Baking Soda

[Gigawatt]

Is that a safe way to raise your plant water pH w/ nutrients added? .. I use the fox farm line and every time I add something to the water the pH plummets. I heard baking soda is a good quick way to raise it, but not sure if it's actually harmful to the plants?

 

[nick17gar]

ive heard the same thing, so id imagine its ok, just go weak. weak weak. and wait til someone else comments on this, that has done it before lol.

i went and bought a variety of nutrients, made a small batch of each at full strength, and checked the pH. i just alternate nutrients depending pH.
Note: before people flip out, lemme make this clear. i dont grab a bloom bottle during vegetative cuz it ups the pH or vice versa. i have like 5 dif veggie ones, and 3 flowering ones, and 2 of micro nutes. all with a varying degree of pH reaction.

 

[smoke and coke]

i have never used baking soda. i was going to put some in my pool to raise the alkalinity which in turn will probly raise the ph. not sure about using for plants.

i tested my water years ago and was good and have never checked it since. i also use the fox farm lineup and i use promix or sunshine mix as a medium and it has dolomite lime in it to help keep every neutral.

what kind of a growing medium are you useing? are you testing the feeding solution or the run off from the container after feeding the plant?

 

[asaph]

yeah it works well to raise ph, though i'm not sure it will stay long that way. you only need very small amounts of powder. i think it's safe, at least i havent seen any adverse effects.

also, organic and soil nutes usually buffer ph for a higher

 

[Gigawatt]

i have never used baking soda. i was going to put some in my pool to raise the alkalinity which in turn will probly raise the ph. not sure about using for plants.

i tested my water years ago and was good and have never checked it since. i also use the fox farm lineup and i use promix or sunshine mix as a medium and it has dolomite lime in it to help keep every neutral.

what kind of a growing medium are you useing? are you testing the feeding solution or the run off from the container after feeding the plant?

I use Fox Farm Ocean Forest soil, and was told it is pH'd at 6.3-6.8, so I try to test the feeding solution to 6.6-6.7 which has recently become a pain because I ran out of pH up and down...

 

[Gigawatt]

yeah it works well to raise ph, though i'm not sure it will stay long that way. you only need very small amounts of powder. i think it's safe, at least i havent seen any adverse effects.

also, organic and soil nutes usually buffer ph for a higher

So my best bet would be buying more pH up and down? Or will it actually be good enough @ holding pH to feed my plants?

 

[smoke and coke]

try testing your runoff from a watering. your soil may adjust the ph as you water.

 

[batf1nk]

So my best bet would be buying more pH up and down? Or will it actually be good enough @ holding pH to feed my plants?

I have a bottle of pH down. After all is added I set the water to pH 5.8 (hydro) and over the course of the week it will drift to 6.5 then I drop them back to 5.8. I think a certain degree of pH drift is necessary due to the uptake of nutrients is best within a certain range.

 

[Gigawatt]

The pH of my runoff was 6.1, which is pretty much what my nutrient solution is before I was adjusting it.. and @batf1nk, I grow in soil.

 

[Sebastien Blades]

Baking soda is Sodium Bicarbonate, which is a salt. Best not to use it.

 

[Gigawatt]

Baking soda is Sodium Bicarbonate, which is a salt. Best not to use it.

Amen. Thanks Sebastien