Jump to content

Ph Levels

Nemosity

By Nemosity
in Dirt Growing

Recommended Posts

Nemosity Advanced Member

Nemosity

Posted
Posted

Just found out that my three way meter has a broken switch. Needless to say, my soil ph has wandered up near 7. I don't have the funds to go out and buy any ph down, so I am thinking simply adding some acid based home product to the waterings. Out of the tap, hard well water, the ph is just above 6. Can I simply add white or apple cider vinegar to the water and adjust it down to 5.5? Or is there something else, I may have on hand already, that I can use? Thank you so very much in advance!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
THC-Farmer Advanced Member

THC-Farmer

Posted
Posted

If you're growing in soil the optimum pH level is at or above 6.5, especially for an organic soil medium... Anything below 6.5 is a little too acidic for cannabis growing in an organic soil medium... Sure it will survive but it's not optimal. I suggest trying to bring your pH up or leave it where it is at. A pH of 7.0 is perfectly fine.

 

A pH level of 5.5 is WAY too low for soil in my honest opinion.

 

In an organic medium, when the soil pH drops below 6.4 the beneficial bacteria and micro organisms begin to die. The soil almost instantly loses its potential and the requirement for more fertilizer increases. The chances of a deficiency are way higher. Nutrient lock also becomes an issue as the bacteria breaks down and changes the ionic compound of the medium...

 

I keep my 'water going in' pH at 6.8-7.2 occasionally lowering it to about 6.5 during the transition from vege phase to bloom phase.

 

Just my 2 cents...

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Jipo Advanced Member

Jipo

Posted
Posted

If you're growing in soil the optimum pH level is at or above 6.5, especially for an organic soil medium... Anything below 6.5 is a little too acidic for cannabis growing in an organic soil medium... Sure it will survive but it's not optimal. I suggest trying to bring your pH up or leave it where it is at. A pH of 7.0 is perfectly fine.

 

A pH level of 5.5 is WAY too low for soil in my honest opinion.

 

In an organic medium, when the soil pH drops below 6.4 the beneficial bacteria and micro organisms begin to die. The soil almost instantly loses its potential and the requirement for more fertilizer increases. The chances of a deficiency are way higher. Nutrient lock also becomes an issue as the bacteria breaks down and changes the ionic compound of the medium...

 

I keep my 'water going in' pH at 6.8-7.2 occasionally lowering it to about 6.5 during the transition from vege phase to bloom phase.

 

Just my 2 cents...

 

I'm with Farmer on this, 6.5-6.7 was always my range, 7 is fine, don't let it wander much higher.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Nemosity Advanced Member

Nemosity

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Ok, good to hear. I'll keep a better watch on it now that I know my meter is messed up. I'll get a three way switch from the Shack and put it in, that should help. lol thanks again everyone for your responses! What would I do without you!?! :) God bless

 

 

----Nemo

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Nemosity Advanced Member

Nemosity

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Ok, so I took an in-depth look at my plant that finished up today. I don't know what strain it is, could be ditch weed for all I know, it just came in a bag of decent MM. However, it shows a very indica dominate structure so I figured at least 8 weeks in flower. What seems to be happening is they are finishing at 6-7 weeks. After I looked the one over today I found some interesting things.

 

The bud was fine, not airy, just nice and juicy although not nearly big enough. I think this is because I flowered it straight away at only about 8" tall and at the time I only had small flower pots to use. The plants I started flowering after this one in bigger pots already have buds twice the size. That is good, but something is a miss.

 

When I checked out the roots, they seemed dead. Brown, thin, very stringy, and just ugly looking. I have grown house plants enough to know that healthy roots are white, full and have many smaller roots branching off them. This plant died early because the roots were dying. So what's happening?

 

Is it the ph? That's what I thought it could be, throw in a broken meter and I figured that this was most likely the problem. But now that I hear a range from 6.5-7 is ok, I'm back to square one.

 

Could it that the soil I am using is not draining properly, or draining enough and I a drown the poor thing? The ph meter has a moisture, light, and ph setting and this was broken so they are all getting plenty of water, but maybe too much??

 

Thanks again

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Nemosity Advanced Member

Nemosity

Posted
  • Author
Posted

The meter isn't broken in the sense that it reads wrong, just the switch has to be fiddled with to get the needle to bounce. I cleaned up the contacts tonight and it seems to be working fine. Although, I am not sure if I was checking the ph of the soil appropriately. What I did was water it, wait a few minutes, and gently plunge the cleaned probe into the soil. The soil is a hodgepodge of miracle grow potting soil, hyponex potting soil, perilite, soil moist crystals, worm castings, and peat moss. I am sure there are better mediums out there, but just starting out it should be ok, I hope. lol Thanks for helping me out here.

 

 

----Nemo

Link to comment
Share on other sites
THC-Farmer Advanced Member

THC-Farmer

Posted
Posted

You're plants could be suffering from pH swings. Those pH meters that you stick in the soil, with the little moisture meter and the needle, are simply not accurate. You should look into getting a cheap Milwaukee pH600 or something similar.

 

What you should be doing is preparing your water, adding your fertilizer or whatever you are feeding your plants (if anything at this point), then checking the pH of that water. Then you adjust your pH if necessary. You want the water going into your soil to be at 6.5-7.0. This is very important. You don't want to do your pH adjusting in the soil. You want to maintain the proper pH with the liquid that goes into the soil.

 

Now, on to your soil mixture.

 

First off, I would get the Miracle Grow out of the picture. That stuff is usually bad news and is not capable of growing medcininal quality cannabis (high grade). Miracle Grow is great for the plants that it is designed to be used with. The problem is, cannabis is definitely not one of them. MG soils are engineerd for plants which generally require much more abundant nutrients. Most of the MG soils contain chemical fertilizers in unnatural levels, most of which you probably wouldn't want to consume, in any fashion.

 

The only MG soil that would even be remotely safe for medicinal cannabis cultivation would be the MG Organics line. Only one problem with that stuff though. It's just like the rest of the MG soils, heavily fertilized. It's just over fertilized with natural ingredients. It's still unnatural. All MG soils contain unnatural levels of fertilizer in thier mixes.

 

The fact of the matter is that cannabis is simply a fairly sensitive annual flower that does not require GOBS of fertilizer to grow properly and develop huge dense bunches of flowers (buds)... For cannabis, less is more. Cannabis does best with small to medium amounts of fertilizer, similar to a naturally nutrient abundant soil that you would find in nature... It doesn't need more then that. Of course some strains are capable of consuming more fertilizer than others but the general consensus on fertilizers and cannabis is that it doesn't need anywhere near as much as a vegetable plant and it also doesn't even need as much as some of the other annual flowers commenly grown in home gardens.

 

Now with that in mind, if you choose to use the MG soil, use the organic blend geared for FLOWERS not vegetables and cut it with some other kind of soil, like top soil, that contains far less nutrients. This way you can attempt to cut back on the fertilizer that the soil comes saturated with to get it down to more natural levels.

 

You could switch to something like Fox Farms Ocean Forest which really isnt' that much more expensive. It's around $30 for a 1.5cu.ft. bag. It is MUCH more naturally derrived. It doesn't have any fertilizer in it at all, it just has natural nutrients available in natural amounts. It's perfect for cannabis!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Moss Advanced Member

Moss

Posted
Posted

I'm just posting to back up THC-Farmer on ditching the MG and going to FFOF. My first try I used MG and only 1 out of 4 seedling lived. I switched to FFOF and it went beautifully. This time I tried to be cheap again and used cheap top soil and it's garbage, theres wood chips in it, rocks, and even some little sprouts of something starting popping up. One of my plants has some weird spots, and discoloration. The other plant which was trested exactly the same has no issues, the soil is very inconstant. FFOF is worth the money, you can veg with no nutes and have no issues.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Nemosity Advanced Member

Nemosity

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Ok, I think I got it. One more question... Is foxfarms something I have to get offline or is it readily available at green houses, nursery's or hydro stores? thanks again, you are all helping me sooo much!! I am very thankful to have you all helping me out. :)

 

 

----Nemo

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Moss Advanced Member

Moss

Posted
Posted

Hydro shops carry it, I've been to 2 and they both had it. You wouldn't want to buy the soil online as the shipping would be more than the soil itself, the nutes can be bought online if you can't find them locally though, but there are other great nutes out there if you can't find FF so it's your call.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Nemosity Advanced Member

Nemosity

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Good info, now I wish there were a list of hydro shops on here. lol I'll see if I can find one around here. Probably nothing even close here in the thumb. Maybe Saginaw/Bay City or down near Lapeer. Thanks again, very much!

 

 

----Nemo

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • 2 weeks later...
THC-Farmer Advanced Member

THC-Farmer

Posted
Posted

pH is not an indication of nutrient balance in the soil. pH has nothing to do with how much nutrients are in the soil.

 

It CAN however, determine how or if the nutrients are available to the plants.

 

pH is a scale used to describe how alkaline or how acidic a solution is by means of measuring the hydrogen ion concentration in said solution. pH stands for POTENTIAL HYDROGEN. Since hydrogen ions are positively charged they alter the charge environment of other molecules in solution.

 

As water flows over the cells and cellular membranes the amount of hydrogen in the solution changes how those cells react with one another and other different organisms in the solution. This is why different pH levels are required for soil and hydroponics. This is also why the pH is so important to both mediums. Also, pH levels directly affect nutrient absorbtion properties of the root cells and the other particles in the soil or water. pH is very important to ALL living things.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • 1 month later...
  • 2 months later...
JayBuds Advanced Member

JayBuds

Posted
Posted

yes 6.5 - 7.0 is the proper PH range for soil growing, A lot of new people get confused when they read a guide or book that often quote the hydro range for PH which is lower than soil, If you use RO or distilled water it is usually between 7 and 8 so its about right after you add something to it like fertilizers or molasses

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Guest drcanna-pest

Guest drcanna-pest

Posted
Posted

If you're growing in soil the optimum pH level is at or above 6.5, especially for an organic soil medium... Anything below 6.5 is a little too acidic for cannabis growing in an organic soil medium... Sure it will survive but it's not optimal. I suggest trying to bring your pH up or leave it where it is at. A pH of 7.0 is perfectly fine.

 

A pH level of 5.5 is WAY too low for soil in my honest opinion.

 

In an organic medium, when the soil pH drops below 6.4 the beneficial bacteria and micro organisms begin to die. The soil almost instantly loses its potential and the requirement for more fertilizer increases. The chances of a deficiency are way higher. Nutrient lock also becomes an issue as the bacteria breaks down and changes the ionic compound of the medium...

 

I keep my 'water going in' pH at 6.8-7.2 occasionally lowering it to about 6.5 during the transition from vege phase to bloom phase.

 

Just my 2 cents...

 

Agreed...you should be just fine. If the strain your growing is staying healthy then your doing good. 6.8 is perfect if you can adjust...but if you get 7 out tha tap then great. Its all about how the plant responds and how it looks. Did you post this because the plants are reacting badly to the issue?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Go to topic listing
×
×
  • Create New...