Need help with fixing my ph levels?

I don't no what I need to get my ph levels right from tap water, I know I need a meter but what do I need to get the Ph levels right for my plant's. Bc I've got a very bad ph in my soil or water. An I don't no how to do either?

you have a meter, all you need is some ph up, and ph down. maybe some calibration solutions too.

vinegar to go from 8 to 6
baking soda to go from 4 to 6

RO/DI system, takes all the head aches out of pH problems -IMO

ONRZinger said:

I don't no what I need to get my ph levels right from tap water, I know I need a meter but what do I need to get the Ph levels right for my plant's. Bc I've got a very bad ph in my soil or water. An I don't no how to do either?

Click to expand...

If you don't have a meter or know how to test, and adjust ph then how do you know you have bad ph in your soil or water?

Lol u should see my leaves on my plant's there all dying. First I thought it was a potassium deffencicy didn't fix it so I tried cal-mag for magnesium, didn't help, ect I'm down to my water or soil has a low/high ph level an my plant's are starving to death, plus it looks just like other people post's for bad ph levels. I would take a picture but my damn phone shut off as soon as I take a shot.

If you are in soil, add some dolomite lime and be done with it. I haven't touched my pH meter in close to 2 years. BTW, the soil will affect the waters pH, but water doesn't do squat to the soils pH for longer than a short period of time.

Add dolomite lime 1cup/cf of mix or 2tbl/gallon of mix. Best added before you use the mix, but top dressing will work as well if the plants are already in there. One application/grow is all that's needed.

All this other hoo rah about pHing water and so on is pretty much internet bullshit.

Wet

ProdigalSun said:

vinegar to go from 8 to 6
baking soda to go from 4 to 6

Click to expand...

Some apple cider vinegar could perhaps help to decrease soln/media pH. But baking soda/sodium bicarbonate isn't ideal for plants as it has too much sodium. It seems like it would take quite a bit of baking soda to bring the pH of a medium up from 4... and it might not last very long since NaHCO[SUB]3[/SUB] is water soluble. There is ample sodium in other things I\others use (sea kelp, blackstrap, Azomite, Excelerite...even coco coir in some instances).

Wetdog knows what he's talking about; dolomitic garden lime is one of the best things you can add to a potting mix\soil. It works over time,in concert with the soil neutralizing acids (H+ ions) there-by keeping pH in check and saturating the humus\clay or coco\peat particles with Ca and Mg cations that the plant needs.

Just like he mentioned, soil pH potentially changes itself even if you try to keep everything going in 'perfect'. Plants will change the pH of the rhizosphere over time by taking up nutrients, depending on which kind of nitrogen is available, and soil chemistry will further affect the pH of the over-all soil solution: often causing it to rebound.

Baby is here gotta go.

Why even give advice like this?

Use nitric acid or phosphoric acid for pH down.

Use potassium hydroxide for pH up. If it's soil, you can use lime (calcium carbonate).

Do not use baking soda... That's sodium bicarbonate. Your plant does not want sodium, it wants potassium or calcium!

pH adjusters are food!

ProdigalSun said:

vinegar to go from 8 to 6
baking soda to go from 4 to 6

Click to expand...

Great post Nullis. I had to do the vinegar thing for a bit, never baking soda but I heard it works as an around the house no budget thing. I went with the lime as well, saved a lot of issues.

Everyone should wrap their heads around this reaction. Soil growers do it all the time without thinking, but it's key.

Limestone(solid) + nitric acid(aqueous) -> calcium nitrate(aqueous) + carbon dioxide(gas) + water

CaCO[SUB]3[/SUB](s) + 2HNO[SUB]3[/SUB](a) → Ca(NO[SUB]3[/SUB])[SUB]2[/SUB](a) + CO[SUB]2[/SUB](g) + H[SUB]2[/SUB]O

In short, the nitrate from nitric acid substitutes with the carbonate from the limestone and makes it water soluble in the form of calcium nitrate. The bacteria makes the nitates and thus calcium can be mobilized as it's now in a soluble form.

Get a DI system...your pH will run from 6.22-7.1 depending on what meter you have and how nice it is. It's actually near impossible to accurately measure the pH of DI water, it has something to do with the stability that random minerals and ions provide. Soil pH is much more important than your water pH, though. Water pH affects soil pH very little, but soil pH can correct water pH easily, especially if proper metals (calcium, magnesium, potassium) are present to absorb H+ ions.

I have some limestone I picked up off train track do Ijust sit them in my pot an wwater while the lime stone is in their to raise up ph in soil