A few questions on soil ph, and feeding/watering adjusted ph solution

I tried to find some answers on the search function for about 15 minutes with no luck, so hopefully someone knowledgeable can come along and enlighten me.

1) How can i measure the Ph of my soil with just a regular ph meter? I have heard some conflicting info, some people measure run off, other stick the meter in wet soil, it just doesnt seem very accurate.

2) Should i be adjusting the Ph of plain tap water and also my feeding solution?

3) Is general hydroponics Ph UP+DOWN safe to use for my plants for adjusting the ph of my water/feeding solutions?

if you have quality soil you dont need to worry about ph. you also dont need to adjust your water ph as the soil will do the adjusting itself.

GeeTee said:

if you have quality soil you dont need to worry about ph. you also dont need to adjust your water ph as the soil will do the adjusting itself.

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This seems kind of hard to believe though because the ph of nutrients/soil etc arnt always the same. Im using fox farms light warrior and the fox farms line up

I've never bothered with pH in soil. In a soilless or hydro grow, it's essential to monitor it constantly, esp. if recirculating your nute.
I have also read that measuring the runoff tells little about the soil's condition. Soil's clays are buffers.
Top tip: if you admix some powdered dolomite lime (about 2 Tbsp per gallon, or a generous cup per bag) to a FF soil, you'll have no pH worries.

GH pH-Up and Down are safe. They use nutrient ions.

As for your tap, what's more important than pH is EC or TDS ... hard water will interact with your plants, nutes and soil differently than soft. Do you know your water's ppm? cn

of course i'm a noob and only 3 weeks into my first grow but i have learned atleast in my case ph'ing my tap water is a must. didn't get my bluelab ppm/tds and ph meters till i was a week in and and realized why i was getting yellow spotting...ph too high. 8.5 from the tap. now i keep it at 6.4-6.6 . was using jiffy pellets and am now in ff light warrior. will be moving to 5gallon buckets with promix next week. i use dyna gro ph adjusters along with their nutes and adjust ph accordingly after mixing nutes. no longer have ph issues. see no reason why gh ph down wouldn't be fine. i just decided to go with dynas line. and as cannabineer said definitely check your tap's ppm... could make a big difference. good luck and happy growing

plantz said:

This seems kind of hard to believe though because the ph of nutrients/soil etc arnt always the same. Im using fox farms light warrior and the fox farms line up

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Tap water PH is usualy higher then the soil PH. This will keep the nute PH in place most of the time. If you maintain a nute free water then nute water schedule it will balance out.

Originally Posted by GeeTee
if you have quality soil you dont need to worry about ph. you also dont need to adjust your water ph as the soil will do the adjusting itself.

This seems kind of hard to believe though because the ph of nutrients/soil etc arnt always the same. Im using fox farms light warrior and the fox farms line up

like i said bro if you have quality soil which mostly comes neutral around ph7 then theres no need to worry about ph, unless you buy soil specific for certain plants. the microbial life in your soil will help maintain the ph. i grow in soil and have NEVER worry about ph. the tap water here is hard and i have never had ph problems from the water. i used to grow with chemical nutes and have never ph nothing. im just trying to save you some time and money but if you feel the need to then do what you want.

cannabineer said:

I've never bothered with pH in soil. In a soilless or hydro grow, it's essential to monitor it constantly, esp. if recirculating your nute.
I have also read that measuring the runoff tells little about the soil's condition. Soil's clays are buffers.
Top tip: if you admix some powdered dolomite lime (about 2 Tbsp per gallon, or a generous cup per bag) to a FF soil, you'll have no pH worries.

GH pH-Up and Down are safe. They use nutrient ions.

As for your tap, what's more important than pH is EC or TDS ... hard water will interact with your plants, nutes and soil differently than soft. Do you know your water's ppm? cn

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Thanks for the response, my tap is at 350 ppm

ItsSaturday said:

Tap water PH is usualy higher then the soil PH. This will keep the nute PH in place most of the time. If you maintain a nute free water then nute water schedule it will balance out.

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that made absolutely no sense..

Only ph adjusting I've ever done has been with feeding, especially with Tiger Bloom. That acidifies the snit out of the water

obijohn said:

Only ph adjusting I've ever done has been with feeding, especially with Tiger Bloom. That acidifies the snit out of the water

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ok so you just ph adjust the nutrient solution?

plantz said:

Thanks for the response, my tap is at 350 ppm


that made absolutely no sense..

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350 ppm is pretty high. My preferred recommendation is to invest in an RO unit. If you don't want to go that route, I'm pretty sure GH Flora has a "hard-water formula". Your water certainly qualifies. Jmo. cn

cannabineer said:

350 ppm is pretty high. My preferred recommendation is to invest in an RO unit. If you don't want to go that route, I'm pretty sure GH Flora has a "hard-water formula". Your water certainly qualifies. Jmo. cn

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i know i have hard water, and i know its not good, but why?

plantz said:

i know i have hard water, and i know its not good, but why?

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anyone have any input on this?

I would only recommend PHing your nutrient solution if you are using chemical nutrients. This is because the salts can build up in your soil and will negate the ph buffering capacity of the dolomite/pshagnum/clay or microbial population. There is no need to adjust the ph of your tap water IMO. But like cannibineer (like the name BTW) said you should invest in an RO system. Some fluctuation in PH is good to insure absorption of your nutrients (Ph 6-7 for soil) as different nutrients have optimal ph ranges in which they uptake more efficiently. If your tap water is in the range of 8-6 you will be fine watering with that. But the excess tds will reek havoc. If you are using organics I wouldn't worry about ph adjusting your nutrient solution.

Cannikid said:

I would only recommend PHing your nutrient solution if you are using chemical nutrients. This is because the salts can build up in your soil and will negate the ph buffering capacity of the dolomite/pshagnum/clay or microbial population. There is no need to adjust the ph of your tap water IMO. But like cannibineer (like the name BTW) said you should invest in an RO system. Some fluctuation in PH is good to insure absorption of your nutrients (Ph 6-7 for soil) as different nutrients have optimal ph ranges in which they uptake more efficiently. If your tap water is in the range of 8-6 you will be fine watering with that. But the excess tds will reek havoc. If you are using organics I wouldn't worry about ph adjusting your nutrient solution.

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i already said im using fox farms trio, so grow big, big bloom, and tiger bloom. Also you said high TDS will "wreak havoc" im trying to find out why...