Beneficial bacteria and ph

ok so somewhat new to using beneficial bacteria and have a question. Now friend is growing in promix and wants to know if you have to adjust the ph of your water that has the beneficial bacteria in it. He tested it and ph jumped up to almost 8.3 after BB was added to water. Does ph matter in this case and will ph up or down kill the B.B. that in the water?

I don't know about others, but I never payed any attention to pH when growing 100% organic.

I'm non organic but in soil and I don't worry about PH. Promix may be a different kettle of fish and I'm not familiar with it.

friedguy said:

I don't know about others, but I never payed any attention to pH when growing 100% organic.

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I keep an eye on soil pH, water pH ain't a big deal outdoors. Last year, the well water was ph 8 on a bad day

First let me state I have ZERO experience with promix. With that said I have grown in hydroton via power growers and DWC with 10-20 gallon tubs as well is traditional store bought soil grows and homemade compost and vermicompost grows all the while brewing my own teas and applying them accordingly. Never have I ever PH'd a Bennies concoction. The idea of ph'ing nutes is so that the plant can absorb nutrients faster at certain ranges depending on the medium. The reason for beneficial bacteria are to create a thriving root environment that allows the absorption of nutrients. Depending on what you decide to use to adjust your Ph you could kill some of the bacteria or Fungi, thus making your concoction useless. Some fertilizers tend to destroy the bacteria in soil so most people either use one method or the other, but like I said before I have ZERO experience with promix and you may in fact have great results combining methods.

The thing is though, fungi don't replicate at high pH. At a pH of above 8 the fungi stop replicating almost entirely and bacteria at low pH. So pH really is important to get your bennies to multiply as fast as possible. A pH of 6 is the optimal value if your water contains a combination of the two.

Using pH down doesn't kill the Fungi. That's just a myth. Unless you pH down a lot obviously. Going to a pH of 6 causes them no harm whatsoever.

Phosphorus does inhibit replication of fungi a little though. So perhaps use another pH down.

Beneficial bioligicals in their own soak. Don't worry about high pH in peat at all. Pro Mix pH out of the bag is 4.5-5

I still use Pro mix and I watch my PH like a hawk. I know some folks who don’t worry to much about it and you can usually tell by looking at their plants and product.

I am mixing in 55g barrels and Usually only add maybe 5-10 ml of ph down. I would be blown away if that was enough to kill bennificials.

Not monitoring your PH is crazy, leads to lock outs, and causes undue stress on the plants.