Safe enough to assume PH levels?

Hi everyone,

I was just wondering. If you are without a PH tester and have store bought soil (Miracle Grow, Fox Farms etc.) is it safe to assume the PH level is going to be somewhat to very acidic? I heard stories about FF Ocean forest where it lists 6.3-6.8 on the bag but has been tested at about a 5.5 etc.

So if we can assume that at best the store bought soil is going to be somewhere lower than a six and we have dolomite lime or PH up at our disposal but no tester, is it safe to go with the lime by default or PH up to a 7 level?

If the soil is really 6.8 on the upper scale as far as Fox Farms Ocean Forest claims then PHing at a 7 by default would only raise this to at worst 6.9?

What do you think??

For FFOF - add about a good handfull or 1/2 cup of dolomite lime per the whole bag (1.5 cft) and mix well.

I tend to amend any soil with Dolo if it's going to be the final soil - same rate.

Don't use MG soil that has any extended nutrition - you know, the 6 month feeding shit!

If your going organic you might want to add some sort of Myco's amendment....The again, "I" would completely build on the soil with EWC, perlite, cow/steer manure and some other nutrient compounds..then forget about the pH of the soil and the in-going!

If your going synthetic nutrients, you may consider simply getting that pH tester and pHing all in-going liquids to 6.5 for veg and 6.7 for bloom. If you do = forget about the pH

Don't start bloom nutrients till week 3 after you flip the lighting times and you'll be far happier down the road!

Thank you Dr. Who.

So IMO, and to try to eek out the final answer, it sounds like NO soil unless you make it yourself and amend it accordingly is going to be above a 7 PH in ANY instance. And a PH addative up to a 7 will not cause you to be out of acceptable ranges for marijuana??? (assuming that most soils use peat which is acidic from the start)

oneyejacks said:

Thank you Dr. Who.

So IMO, and to try to eek out the final answer, it sounds like NO soil unless you make it yourself and amend it accordingly is going to be above a 7 PH in ANY instance. And a PH addative up to a 7 will not cause you to be out of acceptable ranges for marijuana??? (assuming that most soils use peat which is acidic from the start)

Click to expand...

save your self hold lot of pains buy promix ad ferts as needed

For me it's not worth the worry to not have a meter of some sorts. The probe meters are better than nothing but for 20 bucks at Amazon this would do the job.

I have grown food&smoke all my life I have never owned ph pen,i grow in coco now don't ph any thing but I get me water hand dug spring I cant believe all the peeps here with ph problems learn to read u plants they will tell u when they need something KISS

oneyejacks said:

Hi everyone,

I was just wondering. If you are without a PH tester and have store bought soil (Miracle Grow, Fox Farms etc.) is it safe to assume the PH level is going to be somewhat to very acidic? I heard stories about FF Ocean forest where it lists 6.3-6.8 on the bag but has been tested at about a 5.5 etc.

So if we can assume that at best the store bought soil is going to be somewhere lower than a six and we have dolomite lime or PH up at our disposal but no tester, is it safe to go with the lime by default or PH up to a 7 level?

If the soil is really 6.8 on the upper scale as far as Fox Farms Ocean Forest claims then PHing at a 7 by default would only raise this to at worst 6.9?

What do you think??

Click to expand...

Normally all bagged soil is a neutral 7.0, but what fucks with that it the water and the nutes you put into it, that causes changes
As mentioned above by the Dr Who, 1/2 to 1 cup of DOLOMITE lime (use it in any soil) stabilizes the soil soil at around 7, which works well for most plants, but is not optimum for pot, which is around 6.2-6.5 in soil. The good news about the lime is that it doesn't allow the soil to freak out with all the nutes added. It will never go to 4 or as high as 10, in other words.
What will make a differance is the PH of your water, and the nutes you use. That is where you want to know what you are giving them. After you make up you solution, using your tap water and your nute formula, test the water then. Aquarium test kits are good enough for a beginner, later on by a pen. It should read 6.0-6.5, which is perfect. If not, then adjustment comes into play, again using stuff you will find at your local pet store (PH up/down)
If you are doing an organic grow vs. a chemical grow, your PH is pretty much self adjusting, so you don't have to worry as much. Good luck

Dr. Who said:

For FFOF - add about a good handfull or 1/2 cup of dolomite lime per the whole bag (1.5 cft) and mix well.

I tend to amend any soil with Dolo if it's going to be the final soil - same rate.

Don't use MG soil that has any extended nutrition - you know, the 6 month feeding shit!

If your going organic you might want to add some sort of Myco's amendment....The again, "I" would completely build on the soil with EWC, perlite, cow/steer manure and some other nutrient compounds..then forget about the pH of the soil and the in-going!

If your going synthetic nutrients, you may consider simply getting that pH tester and pHing all in-going liquids to 6.5 for veg and 6.7 for bloom. If you do = forget about the pH

Don't start bloom nutrients till week 3 after you flip the lighting times and you'll be far happier down the road!

Click to expand...

I didn't start bloom nutes until week 3 and my current grow is doing better than previous grows where I switched immediately. Also flushed with FF sledgehammer before nute switch.

Thanks everyone,

So if my reasoning is correct once again if bagged storebought soil is a PH 7, and lets ASSUME that the nutes and water source do not bring it down, PH ing up to a 7 will still only give it a 7 runoff reading...

no/yes?

If the nutes and hard water bring this store bag of soil down to a 5.5 PH then PH up to 7 will give you something like a 6.3 correct?

So if you are new and are growing in store bought soil and do not have access (for whatever reason) to a PH tester then adding PH up to 7 is not going to make or break a grow but would rather by default HELP it if in fact nutes and water bring that store bought bag of soil down to a low PH level.

amirite?

no?

(I realize there are no hard and fast rules)

oneyejacks said:

Thanks everyone,

So if my reasoning is correct once again if bagged storebought soil is a PH 7, and lets ASSUME that the nutes and water source do not bring it down, PH ing up to a 7 will still only give it a 7 runoff reading...

no/yes?

If the nutes and hard water bring this store bag of soil down to a 5.5 PH then PH up to 7 will give you something like a 6.3 correct?

So if you are new and are growing in store bought soil and do not have access (for whatever reason) to a PH tester then adding PH up to 7 is not going to make or break a grow but would rather by default HELP it if in fact nutes and water bring that store bought bag of soil down to a low PH level.

amirite?

no?

(I realize there are no hard and fast rules)

Click to expand...

Most store bought soils will clock in at about 7. THIS IS FINE! Once the plant is in the soil. It will adjust it's self to more closer to what the plant "likes"...

Now what you need to know is that when you water or feed. The pH of the soil "swings" down around 1 whole point...As your soil dries back out it raises back up to what it's running at. This is natures way of making available all the needed nutrients be they Macro or Micro.......Nutrient build ups (synthetic) are a cause of pH problems. If you don't feed to much - you shouldn't HAVE pH problems....Actually changing the Ph of a soil is done by supplements like the lime. Old soils get the acidic rise from the break down of the peat.....No need to do anything unless you reuse soils and them you re amend anyway.

Now then, like I said before as this sounds like it may be a sticking point for you. Get a cheap meter, use storage solution and pH all in-going to 6.5 for veg and 6.7 for bloom and forget about the pH is using synthetic feeds!

DO add the Dolomite to store bought soils as I feel most of them are low on the liming agent for long term runs...FF soils are always low Lime and Mg and that's why I say add Dolo as it has plenty of Mg in it too.

If your familiar with simple bio or myco teas. These have a nice positive effect on synthetic runs by keeping the living bio's in the soil alive to help in the control of pH...

For the most part way to much attention is put on soil pH......As long as you start out right and don't over feed/water. You should be fine!

Thank you Dr. Who.

I had a couple of grows where I PH upped and got significantly greater results than no PH up but that was Miracle Grow. This grow I am using FFOF but notice I am not getting the same yields as MG with PH up and that might be due to the FFOF advertising faulty PH levels... I did nothing to up the PH with the FFOF. (same AK 48 batch)

So if a newbie, as a precautionary measure PH upped to 7 (as is suggested with dolomite lime, you would never say not to add that right?) then their grows would not be hurt but more often than not be HELPED.

Any way dead horse and thanks all.

Can i add this?

Yes you can sir. Any solutions are welcomed

you can try but I wouldn't ever assume, buy a cheap ph meter you can get them for like 2 for 10-15$ on ebay/amazon the yellow one's they work pretty good and are pretty close to being right

Final Phase said:

For me it's not worth the worry to not have a meter of some sorts. The probe meters are better than nothing but for 20 bucks at Amazon this would do the job.

View attachment 3605251

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Screwed up thing is I've bought many PH meters (HM Digital, Oakton, Hanna, Blue lab), and for some silly reason this cheapo one is the one that holds calibration best and also seems to last longer. I bought these (both red and yellow version) for less than $15 each and got 3, I'm way happier this way, I compare them to each other and when they read differently (by .2 or more) I know it's calibration time.

I haven't ph'd my soil in years.

nomofatum said:

Screwed up thing is I've bought many PH meters (HM Digital, Oakton, Hanna, Blue lab), and for some silly reason this cheapo one is the one that holds calibration best and also seems to last longer. I bought these (both red and yellow version) for less than $15 each and got 3, I'm way happier this way, I compare them to each other and when they read differently (by .2 or more) I know it's calibration time.

Click to expand...

The etekcity one? Same exact situation here.

staygreener said:

The etekcity one? Same exact situation here.

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Only one of the three is from etekcity, the other two are directly from china (aliexpress) with no brand, but are the same exact unit.