So right now I have a female doing pretty well and seems overall healthy. There are a few large bottom shade leaves that have turned yellow and died off but 98% of the plant looks healthy, especially the top 80% of the plant. I started out with high quality ph balanced nute free organic soil. But a lot of the soil is approaching three months old. The cheapest ph meter I can find locally is $80. I know I could order one from ebay for about $30. Not to mention, if I get the meter it's another step I have to learn and do right. If there is something I can add to soil that balances ph whether it needs to go up or down that's what I would like to do. Is there anything out there that eases ph into a neutral direction either way your soil needs to go? I've read a little and it seems like everything is specific to the direction you need your ph to go but I thought I'd ask just in case there is something. I'm trying not to overfeed the plant and cause a lockout or burn and I go ahead and spray with neem oil every 5 days to keep bugs and mold honest. So at this point the only thing I feel I can run into is a ph problem that causes a lockout and that's what I'm trying to avoid.

Thanks

By the way, where are instructions on how to post a pic?

I've said it before, I have to say it again. I'll keep on saying the same thing until people finally understand what it actually means.

Compost is self ph buffering, you do not need to adjust your water/nutrient ph - the compost will do it for you. You'll cause more harm than good by using acidic ph up and down acids which kill the soil micro fauna.

If you're using soft water then a little dolomite lime or calcified seaweed added to the compost at potting up time will assist in the compost ph buffering.

Don't beleive me? Look at my grow journal - I've never ph'd my water, as I don't own a ph meter.

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Mandala Seeds Kalichakra and Satori Grow
Holefillers 0.6gram per watt 64w Micro Grow

eggshells like five of them crushed up per pot....
I don't have a ph meter all tho they say you dont need to worry about ph in soil....

But dont you use RO water?

Seroiusly, I never heard that, sounds like less work, I always Ph my water.

Yes I do.

And..?

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Mandala Seeds Kalichakra and Satori Grow
Holefillers 0.6gram per watt 64w Micro Grow

Well I hope you don't use ph up and down to adjust it.

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Mandala Seeds Kalichakra and Satori Grow
Holefillers 0.6gram per watt 64w Micro Grow

I do after I add the nutes, but I just realized you said compost...sorry I misread

And, you have no idea that he uses domolite lime, or anything else, yet you tell him not to worry about ph? That sounds like advice leading to a sure disaster. He obviously didnt mention using it.
Where will you be when his plants die?

Yes I do and am telling him not to worry about ph, are you going to disagree with me? If so where's your reasoning, apart from - his plants are going to die?!

I use RO water for a different reason to ph issues, clearly something you're incapable of understanding. My tap water contains too much sodium which can lock out certain nutrients from the root zone - Magnesium being a good example.

RO water 'should have' a neutral ph of 7.0, but it has no ph buffering abilities of its own and therefore as soon as something else is added to it it will take on the ph value of that rather than it's own 7.0. I use my RO in about 80/20 proportions with tap water - therefore the ph will raise or lower to the ph of the tap water.

My tap water is hard, therefore it's Alkaline - with a ph over 7.0. I have no idea of the exact ph, because I've never measured it, but I'm guessing it's somewhere in the region of 7.5-8.0 which is the typical ph of hard Alkaline water. When you add nutrients, the acidity of those nutrients will generally lower the ph of the solution - but nothing like enough to bring my water into the ideal 6.0 -7.0 ph range required for growing Canna successfully.

So why aren't my plants dead when I'm feeding it irrigation water of 7.5 - 8.0 ph?

Either come up with some reasoning or fuck off and stop wasting my time.

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Mandala Seeds Kalichakra and Satori Grow
Holefillers 0.6gram per watt 64w Micro Grow