My plants are in soil, this is week 4 of veg and my plants had turned light green and where showing signs of calcium/magnesium deficiency.Checking my runoff water i found that my soil PH was 7.2. Reading some posts online i bought some dolomitic lime and ran that throught the soil. Checking the PH of the runoff again and it was 6.9. Do you guys think that solved my problem? How long should it take to show signs of improvement?
PH adjustment question
- Thread starter Hobgoblit
- Start date
I got my PH meter just prior to checking the runoff the first time. Before that i was using the PH test drops, way off. If i'm understanding this correctly an alkaline PH can mimick a calcium dificiency. Anyway, my soil ph is back down according to the run off. So all i really need to know is does anyone know how long till i see some improvement and where will it start (Top or Bottom, my plants are light green)... Any Knowledge will be put to good use...Thanks.
beachgreens
Active Member
Hard to say exactly but if you are in soil most soils only contain enough fert for four weeks. sounds like those plants need food. You dont really need to be concerned about your ph as much because most soils contain a ph buffer which will stabilize your ph. Just be sure to ph your solution @ between 6.5 and 7.0 when watering/feeding
beachgreens
Active Member
Usually you will see changes in about a week and you should see changes in the new growth at the top of the plant..imo
trichlone fiend
New Member
...I can tell you this much. Your rapid release dolomite lime will keep your soil's pH in check. Just pH everything you put into it @ 6.0-6.5, and you'll be fine. The dolomite lime fights to keep your pH @ 7.0 and provides cal./mag.
...pH actually means potential of hydrogen. Being that water is 2 parts hydrogen and 1 part oxygen, the wetter your soil is the lower your pH reading will be. Your soil's pH will swing higher as it dries. So, it's almost useless to try and dial your soil's pH....dolomite lime is the trick with soil.
...also, I'd suggest you use dechlorinized tap water for you waterings....tap has valuable elements that your plants can use. Hope this helps ya some.
...pH actually means potential of hydrogen. Being that water is 2 parts hydrogen and 1 part oxygen, the wetter your soil is the lower your pH reading will be. Your soil's pH will swing higher as it dries. So, it's almost useless to try and dial your soil's pH....dolomite lime is the trick with soil.
...also, I'd suggest you use dechlorinized tap water for you waterings....tap has valuable elements that your plants can use. Hope this helps ya some.
trichlone fiend
New Member
...also,I use a product called "calmagic" for cal./mag. def. ...just seems to work faster.
All I can say is this, the Walmart style PH drops are crap. They where off by almost a full point, into the alkaline. Your right, the dolomite had the PH down in maybe 20 min, awesome stuff. Kinda like the secret to growing pot for dummies. Everyone should use it, or have a digital meter. Thanks.
Its been a hot 24 hours since i ran DL through my soil and you can already see that pretty shiny green coming in at the top. Man I wish i had known about that stuff from the beginning, sure would have been alot less stressful. Anyway, my opinion is that you must have a PH meter to grow without problems, Drops aren't accurate enough, especially when you have a 0.05 window to shoot for. I got mine from suntek.com, $15, free shipping, and it came with both 4 and 7 solutions. Thats cheap. Thanks to you guys for all this info and help. Will post some pics in a day or two.