Low PH like 4.5 to 5. But plants look healthy in week 3 of bloom

J

johnd0857

Member
SO I picked up a ph meter today at my hydro store. I am growing in 5 gallon buckets with happy frog have been using nutes per fox farm schedule.
I checked my Ph have not watered in 2 days, like 4.5 to 5? Just to check I have a bag of happy frog unopened it says 6.5, so i guess meter is right.
i ran 3 gallons through each plant, my ph on water is about 7.
If tomorrow morning my ph is still way low should I try ph up mixed in water or lime to soil?
Any ideas?
I figured anything below ph 5.5 my plants would be dead, but....?
I saw some "Organic Traditions" garden lime today but can't really wait 2-3 months for the stuff to dissolve, hopefully the flush fixed it. Even my tap water is well water at 6.8 or so.
 
aknight3

aknight3

Moderator
plants can actually live with relativlet low ph, its when u get in the higher ph u start to really fuck with it, in reality u really need to get it somewhere aroun 6 and 7.5... they wil lsurvive but they wont be healthy otherwise, personally i dont use meters and such anymore as most of my things stay the same so with no variables i already know what i need to do to achieve proper status for my plants. anyways, try adding maybe something that will bring your ph in your soil up as u suggested, maybe use some ph up also
 
IXOYE

IXOYE

Active Member
I only have had to use my pH meter when bringing my water down to a 5.5 for my grodan cubes while cloning.

I tested my soil once out of curiosity and it was right at 7. I use distilled deep rock (which their website says is ph 8 ) and foxfarm ocean forest soil and foxfarm nutes (bb, gb, tb). I'd suggest that if you plants look healthy don't mess with a good thing!
How's that happy frog? why did you decide on happy frog? I went with ocean forest, can't really tell you why -- maybe it was the price I don't remember.
 
IXOYE

IXOYE

Active Member
Maybe try a gallon of the distilled deep rock see hwo you test in a week after that - if its already at an 8 it might bring you up a nudge without additives.
 
W

Weed Daddy

Active Member
To get the best results.... keep the PH at 6 for both veg and flower... get some ph up and ph down, so you can adjust which way you need to..also buy some 7.0 calibration solution and use it... also to make your meter last, buy some storage solution and change it every time you u use the meter. Itw important !! good luck Peace
 
ozone50

ozone50

Member
to my experience the plants adjust to whatever ph level they start with ive grown with ph9 and ph5.2 under both conditions the plants did well as long as you keep the ph more or less the same troughout its life.
What not to do is change the ph to drasticaly during the growth or veg stage as the plants will react and can have dramatic effects.
When you start a new crop get things somewhat wright and keep it up as it will make huge difference to quantity and quality.
 
aknight3

aknight3

Moderator
ive noticed sativa like higher ph as indica like lower, again, my personal experience, ph 9 or above will start to lock out nitrogen esp in hydro grows, soil is a bit diff, u might be getting a certain runoff, btu it doesnt necessarily mean thats what ph ur water is when it hits the roots and are absorbed
 
J

johnd0857

Member
IXOYE said:
I only have had to use my pH meter when bringing my water down to a 5.5 for my grodan cubes while cloning.

I tested my soil once out of curiosity and it was right at 7. I use distilled deep rock (which their website says is ph 8 ) and foxfarm ocean forest soil and foxfarm nutes (bb, gb, tb). I'd suggest that if you plants look healthy don't mess with a good thing!
How's that happy frog? why did you decide on happy frog? I went with ocean forest, can't really tell you why -- maybe it was the price I don't remember.
Click to expand...
to me, the untrained eye, ocean forest and happy frog are the same. Around here $12 a bag
 
J

johnd0857

Member
I am going to add 2 tablespoons garden lime to each pot tonight, top dress and flush with a few gallons get it mixed. This morning everything was about 4.8-5 ph. I checked my tap water is 7.6 with 130ppm solids, we are on public well water not recycled so as far as tap water goes I am not too bad.
I would prefer a ph of 6-6.5, I think 6.3 is optimum.
Next round of clones will get dolomite added to keep ph in check or I may go organic nutes tea and so forth
 
J

johnd0857

Member
IXOYE said:
Maybe try a gallon of the distilled deep rock see how you test in a week after that - if its already at an 8 it might bring you up a nudge without additives.
Click to expand...
I highly doubt I am ordering water from Colorado to adjust my PH, but thanks for the info. Normally I use the purified water from the machine in front of state brothers at 25 cents a gallon, test 0ppm and 7.0 ph
 
Fluxcap

Fluxcap

Active Member
I will never again grow in soil with out adding a cup of dolomite lime per gallon of soil. Do it once and all youhave to do is ball park your ph from there on out.
 
slowmo77

slowmo77

Active Member
you can also buy a bottle of smart water to check you ph meter. it's ph'd at 7.2 and can be bought just about anywhere. 6.3 is the optimal ph for soil anything over 7 and your plant can't take up the nutes it needs. its called nute lock out. mj will not grow long if your ph is 9 i promise
 
J

johnd0857

Member
So I put in 3 tablespoons garden lime on top of soil per 5 gallon container, flushed with 1 gallon water (tap, 7.6ph 130ppm). 24 hours later checked ph around 6.0.
Someone said some plants like low ph, but nutes are absorbed less at lower ph's.
 
J

johnd0857

Member
Final post, checked ph 48 hours after garden lime, ph back to 6.2 for most plants, some at 6 some at 6.4 but overall 3 tablespoons on the top in a 5 gallon bucket, 1 gallon water.
 
W

Wetdog

Well-Known Member
Fluxcap said:
I will never again grow in soil with out adding a cup of dolomite lime per gallon of soil. Do it once and all youhave to do is ball park your ph from there on out.
Click to expand...
You're a bit off there. I think what you meant was 1tbl/GALLON and 1CUP/CuFt of soil.


johnd0857 said:
Now that should be stickied.
Click to expand...
Now it should. Dolomite lime is the second ingredient in my mix, right after peat moss.

Wet
 
Serapis

Serapis

Well-Known Member
Fluxcap said:
I will never again grow in soil with out adding a cup of dolomite lime per gallon of soil. Do it once and all youhave to do is ball park your ph from there on out.
Click to expand...
Right ingredient, wrong measurement :)

I top dress with 1 tbsp per gal of soil. This is especially helpful with MG soils. They tend to get acidic when the nutrients are used up
 
Snafu1236

Snafu1236

Well-Known Member
"


I will never again grow in soil with out adding a cup of dolomite lime per gallon of soil. Do it once and all youhave to do is ball park your ph from there on out."​

Smart man.
 
J

johnd0857

Member
what do you guys think dolomite lime vs garden lime?
So is it 1 cup per gallon or 1 cup per cubic foot?
I think it is 1 cup per cubic foot, because that would mean 5 cups in a 5 gallon bucket.
Or 1 cup per cub foot means a gallon has 7.4 cubic feet per gallon right?
 
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