was all organic...this shit is confusing

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I understand what you mean. When I first started switching over to organic products I kept buying things that were labeled organic that actually weren't. If you want to make sure the products you are using are actually organic make sure they have an organic certification like OMRI for example. Nutrient companies can say whatever they want to on their packaging most of the time. But it's actually important to know if what you are using is organic or not. I grow organically in a soilless media and I use lemon juice to bring my PH down to between 7 and 6 when I use just water or AACT. Most people are saying that they don't PH the water, but my water comes out at over 8 so I bring it down anyways. And I use organic lemon juice