Quick question about lowering ph and vinegar

Alrighty...I am pretty new to the hydro scene but I was kick ass in biology so I understand ph and how it works...if you want to lower your ph you add an acid...if you wanna raise it you add a base..so to lower your ph you could use vinegar...correct? yes? no? Seems to me knowing what I know about plants and ph...well my husband was at the hydro store and the guy was trying to find what I wanted whilst I was on the phone explaining it to my hubby---annoying...so he gave the guy the phone and we got what I needed and then he was like do you need anythin for ph and I was like nope...ours is too high so I add a little vinegar and then the call got disconnected and when I called my husband back he was like the guy said you needed this ph stuff because you shouldnt' use vinegar you should use baking soda...and I was like WHAT?! That is the opposite of what I need. Since vinegar is an acid...THE acid...it would lower my ph without killing my plants...but baking soda is the opposite...it raises ph since it is a base right? yes? no? Anyway I am pretty sure that baking soda is a base-THE base...if vinegar is THE acid then that would mean that baking soda is THE base...so I was like jstu walk away from that guy he is only trying to sell you stuff...but then I started thinking...it is his job to help people growing things hydroponically maybe he knows more than me...So here is the crux of my question....can I use vinegar to lower my ph without causing harm to my plants...???

Yes, you can use vinegar, but it's not as stable and adds more EC than other options. If you want real cheap PH down, use battery acid... carefully. One tub of GH dry PH down will last a lifetime too... the key is adding as little as possible of whatever you are using so you don't raise the total alkalinity of the water too much. The higher the TA, the harder it is to change the PH, which is why 200PPM tap water takes more PH down to reach 6.0 than 30PPM R/O water. Once the TA gets too high, it will lock out nutrients in your system.

Well I have already had a serious PPM issue...I still haven't gotten a meter, but I know for sure that the PPM of our well water is way way way too high and I think I killed one of my poor little plants...got some bottled water and switched everything once I realized what the problem was...our water is pretty perfect for plants when the filter outside the house is new...but a 6 month filter only lasts about 1.5 months before the washing machine starts to clog up...lol. My husband apparently hasn't changed it recently and I damn near killed my plant...but now I am hoping she can recover, I dont' know though...seems to me it would be easier for me to use vinegar...although I have to add it often...but since I check everyday and hope that there will be something I can do it works to add a few drops during inspection...lol. that hydro store guy just had me doubting myself. I really need to get a PPM meter...but riddle me this...Since I got bottled water the PPM should be pretty darn low--yes? no? My poor little over parts per millioned plant is giving a good fight, but this poor amnesia haze is gonna bite the dust I fear...all the new growth and the cotyledons have died...all there is are the 2 serrated edge leaves that grew out with the cotyledons...I am not giving up yet...I don't give up until a plant literally turns to dust...lol. Then I know for sure it is dead...I have thrown out "dead" plants that continued to grow...so no sense in wasting a seed I bought right...lol. It might make it...here's hoping! I think I just need a ppm meter...oh well sometime. I get a little less ghetto each time I give this a shot. So a few grows from now certainly I will have a ppm meter.

holy crap I am ranty.

Oh...and I don't see myself ever ever ever handling battery acid...especially not to give it to a plant..sounds crazy...if I spill vinegar on something it smells funny...you spill battery acid on somehting it is gone...doesn't seem like it could be good for anything...at all other than conducting and creating current inside a battery...oh and I bet it is great at stripping wood and possibly cement...but anything that can melt wood probably shouldnt be given to a plant...really?! battery acid?! Whoever told you that don't ever talk to them again or eat anything they give you...they might have improved the taste with motor oil...

No worries... yes, a PPM meter is a nice tool to have for any kind of hydro grow. Check out eseasongear online to get the milwalkee PH and PPM meters for around $20 - not top of the line, but they work.

It's hard to say about the bottled water - if it's spring, it could have a bunch of minerals, but if it's R/O, then almost none. Well water can work fine, but usually with hydro nutes specifically mixed with less calcium to take into account the hardness.

Good luck with the babies... sometimes they'll bounce back with a flush of plain water.

missnu said:

Oh...and I don't see myself ever ever ever handling battery acid...especially not to give it to a plant..sounds crazy...if I spill vinegar on something it smells funny...you spill battery acid on somehting it is gone...doesn't seem like it could be good for anything...at all other than conducting and creating current inside a battery...oh and I bet it is great at stripping wood and possibly cement...but anything that can melt wood probably shouldnt be given to a plant...really?! battery acid?! Whoever told you that don't ever talk to them again or eat anything they give you...they might have improved the taste with motor oil...

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Well, you don't use much... and sulfuric acid won't hurt your plant if it's only a drop in several gallons of water. Sulfur is actually one of the micro nutrients.

I use vinegar rather than pH down because the price is so drastically different and the results have been exactly the same with the exception of the vinegar being easier to control. Have you checked out the Reverse Osmosis filters? Bottled water does have a low PPM but an RO filter strips it nearly bare leaving you with nothing but H2O. Hope I helped!

I hope so...don't wann ause anything that can melt my skin...ever...lol. Just me though...I am clumsy and I like my face, and fingers...lol. Damn near sliced my hand off cuttin the hole for my net pots...lol.

mouthmeetsoap said:

I use vinegar rather than pH down because the price is so drastically different and the results have been exactly the same with the exception of the vinegar being easier to control. Have you checked out the Reverse Osmosis filters? Bottled water does have a low PPM but an RO filter strips it nearly bare leaving you with nothing but H2O. Hope I helped!

Click to expand...

I would love to just get a R/O filter but it is just not cost effective with our well water...it is a well that is off of an underground spring so there is lots of silt and it just kills filters like nothing else...and those filters aren't cheap....we got one of those brita filter things just to make our drinking water better, but the filter needed to be changed like a week and a half after we got it...so it was like nope...that isn't gonna work...lol.

Well,

mouth I would give you some rep but alas it says I must share some rep with someone else first....lol.