Look at this.....

[H.A.F.]

I wanna take this time to say a whole hearted THANK YOU!!! to everyone for there comments, suggestions,and input. Today’s plants are very particular and require a great amount of attention. But I’ll never give up. Thanks again!!

Todays plants, if thrown in dirt outside, will do just like yesterdays plants - maybe a little better. Once you pull them inside and put them under intense fake light and a controlled environment they become finicky. Too much of anything at that point is bad.

 

[Old ST1R]

if you are in soil or promix, DO NOT Ph your water/feed.

The PH’ing stuff will build up and cause lots of issues.

 

[Biggbudzlova]

if you are in soil or promix, DO NOT Ph your water/feed.

The PH’ing stuff will build up and cause lots of issues.

Really???? That makes a lot of sense. I mean you don’t ph the rain as it falls. But doesn’t that go along with the light dimming issue?? You can’t reduce or increase the sun,correct?

 

[H.A.F.]

Really???? That makes a lot of sense. I mean you don’t ph the rain as it falls. But doesn’t that go along with the light dimming issue?? You can’t reduce or increase the sun,correct?

Yeah, I'm not on board with that. I am using a drop or two of pH up or down per gallon.
The plants perform better when "the soil" is at a certain pH.
The ONLY input I have into that system is the water and dry nutes.
There is no way that every persons tap water will produce the same results, even run through an RO.

 

[H.A.F.]

As far as the sun, it also has gradually increasing and decreasing intensity throughout the day - we don't.

 

[Nobighurry]

Wow you are 100% correct. And I was good success and then one plant would get ugly and die. Then another. Hell at one point I lost 4 plant in a week. I’ll continue to work on it until I get some prized buds

I was where you are when I decided to start growing again, back in the 70-80s I'd start plants under and old 1000watt MH, then out into the wild woods, set up a gravity water supply easy, so I thought this indoor stuff will be a snap! Got the PH/mag messed up in my soil because the pots sat on cold floor, plants can't absorb mag when soil temps are low, I kept tossing stuff at them... But I caught on and so will you, don't love them to death, less is more etc. etc...

 

[Nobighurry]

Yeah, I'm not on board with that. I am using a drop or two of pH up or down per gallon.
The plants perform better when "the soil" is at a certain pH.
The ONLY input I have into that system is the water and dry nutes.
There is no way that every persons tap water will produce the same results, even run through an RO.

Especially if your soil PH is off say high to start, then your well water has a high PH it adds to your issues, once you find or mix your own soil that works well with your water source your plants will respond like never before, yes the soil will help buffer things but when you get it all right kazamm....

 

[Old ST1R]

Yeah, I'm not on board with that. I am using a drop or two of pH up or down per gallon.
The plants perform better when "the soil" is at a certain pH.
The ONLY input I have into that system is the water and dry nutes.
There is no way that every persons tap water will produce the same results, even run through an RO.

I think one or two drops of Ph up or down in a gallon of water won’t change the Ph enough that you could actually measure it with the instruments we use.

 

[treefarmercharlie]

Yeah, I'm not on board with that. I am using a drop or two of pH up or down per gallon.
The plants perform better when "the soil" is at a certain pH.
The ONLY input I have into that system is the water and dry nutes.
There is no way that every persons tap water will produce the same results, even run through an RO.

This definitely depends on what you use for soil, and how bad your water is, but most soil growers don't bother pHing their water unless they are using salt based nutrients that require a specific range to be absorbed properly. The people at ProMix also recommend not pHing the water when using their product line. If you have good soil, and your water isn't way off, the soil will buffer the water no problem.

 

[Kushash]

I never ph my water. My water is very hard at 400 - 500 ppms. The type that gets all of the faucets crusty with calcium. CLR works to cleaning them up.

I cut the tap with ro to get it down to 200 ppms.
The tap ph is usually close to 8.0 and the ro/tap mix ph tends to be the same.
I use the tap in the garden and on the lawn and everything is green, tomatoes are great. If the ph in any of my soils gets to low I use Dolomite Lime also called Garden Lime and the ph issue is usually gone in a week to 10 days.

 

[Nobighurry]

My well after PH changes thru out the year, highest right now 9.0 since water table is low, come later summer-winter it drops to 7.5-8.0, takes the snow on the mountain 8 months to recharge my well, we have a hydrologist in our dept at work, been interesting to follow the changes

 

[H.A.F.]

This definitely depends on what you use for soil, and how bad your water is, but most soil growers don't bother pHing their water unless they are using salt based nutrients that require a specific range to be absorbed properly. The people at ProMix also recommend not pHing the water when using their product line. If you have good soil, and your water isn't way off, the soil will buffer the water no problem.

That is all well and good, it only takes a drop or two to adjust because I input very low ppm. If I give them a full fox farm tea of all their organic crap it comes to about 500ppm.

The less ppm you have the less up/down it takes to make the pH change. pHing zero ppm water I agree - no need.

But once I add calmag, silica, aminos and whatever sweetener/microbe-food I add - the pH and PPM are both off from perfect. I have the ability to make it perfect, and it's not any trouble.

As anecdotal evidence, wade through the "what the fuck is wrong with my plant" thread and see how many people say they don't pH their water.

For me it falls into the "can't hurt"

 

[H.A.F.]

I cannot beleive that if you continually input high or low pH water, it won't start changing the pH of the soil. How can it not? Buffering means it has the ability to reduce the punch to the gut over time, but your plants will be drinking that water as soon as it hits the dirt. The water does not magically "6.5" when it hits the dirt. I am sure there is a ballpark range of pH's where that always works, but I don't think it's that wide a spectrum.

 

[Old ST1R]

That is all well and good, it only takes a drop or two to adjust because I input very low ppm. If I give them a full fox farm tea of all their organic crap it comes to about 500ppm.

The less ppm you have the less up/down it takes to make the pH change. pHing zero ppm water I agree - no need.

But once I add calmag, silica, aminos and whatever sweetener/microbe-food I add - the pH and PPM are both off from perfect. I have the ability to make it perfect, and it's not any trouble.

As anecdotal evidence, wade through the "what the fuck is wrong with my plant" thread and see how many people say they don't pH their water.

For me it falls into the "can't hurt"

It can hurt though. I just went through it.

I was Ph’ing for my plants in Promix and it eventually built up and was starting to cause issues in my plants.

Once I stopped PH’ing, the plants began to thrive again.

FWIW, my tap water is usually around 8 and after nutes in the 7 plus range.

 

[H.A.F.]

It can hurt though. I just went through it.

I was Ph’ing for my plants in Promix and it eventually built up and was starting to cause issues in my plants.

Once I stopped PH’ing, the plants began to thrive again.

FWIW, my tap water is usually around 8 and after nutes in the 7 plus range.

That is also anecdotal. Reusing soil can create a lot of issues if you aren't careful. I'm not saying you are wrong. What works for you works for you.

If I get to that point I will keep it in mind as a possible solution. So far I'm a year or so in and they keep looking better and better.

 

[treefarmercharlie]

I cannot beleive that if you continually input high or low pH water, it won't start changing the pH of the soil. How can it not? Buffering means it has the ability to reduce the punch to the gut over time, but your plants will be drinking that water as soon as it hits the dirt. The water does not magically "6.5" when it hits the dirt. I am sure there is a ballpark range of pH's where that always works, but I don't think it's that wide a spectrum.

It can actually hurt an organic grow by affecting the microbial life, this is why organic gardeners who have water that is WAY off find other ways to adjust the pH of their water rather than using pH Up/Down products. The pH of the water is usually buffered by the time it goes through the first inch or two of soil. It doesn't take as much time to buffer as you are assuming. Just for the hell of it, I just tested my compost tea (which I feed full strength) and the water in my reservoirs. The compost tea tested at 5.75 and the water the plants get tested at 6.25. Both are considered low for people using salt based nutrients in soil but, when I've tested my soil, the pH has always been spot on.

 

[H.A.F.]

It can actually hurt an organic grow by affecting the microbial life,

I would think the buffering effect of the soil could take care of a trace amount of citric acid or potash. I'm open to learning though

 

[H.A.F.]

Just consider what is in some tap water - that is 'buffered'

 

[H.A.F.]

I think out of curiosity next time I feed them a tea (usually farthest off on pH) I'll try each way and then check the pH in and out on two similar plants. That would show me the "two inches of soil" thing pretty quick.

 

[H.A.F.]

I would need to see that effect before trying it and seeing the long term effect on the plants. I'm not as worried about the soil, but the fact that I let it get dry between feedings, and I know they start drinking immediately. You can see the leaves perk up in less than an hour sometimes.