Trying to get proper ph levels

If I’m trying to get a run off of 6.5, what is the optimal ph of the water used to water??.. I have 9.4 coming out of the tap and The last time I watered I had 7.0 for the run off. I want to get the ph down as I think I’m dealing with lockout.

Is your tap water well water or city/town water?

I have well water and the pH is about 8. After adding nutrients it’s about 7. The I use a pH down solution to drop it to 5.8 (I use a coco mix)

So if you are using a true soil, your pH of the water or water/nute solution should be 6.5. Send a pic of your plants.

If you are having issues folks on this site can help out.

If you can fill out this support ticket it helps us understand what may be Happening

Strain; Type, Bag seed, or NA:

Age from sprout:
Age from flower:

Soil in pots, Hydroponic, or Coco?

How often do I water and how do I determine when to water:

PH of runoff or solution in reservoir?

What is strength of nutrient mix? EC, or TDS.

Indoor or Outdoor:

Room size:

Light system, size, height from plants:

Temps; Day, Night:

Humidity; Day, Night:

Ventilation system; Yes, No, Size:

AC, Humidifier, De-humidifier:

Co2; Yes, No:

Any other info you think is pertinent:

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If you water at 6.0 you should get a runoff of 6.5.

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The top one is girl scout cookie extrem and the other is white widow auto, Got them from ILGM. Workn on filln out the ticket.

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Something very off. 9.4 PH will fry plants very quickly. Total lockout!

Soil ph should 6.3 to 6.8…

Ya I say, I grew inside bout 9 mths ago without any issues, but i wasnt testing ph. Makes me wonder if somthing changed in the city water supply.

If it’s city/town water supply, people recommended letting it sit for a day to release the chlorine. 9.4 is high for water supply pH, 8.5 is a typical upper limit.

You just need to pH down your water or water/nute solution to 6.5.

Depending on what your soil is, you most likely do not need to be adding any nutes at this point.

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Support ticket info:

Strain: white widow auto, girl scout cookies extreme all from ILGM

Age: germinated on Sept 24

Soil: Happy Frog not Ocean forest

Watering: Feel how heavy pots are and finger in soil for dryness

Ph run off: only tested once and it was 7.0

Indoor grow

Room size: 48x24x60

Light: iplantop 1000w led

Temps: 70-78F

Humidity: 37-54 percent

Ventulation: 4” inline carbon filter and fan

No ac, humidifier, or CO 2

These support tix wiuld be great if it was preloaded to the site

@pigmanBBQ

I think this should help

Raising or Lowering the pH in the Soil Mix

by Dowzer

Growing in soil and adjusting pH levels

A lot of gardeners have trouble with the pH of their soil. A high pH can lock out
needed nutrients and mimic other problems like Fe and Mg deficiencies. The biggest
mistake new growers make is to try and correct pH problems too quickly. The first
step in determining if high pH is the real problem, is to pick up a good pH tester.
Don’t be afraid to shell out the cash for a good one, it’s well worth it!

Here are some recommendations: (All sell for under $100.00)

Milwaukee makes two styles of hand-held pH meters. A small “pen” called the
Sharp and the larger Smart Meter. Both are easy to use. The Sharp pens are
splash-proof (although not totally waterproof), and have a large easy to read
display. They also have a detachable, replaceable probe.

Oakton – Same type of pH tester as Milwaukee makes, but it’s made a little better
imho. These are totally waterproof. (It floats.)

Shindengen ISFET pH Meters are state-of-the-art pH pens and work with a totally
different method of measurement. This pen uses a solid state Ion Sensitive Field
Effect Transistor (ISFET) instead of the fragile glass electrodes used by
traditional pH pens. They have replaceable tips that change from opaque to clear
when they need to be changed.

What is pH, and what do the terms acidic and alkaline mean?

The acidity or alkalinity of the soil is measured by pH (potential Hydrogen ions).
Basically it’s a measure of the amount of lime (calcium) contained in your soil,
and the type of soil that you have. A soil with a pH lower than 7.0 is an acidic
soil and one with a pH higher than 7.0 is considered to be alkaline. A pH of 7.0 is neutral.

Adjusting your soil pH :

Once you have determined the pH of your soil with a good tester, you can amend the
soil if needed to accommodate the plants in your garden using inexpensive materials
commonly available at your local garden center.

Adjust soil pH slowly over several days time, and check pH often as you go. Radical
changes in pH may cause osmotic shock damage to the roots.

Raising soil pH : (to make it more alkaline)

It is generally easier to make soil mixes more alkaline than it is to make them
more acidic. The addition of dolomite lime, hardwood ash, bone meal, crushed marble,
or crushed oyster shells will help to raise the soil pH.

In soil: add dolomite limestone to the soil; use small amounts of hydrated lime.

Raising hydroponic pH : (to make it more alkaline)

In hydroponics: use potassium silicate, provides silicon at an effective doseage.
In bioponics/hydro-organics: add small amounts of sodium bicarbonate or lime.

Lowering soil pH : (to make it more acidic)

If your soil needs to be more acidic, sawdust, composted leaves, wood chips,
cottonseed meal, leaf mold and especially peat moss, will lower the soil pH.

bloodmeal/cottonseed meal during vegetative; bone meal during flowering.

Lowering hydroponic pH : (to make it more acidic)

In hydroponics: use nitric acid during vegetative; phosphoric acid during flowering.

Stabilizing pH with Dolomite lime

The best way to stable PH is by adding 1 ounce of Dolomite Lime per 1 gallon of planting soil.

Dolomite Lime is available in garden nurseries. Buy the fine Dolomite powder
(There may be several kinds of Dolomite like Rough, Medium, Fine)

Dolomite Lime has been a useful PH stabilizer for years, since it has a neutral
PH of 7 when added to your soil it stabilizes your soil at PH 7.

Mix the dry soil medium and dolomite together really well, give the mix a good
watering then after the water has had chance to settle and leech into the soil
a bit give the mix a really good stir. Then water the soil/lime mix and give it
another stir

Best plan is to mix fine dolomite lime into your mix before planting. Fine Dolomite will help stabilize your pH; however, if the ph becomes unstable or changes, you can then use Hydrated Dolomite Lime. Add some of the hydrated lime to luke warm water and give it a good stir then water your plants with it. Give the plants a good watering with this hydrated lime added and your PH should fall or rise back to 7

Dolomite lime is also high in two secondary nutes that can often be overlooked by fertilizers; dolomite is high in both (Mg) Magnesium and (Ca) Calcium

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How do things look? Have you been able to get a pH and ppm meter.

Yep, im ph down my water to 6.0 and gettn a run off of 7.0 and i soul tested with a ph if 6.8. My ppm at run off is 6500 but came down from 7800. Looks like im going in the right direction. Fingers crossed

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You are on the right path.

With ppms that high you can consider flushing. My first and second grows I let my ppms get that high and I had a lot of issues especially in flower. I was instructed to flush them, basically run water through them at 6.5 ph until the ppms got under 1000, 3-4 gallons per pot or so.

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You flushed during flower or veg?

At the time, they were in flower, but it doesn’t matter.

I’m going to try it, hopefully will get me straightened out before flower. Thanks for the info, I can’t say enough about what a great forum with very helpful members!!

@Sixpackdad I just wanted to give you a huge thank you!!!.. i flushed like you said and it has done wonders. So Happy with the results, keepn track if ph/ppm and feedn once a week and lookn great.

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Awesome. The plants look great!

Hi Will

I heard somewhere that moss as it dries out will release some organic nutes into my grow…

I have an carpet of Welsh green moss that I grew with aid of organic / live yoghurt on a heap of old bricks out on my land, my question is whether it is a good idea to sit pieces of the moss on the surface of my organic soil in 7 gall fabric bags .

Regards

James 68