So I went with the old tried and true organic simple soil mix for my first soil application. Chicken manure based composted soil 40%, worm castings 30%, perlite 20%, sand 10%. I amended with dolomite lime to buffer
ph, bone meal, and kelp meal. I added a cup of dr. earth bat guano tea (1 cup/gallon) during veg and one during flower.

My runoff ph is 6.0 at this point. I have since seeing MAJOR deficiency symptoms given to an old hydroponic solution that I used to use by foothill hydroponics just to get my plants back on track around 900 ppm in my feed water.

I am off the organic train at this point. Better luck next time for me. Where the hell did I go wrong with my soil setup???

If your runoff ph is 6 you didn't use enuff lime---your runoff should be 6.7 to 7.

I only use bone meal and doloite lime along with some molasses for veg, I have no def whatsoever...

Sorry to thread jack but i have to ask, I was under the impression that 6.5 was a good level to ph my water to going in, why should the runoff be higher?

Thanks
P@ssw0rd

The dolomite lime not only raises and buffers the soil-it also stabilizes the ph to 7-----if you flush with 6.0 to 6.3 your runoff should be 6.6 to 7 if you have the correct ratio of DL in your soil mix. As the dolomite lime is used up and flushed out you will notice a drop in ph when testing run-off. Your water going in should be 6.2 to 6.3(doesn't have to be perfect but close-----this is why-------example--------------you feed with 6.2ph nutes--over the next 8 hours your ph will rise---this is good because your plant will have access to different nutes throughout the ph range as it goes up. This is good and prevents any nutes from getting locked out due to ph. The key is to use the correct ratio-------FYI-----I always flush with 6.0ph every 4 weeks and check the ph----if and when I get a run-off ph of 6.4 I will add dolomite lime. hope this helps-------one more thing the perfect ph for soil is 6.635

What is the application for dolomite lime? Will it burn applied straight to the soil as a top dressing? Can you mix in to your water?

sprinkle it on top of the soil as long as you use dolomite lime you will not burn the plant. I use it at 1 tablespoon per gallon of soil. It gives you calcium and magnesium.

Drumsintown.. Gangjababy is correct...Only Dolomite Lime & use it in very, very lightly. Then recheck. Never use hydrated (quick) lime, it can burn the shit out of your roots. If your run off is 6, you need to correct it upwards to 6.5 to avoid nutrient lockout.
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Since the ph is low (acidic) right at 6, build up of fertilizer salts could be the cause. I would do a flush, using one quarter strength fertilizer, gallon for gallon (flush water to pot size) followed up by plain water, then a quarter strength fertilizer again - before doing the dolomite lime. This would get better results, quicker and more safely than the lime.
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THANKS! Awesome advice

So i went down today and added dolomite lime and for the past few waterings have added a hydroxide (mad farmer get up from my hydro supplies) to the irrigation water, raising the ph of the water to 6.7. i am currently on week 7 and am just starting to see more than 50%red stigma and my resin heads are just starting to get milky. I cut my irrigation solution to 400 ppm last watering 4 days ago and watered the same tonight.

The runoff tonight was 7 and 1040 ppm on a hanna meter.

Not far from the end now. any thoughts?