PH Pen...soil grow...what do I do with it?

Ok…my Apera PH Pen is coming today…been trying to see what I will do with it …I have a soil grow…I understand you check the ph of the water going in and of the run off from the plant. But…then what?

Do I test before I feed? Run some water through the plant…and then put ph up or down in with the water that I feed them with? I’m concerned this will be too much water on the plant… Or am I way off?

How will I know how much ph up or down to use?

If a video or document exists I’ll be happy to watch or read, but I couldn’t find anything…

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I only check the run off pH if I am having a problem with a plant that I am trying to diagnose.

If I am watering without nutrients then I check the pH of the water. If it is below 6.5 (for a soil grow) then I us pH UP to raise the pH to 6.5. If the pH is above 6.5 then I use pH DOWN to lower it to 6.5. It may only take a very small amount of UP or DOWN so be conservative when starting out.

If I am watering with nutrients then I add all of my nutrients before checking and adjusting the pH using the same general process as described above.

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No worries easy fix. I’m new and after a couple times u will get the hang of it. Do u have just a ph pen coming or did u get an EC or ppm pen as well ?

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Apera 20 only

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Listen to Merlin that sounds 100% right on, but wait I have a ? For u @merlin44 when feeding molasses or re charge, do same process add everything and ph at end. Will ph up or down kill any of the good microbs in ur water ?

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Thats a top dollar pen u should have no problems best of luck, I’m new but will always try to help, feel free to tag if needed, also might look in a ppm pen can help diagnose problems and fix them before the y get to bad

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As far as I know the pH should be adjusted after all nutrients are added to the water.
Someone like @Covertgrower or @BobbyDigital or @AfgVet or @PurpNGold74 may have a better perspective on this.

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Thank u

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Yep, ph will be the last thing you do. There’s billions of microbes, so you’re not going to hurt that many with ph adjusters. There’s also earth juice ph adjusters that are organic. What type of water are you using?

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Reverse Osmosis

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I use tap water comes out 7.1 let it set in a 5 gallon bucket for at least 48 hrs with an air stone. Where i live I got a kit from pet store my water has very little traces of chorline, and that other stuff can’t remover what it is. After 48 hrs with air stone then i add what ever I add that day and adjust ph then water, wanted to make sure I was at least doing one thing right

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Probably the best bet. In my opinion regular ones dont play nicely. Of course Im no scientist, I also used bottled pH up and down for a while with microbes. But eventually I pulled away from the bottles. For a while, adding nutrients dropped it, and using baking soda brought it back into range. Nowadays ive gotten from the baking soda. Silica is my choice ‘pH up’ but normally, if ur microbe herd is STRONG, pH’n is almost minimal. No u dont wanna be pouring it at below 5. But adjusting for a few points isnt needed.

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Thanks much!!!

Be sure to calibrate your new meter before use, Apera has a you tube video on how to do this.
Make sure that you store your meter correctly. Storage solutions are available.

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Just got my microscope and my ph meter…finally got the microscope working now dinner then I’ll watch videos on the PH meter…thanks much!

That document says to take a soil sample and mix it with water and let sit for 24 hours and test that…I’ve read a lot and have never read that…does anyone do that?
From what I now understand I check the pH of the water going in and coming out and then adjust the water at the next watering…sound close?

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That’s what they call a slurry test. It’ll tell you what your soil ph currently is.

Not necessary, unless you’re ph’ing your solution correctly but still having issues.

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Yep, many do this including myself.
What exact soil are you using?

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Fox farms ocean forest
RO water
BioCanna veg and boost

And I finally have cal-mag and my plants are going to be very appreciative tonight!

Somebody please correct me if I’m wrong

RO cannot be PH’d on its own, you will need to add something to it before you Ph. Cal/mag will do this and should be the first thing added to your solution, unless you are using silica.

How long have plants been in this soil? If I’m not mistaken OF should get you through veg on its own.

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