Matt Rize
Hashmaster
true, but any left over molasses is going to have this acidic affect. molasses pH is just about right with my 8.0 tap water, but not everyone needs acid all the time. if you feed heavy continually with molasses it can build up and then the acidic nature of molasses starts to matter.
root exudates have as much of a role on media pH buffering as do the microbes themselves. the root exudates are what the microbes feed off of when there is no molasses. Without all that molasses the plants themselves can adjust the media pH via root exudates. These root exudates (without the molasses) directly affect the media pH, and they also determine which micro-organisms get to thrive, thus controlling the how the microbes affect pH.
but with that said, i use molasses at about a tsp/gal. it feeds the microbes, and their poop feeds the plants. i think it also feeds the plants directly, some of the anion micronutrients present. probably simple sugars go into roots too.
