Organic soil ph issues

MichiganMedGrower

MichiganMedGrower

Well-Known Member
Buba Blend said:
Quick question.
When you over compensated with cal mag. How much were you using per gallon?
I'm up to 1 1/2 tsp per gallon cal mag+ at 4 weeks flowering near the end of stretch. I'm not sure what my plans are for the following weeks yet. I just put some tap in a 5 gallon bucket. Going to start feeding some with part tap.
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I was supplementing .2 well water so I tried 2-5 ml.

At first I got an immediate improvement. But that’s just the soluble nitrogen and iron at work. Then the nitrogen toxic hooked and curling down like a tube leaves start. Then lockout from too much minerals blocking the roots. Then more calcium spotting.

I return to water and low dose of base nutes after so it didn’t get worse.

With the new bag I overcompensated with cal mag again in fear of he same problem. But it got bad immediately. The soil had what it needed to start flower with the new bag so I was fertilizing too early.

My garden looked like a noob Grow for months. It has worked out pretty much now. The newest plants are healthy again.

You can see the mature ripening plants had different stages of deficiency and lockout and the new nice green plants with fast growing light tops.

1C7887E8-DCCD-4D6B-A599-6C3BC9001A33.jpeg

I kept on top of it pretty well thankfully. The yield was barely affected on the last months plants and the quality was really good.

Some fluffier bud density resulted but no complaints. I throw the larfy stuff in the trim for edible jars anyway.

It all gets used.
 
Kingrow1

Kingrow1

Well-Known Member
MichiganMedGrower said:
I was supplementing .2 well water so I tried 2-5 ml.

At first I got an immediate improvement. But that’s just the soluble nitrogen and iron at work. Then the nitrogen toxic hooked and curling down like a tube leaves start. Then lockout from too much minerals blocking the roots. Then more calcium spotting.

I return to water and low dose of base nutes after so it didn’t get worse.

With the new bag I overcompensated with cal mag again in fear of he same problem. But it got bad immediately. The soil had what it needed to start flower with the new bag so I was fertilizing too early.

My garden looked like a noob Grow for months. It has worked out pretty much now. The newest plants are healthy again.

You can see the mature ripening plants had different stages of deficiency and lockout and the new nice green plants with fast growing light tops.

View attachment 4057078

I kept on top of it pretty well thankfully. The yield was barely affected on the last months plants and the quality was really good.

Some fluffier bud density resulted but no complaints. I throw the larfy stuff in the trim for edible jars anyway.

It all gets used.
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Some of what you said about cal/mag is why i dont bother and just soil ferts and water works a lot better.

So like literally my only focus is my environment now.

Far from a noob, think your in the average club with a lot of us others :-)
 
MichiganMedGrower

MichiganMedGrower

Well-Known Member
Kingrow1 said:
Some of what you said about cal/mag is why i dont bother and just soil ferts and water works a lot better.

So like literally my only focus is my environment now.

Far from a noob, think your in the average club with a lot of us others :-)
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I agree environment is the most important factor and many problems are simply environmental.

What is the average club?
 
RayRay747

RayRay747

Well-Known Member
Nutty sKunK said:
Your soil will buffer it though. Yes it’s acidic but nothing to worry about as around the rhizophere (root zone) there’s a special relationship going on. Without that plants can’t absorb the nutrients in the soil.

I just feed them whatever the PH is. Think it’s been around the 5.6 mark recently and I’m growing in soil. Also water only days are ph 8. Although my soil has been limed for the buffering qualities.
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Got it. So you water with just plain water with nothing added to it and your pH is at 8? I like to add in the molasses, aloe vera juice and coconut water and a little epsom salt on my watering days so I really never have plain water. Maybe I should be doing that - just using plain nothing added water?
 
RayRay747

RayRay747

Well-Known Member
Rasta Roy said:
Stop wasting your oranges friend, just letting your water sit will produce the same results.

You just think that because hydrogrowers think they know what they're doing and have been good about spreading bad information. Lol.

My tap water comes out above 8 on the ph scale consistently. It sits in a res with an air pump until I need it. I don't touch it.
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Yea I was going to stop using the oranges because I started slow boiling the water now. I used to just let the water sit but that just removes the chlorine so I added the oranges or ascorbic acid to get rid of as much of the chloramine as possible when the water was sitting and that is supposed to remove the chloramine.

At least this is what I found from my research. Please correct me if I am wrong.

Thanks...
 
Rasta Roy

Rasta Roy

Well-Known Member
RayRay747 said:
Got it. So you water with just plain water with nothing added to it and your pH is at 8? I like to add in the molasses, aloe vera juice and coconut water and a little epsom salt on my watering days so I really never have plain water. Maybe I should be doing that - just using plain nothing added water?
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Yeah man literally just plain water.

Edit: it does always sit for at least 24 hours
 
Rasta Roy

Rasta Roy

Well-Known Member
RayRay747 said:
Yea I was going to stop using the oranges because I started slow boiling the water now. I used to just let the water sit but that just removes the chlorine so I added the oranges or ascorbic acid to get rid of as much of the chloramine as possible when the water was sitting and that is supposed to remove the chloramine.

At least this is what I found from my research. Please correct me if I am wrong.

Thanks...
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I don't know. I've read a lot of agriculture and horticulture textbooks and it's never been something that has came up. Where did you read about it?
 
RayRay747

RayRay747

Well-Known Member
Kingrow1 said:
This thread stated slow, got really good, took a downward spin on calmag and now idk how the f oranges even come up...!
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LOL...

This is all I have on it in terms of a basic google search:

"Adding fruit to a water pitcher (e.g., slicing peeled orange into a 1-gal water pitcher) will neutralize chloramine within 30 minutes. If desired, chloramine and ammonia can be completely removed from the water by boiling; however, it will take 20 minutes of gentle boil to do that."

This is what I do now, but maybe I am doing it half-ass backwards...:) I used to use oranges but now just slow boil all of my feed water for 20-25mins...
 
Kingrow1

Kingrow1

Well-Known Member
RayRay747 said:
LOL...

This is all I have on it in terms of a basic google search:

"Adding fruit to a water pitcher (e.g., slicing peeled orange into a 1-gal water pitcher) will neutralize chloramine within 30 minutes. If desired, chloramine and ammonia can be completely removed from the water by boiling; however, it will take 20 minutes of gentle boil to do that."

This is what I do now, but maybe I am doing it half-ass backwards...:) I used to use oranges but now just slow boil all of my feed water for 20-25mins...
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The safe limits of chloramine in water are well under what would affect your soil or plants.

You have the wrong idea about it, works well on very low populations in the semi sterile environment of a pressurized water pipe, does f all to the billion or so microrganisms in the soil. Dosent even dent their populations or do anything to roots.

Without googling technical stuff i believe its breakdown is through an endothermic reaction based on its half life.

If chlorine or chloramides affectec soil and roots then wtf is all this bacteria and fungi i see on my toilet, sink, shower, washed food i let out and sourdough starter ive been culturing with tap water?

Tap water does not affect large populations od established organisms either.

So much science youve skipped which would bring you to real world answers not orange and boiling water.
 
Kingrow1

Kingrow1

Well-Known Member
Rasta Roy said:
The important thing is that you tried your best and nobody got hurt!
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I never try i just regurgitate all the good info that many members have worked on over the years. The answers are there you just got to look and have a basic education in science maths and language to decipher.
 
G

Gooeyhoney

Member
I say you might as well boil the water for what it takes.... sure it may not really do too much but I guarantee the bacteria will be healthier without any at all which = better plants.

I almost guarantee there will be some benefits even if it is just 0.5% yield increase etc.

Lucky for me my water is from a well 300ppm got it tested and it was mainly calcium, magnesium, and zinc lol couldn't believe it
 
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Kingrow1

Kingrow1

Well-Known Member
Gooeyhoney said:
I say you might as well boil the water for what it takes.... sure it may not really do too much but I guarantee the bacteria will be healthier without any at all which = better plants.

I almost guarantee there will be some benefits even if it is just 0.5% yield increase etc.

Lucky for me my water is from a well 300ppm got it tested and it was mainly calcium, magnesium, and zinc lol couldn't believe it
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Isnt zinc in water pretty toxic to humans? How do you get zinc in groundwater where you live?

:-)
 
newgrow16

newgrow16

Well-Known Member
Rasta Roy said:
Stop wasting your oranges friend, just letting your water sit will produce the same results.

You just think that because hydrogrowers think they know what they're doing and have been good about spreading bad information. Lol.

My tap water comes out above 8 on the ph scale consistently. It sits in a res with an air pump until I need it. I don't touch it.
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What about chloramine in water? Doesn't go away with air exposure, will it hurt the living soil?
 
Rasta Roy

Rasta Roy

Well-Known Member
newgrow16 said:
What about chloramine in water? Doesn't go away with air exposure, will it hurt the living soil?
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The amount of chloramine in your water is so miniscule it is not gonna effect your soil microlife in an overly negative way. As someone pointed out above, your water leaves scum and shit in your shower right? If it doesn't kill that microlife, the microbes that have the protection of a rootzone, organic matter, inert matter, clay and other soil components is definitely going to be fine.
 
RayRay747

RayRay747

Well-Known Member
Kingrow1 said:
The safe limits of chloramine in water are well under what would affect your soil or plants.

You have the wrong idea about it, works well on very low populations in the semi sterile environment of a pressurized water pipe, does f all to the billion or so microrganisms in the soil. Dosent even dent their populations or do anything to roots.

Without googling technical stuff i believe its breakdown is through an endothermic reaction based on its half life.

If chlorine or chloramides affectec soil and roots then wtf is all this bacteria and fungi i see on my toilet, sink, shower, washed food i let out and sourdough starter ive been culturing with tap water?

Tap water does not affect large populations od established organisms either.

So much science youve skipped which would bring you to real world answers not orange and boiling water.
Click to expand...
As far as what I read, letting the tap water sit out open for 24-48 hours will remove all or most of the chlorine, but not the chloramine. To remove the chloramine, you should slow boil the water for 20-25mins. Now this is what I have read and spoke to the water guys here but maybe I am completely mislead by what I have read and the information I was told.
 
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