Supersoil pH at 6-6.3, shouldn't it be at 7?

Hey RIU,

Having a bit of some trouble with my supersoil's pH and I was hoping I could get some advice? I recently quit drinking, but the damage for a lot of things has already been done. I only bring that up because it was the cause of a lot of my laziness so I didn't do a lot of things I should have so please go easy on me Anyway..

About a week and a half ago I poured out my supersoil onto some tarp after it having sat in the trash cans for over 5 weeks. My dumbass didn't take it out every 2-3 days like Subcool said (due to laziness from the alcohol). So after about 5 weeks of sitting in there I poured it all out and it reeked of sewage hardcore, like when I open my septic tank. After much research I determined the soil could still be saved as most people stated that there are still good microbes in there, they just need to be rejuvenated. So I poured a bag of Roots Organic and some EWC and Alaskan Humus and stirred it up a whole bunch and let it dry out for a good 2-3 days until the smell went away. Afterward, I sprayed it down with a mix of neem oil/EWC tea to inoculate the soil once more and to get it a bit moist. It's been sitting in the trash cans for about a week now and I decided to test the pH of it tonight because I don't want to transplant into that soil unless I'm absolutely sure it's ready. The test results came out to around 6-6.5 max. Adding a few granules of dolomite lime didn't do anything but perhaps that's because I didn't give it a chance to dissolve in the water for long enough? I know dolomite lime takes around a year to break down organicly, but since people suggest mixing some dolomite lime with water to buffer soil pH I thought the same effect would apply for this test? Right now the tester is sitting at around 6.2-6.4 if I had to venture a guess? It isn't quite the color of 6.0, but it isn't quite the color of 6.5 either.. somewhat in between.

Anyway, how do I go about fixing this? Obviously pouring a ton of dolomite lime into the soil isn't going to help me right now, but is there anything that can? Am I over-reacting about the pH? Subcool says he has neutral pH in his soil after cooking, but mine isn't neutral. Did the fact I let it sit too long and smell like sewage mess me up completely? Are there any ways to tell that your soil is decomposed enough by the way? My plants are going to be ready for their final transplant in a week, two max so I was hoping my supersoil would be good to go by then. Is there anything I can do to fix this soil? Or will I have to just go down to the hydro store and buy enough Roots Organic to plant them all in?

As always thanks for any and all advice!

my advice is . never check ph soil . just check the water ph. I have never check my ph soil 1 time in 20 years . my water ph is 6.5 so the soil will end up 6.5 , I use the most cheap soil I can buy . or reuse it 10 times . still never checked the soil ph. so no stressing the soil ph. just water proper your all set. go smoke a joint chillax

Phew good to know! I had a feeling but I wanted to be sure before I went ahead and did anything I couldn't reverse. I use RO water from those 5 gallon machine dispensers and I add 150ppms of CalMag to whatever water I use. Just doing that has already fixed a lot of my problems. Thanks for your response!

So no one else has anything else to say at all? Is the pH of the soil really not that big of a deal?

I don't check the PH of my soil, but 6.2 to 6.4 is perfect imo. If you're worried about it stay on top of the compost teas. The microbes in those teas will buffer your ph just fine once they hit the soil.

First off, if your soil pH is between 6 and 7 (and you have compost in there), you are good to go. No need to micromanage it; the soil microbiology will do the fine tuning for you. If the pH settles below that range, something is out of balance. In other words, your base saturation is low; too few of your cation exchange sites are occupied by base cations (calcium, magnesium, and potassium).

How are you measuring the pH of your soil?

If lime is/was added to the mix, then all you need to do is check the water (with or w/o ferts) and make sure it's in the 6.2-6.5 range. If no lime is added, then you may have to worry about the soil pH dropping and should be checked periodically....

Awesome, thanks again for all the help guys! Glad I was just being a bit paranoid, I just wanted to make sure I didn't make anymore mistakes this time.

Thanks again guys!