Organic PH tea at 7.3 - 7.8. Problem? How to correct?

Starting organic growing after a few hydro setups. My basic problem is that when I mix my Roots Organics nutrinets per instructions, they start out at 6.5PH. Directions say to mix/bubble for 24 hours. After those 24 hours PH has risen to 7.8.

Now I've read in many areas that ph doesn't matter too much in organic growing, but this seems very high.

Should I be concerned?

If so, should I just not bubble, and apply at 6.5?

I've read that adding 'PH down' which I have from previous grows, will kill micro-life. I guess I'd like to confirm that.

Thank you for any help.

-Doug

This is how i feed with AACTs. First i water with plain R/O water just until i see some run-off. The plain water has a pH of around 6.5 i believe. Then i wait usually around 20-30 minutes then feed with the tea until i see run-off. I have never owned a meter of any kind and am loving the results being 100% organic.

If you are growing in a proper soil mix and the ph in the soil is correct, about 6.5, you can pretty much forget about ph, as long as you are not dumping lots of salt derived nutrients in your soil it and you have a healthy micro herd the soil takes care of everything.

This is a topic of controversy. To each their own. I have found by playing with certain ingredients and ratios that I can put the teas in exactly at the ph I want them to be. Play around some. I am one who likes my ph going in to be what I want it to be. It's just the way I do things. Everyone should find out a way that works for them. Good luck.

Luckily I listened to this guy and learned alot. ^, I would add a tbsp per gal of molasses till you get it where you want it then feed.

I have 'unsulfured Grandma's mollasses' in my fridge. Will that do the job?

Mollasses is already in a few of the tea ingredients - can I over do it?

All things equal I would prefer to put nutes in at 6.5. I assume my organic soil is healthy - I purchased the same company - organic roots - potting soil. I just don't want to monkey around too much with their blend as they know so much more than I do about organics.

if you know your teas you dont need to PH. never had an issue, i dont ph my bubble teas.

You could possible over do it but I usually add a cup per 15 gallons of water without issue so don't stress it and grandma's is great. Molasses can drop straight water down to 4ph so it'll do the job.

dayl8dllarshort said:

if you know your teas you dont need to PH. never had an issue, i dont ph my bubble teas.

Click to expand...

I don't know my teas, which is why I spent the money on a whole pre-set organic system from Roots Organic. I know aero-ponics, but my medical clients have been asking for organic and I wanted to try a test crop. It seems odd that I would mix their product per specifications and test at 6.8. They recommend aerating - a pain but I went with this product because I don't mind extra work for extra quality - but then PH tends 7.5 - 7.8.

A commenter above suggested molasses. That dropped it to 7.1. After bubbling.

The package recommends 5.5-6.5 PH application into soil. I mixed a 3rd batch without bubbling - PH 6.8. That's what I applied this morning. Maybe next time I'll add additional molasses - but 2 of the 7 ingredients I'm mixing already have molasses in them. Can I add too much into organic soil?

FWIW my plant is growing fast with short spacing between the internodes, but the leaves don't have that extra 'perky' and healthy look and feel.

Bubbled bottled nutrients are not "tea". THIS is tea:

http://www.nofanj.org/LiteratureRetrieve.aspx?ID=104151

There is a very simple reason your pH is rising when you bubble that sugary concoction; you are growing bacteria. When bacteria grow, they excrete extra-cellular substances that tend to raise the pH.

My advice is to stop worrying so much about pH; if it's somewhere between 5-8, you're good to go. Within mere minutes of adding that stuff to your soil, it will match your soil's pH, no matter what pH it is when you add it.

you could add some hygrozme to lower the pH

^^ This is a good idea, using natural pH downs (water soluble/organic materials) is ok in my experience. I personally use lemon juice, you can either use the concentrate(make sure it is the organic kind from a health food store) or just buy the lemons. I personally use my own lemons from my tree .

Do not use hydro pH down; I may not have had the best organic grows yet, but I have fucked up plenty and know the results of using pH down in watering applications with organic soil mediums.

After I mix the materials for my tea, with my catchment h20, my pH is roughly 6.8, I bubble for 48 hours, and then it can end up with a pH of @ least 7.8-8.4. Thus, I just take some lemon juice (which as a natural pH of about 3-4 I believe), and I squirt it in a measuring cup, and apply as needed. Nice thing about lemon juice is it adds additional sugars to your brew.

Now other gents reading this, this is from my experience. So please do not take it as a personal stab, I am just anal about pH(type A personality). I do use dolomite in my soil mix, I would never add it to the tea mix. My pH/microherds I know are all symbiotically working, my new girls in their organic mixes are doing great!

I would highly recommend reading Gandalf's thread, "Noob using teas..... and I am a believer". Lots of good info in there. I took some info from Gandalf's thread and I have been tinkering around with The Rev's tea's, and for my veg girls, I use a bottled nutrient, "Down To Earth Organics, All Liquid Purpose, 4-3-3", with that mixed in (3/4 tbsp per gal), my pH drops to 5.0 before bubbling. So adding liquid organic ferts, i.e. DTE or Earth Juice, severly drop pH and thus need time for brewing.
Cheers.