Lowering soil PH?

smoothburn

smoothburn

Member
i have a question about how to properly lower the PH of my soil. all my pots are ranging between 6.9-7.4 and don't seem to change much. the ph of my nut mix is usually around 5.8-6.3 and my water/molasses mix around 7.6-8.0 my soil readings never really change. i would like the ph to be 6.4-6.6 where it should be. do i water/feed with lower ph or do i need to add something to my soil? obviously adding something to the soil would have to be done before growing in it so what can i do?? +rep for any suggestions!!
 
N

nocturnalreef

Member
i mostly do hydro but i also do soil... what i was told about dirt is that your ph atumatically re-adjusts itself.. as long as the water and nutrients you are applying are ph correct you should never have to worry about soil ph. ... and don't try to make things the way you want when growing if you are in the range theres no sense in messing with it to get it to exactly 5.8 everyday....your getting into it to much


smoothburn said:
i have a question about how to properly lower the PH of my soil. all my pots are ranging between 6.9-7.4 and don't seem to change much. the ph of my nut mix is usually around 5.8-6.3 and my water/molasses mix around 7.6-8.0 my soil readings never really change. i would like the ph to be 6.4-6.6 where it should be. do i water/feed with lower ph or do i need to add something to my soil? obviously adding something to the soil would have to be done before growing in it so what can i do?? +rep for any suggestions!!
Click to expand...
 
Jeffdogg

Jeffdogg

Well-Known Member
smoothburn said:
i have a question about how to properly lower the PH of my soil. all my pots are ranging between 6.9-7.4 and don't seem to change much. the ph of my nut mix is usually around 5.8-6.3 and my water/molasses mix around 7.6-8.0 my soil readings never really change. i would like the ph to be 6.4-6.6 where it should be. do i water/feed with lower ph or do i need to add something to my soil? obviously adding something to the soil would have to be done before growing in it so what can i do?? +rep for any suggestions!!
Click to expand...

Well try to get the PH round 6.8, water your plants with 6.8 PH water then test the runoff (the excess water that comes from the bottom of the pot when watering). Get that PH and next watering adjust the PH according to the PH of the runoff. If it needs to drop a few points then adjust the PH however many points lower you need. Is your soil PH balanced? What nutes are you using? Sounds like the nutes are Ph balanced and will keep trying to bring the Ph to that level, which is way too low for soil
 
smoothburn

smoothburn

Member
nocturnalreef said:
i mostly do hydro but i also do soil... what i was told about dirt is that your ph atumatically re-adjusts itself.. as long as the water and nutrients you are applying are ph correct you should never have to worry about soil ph. ... and don't try to make things the way you want when growing if you are in the range theres no sense in messing with it to get it to exactly 5.8 everyday....your getting into it to much
Click to expand...
so maybe ph the soil before growing? i kinda figured the ph somehow adjusts because the ph of the soil never really changes while the ph of the water/nuts do. i know i'm a bit on the high side for optimal intake. but you say to just water with the correct ph, which is around 5.5-6.0 correct?
 
riddleme

riddleme

Well-Known Member
Soil PH is not as critical as Hydro PH, that being said,,,,,


to lower it you can add peat moss (ph 4.5) or sphagnum moss (ph 3.5)

if you do this I would also advise adding Dolomite lime (which raises ph)

these things help aid in the soil buffering your ph over time
 
smoothburn

smoothburn

Member
Jeffdogg said:
Well try to get the PH round 6.8, water your plants with 6.8 PH water then test the runoff (the excess water that comes from the bottom of the pot when watering). Get that PH and next watering adjust the PH according to the PH of the runoff. If it needs to drop a few points then adjust the PH however many points lower you need. Is your soil PH balanced? What nutes are you using? Sounds like the nutes are Ph balanced and will keep trying to bring the Ph to that level, which is way too low for soil
Click to expand...
ok sounds like a good plan, i have yet to check the ph of my runoff. my soil readings are around 6.9-7.4, so i guess i only need a bit of correction on a few pots. even after i would feed my girls for 2 consecutive watering with low ph (5.5-6.2) the readings of my soil still stayed the same. if i ph the soil prior to popping a seed in will it continually adjust back to the new adjusted ph or the original ph of the soil? I hope i'm making some sense
 
Punk

Punk

Well-Known Member
smoothburn said:
i have a question about how to properly lower the PH of my soil. all my pots are ranging between 6.9-7.4 and don't seem to change much. the ph of my nut mix is usually around 5.8-6.3 and my water/molasses mix around 7.6-8.0 my soil readings never really change. i would like the ph to be 6.4-6.6 where it should be. do i water/feed with lower ph or do i need to add something to my soil? obviously adding something to the soil would have to be done before growing in it so what can i do?? +rep for any suggestions!!
Click to expand...
You should use ground up lime, just a touch. A few sprinkles on the top of your soil, give it time, it'll work its way in, but don't over do it.

Don't make it overly complicated here. And like someone else mentioned, make sure the stuff you add to it, nutes, water, whatever, is at the ph you want before you pour it over soil. If you swing the ph too much trying to correct it, leaves will coil up and fall off, shit will turn herm, just bad all around.
 
riddleme

riddleme

Well-Known Member
Lime by itself will raise soil ph over time, with the moss they balance over time also the moss aids in water retension

pic shows the optimum ph for nute uptake in soil

you can see that minor nutes like low ph while the main nutes want 6 to 8 this is why soil is so much more forgiving

the PH of rain is 5.6 so you should water with 5.6 to 5.8 ph'd water and feed between 6.5 and 6.8
 
N

nocturnalreef

Member
so like i said earlier i do more hydro than dirt but have been getting into soil more...i alway ph my water for feeds to 5.8 but i ph my nutrients to 6.2... actually they auto balance to 6.2(humboldt) is that a incorrect ph'd nutrient solution to be adding or is it safe? none of my dirt has any sings of issues actually they look freaking amazing but i just wanted to make sure i don't screw things up... i never check my dirt ph cause i was told i don't have to

riddleme said:
Lime by itself will raise soil ph over time, with the moss they balance over time also the moss aids in water retension

pic shows the optimum ph for nute uptake in soil

you can see that minor nutes like low ph while the main nutes want 6 to 8 this is why soil is so much more forgiving

the PH of rain is 5.6 so you should water with 5.6 to 5.8 ph'd water and feed between 6.5 and 6.8
Click to expand...
 
riddleme

riddleme

Well-Known Member
nocturnalreef said:
so like i said earlier i do more hydro than dirt but have been getting into soil more...i alway ph my water for feeds to 5.8 but i ph my nutrients to 6.2... actually they auto balance to 6.2(humboldt) is that a incorrect ph'd nutrient solution to be adding or is it safe? none of my dirt has any sings of issues actually they look freaking amazing but i just wanted to make sure i don't screw things up... i never check my dirt ph cause i was told i don't have to
Click to expand...
The PH of soil is very forgiving, but we dump all kinds of stuff into it for months, this is why I add the moss and dolomite because over time they buffer all of the stuff we add

Why I put the chart up so you could see the optimum for all the nutes
 
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