Delicious SweetLeaf
Active Member
I'm growing 3 Autoflowers-- planted just over 2 weeks ago-- safely outdoors in the wild in 5-gallon pots of soil, and they're hungry as ever for their first "full-strength" feeding of nutes. (Since the soil has naturally-occurring nutrients in it, I fed them mostly-pure water [with a trace amount of SuperThrive added] during the seedling phase. During the past week, I've given a 1/8 dose of some 0-0-1 fish ferts, to encourage root development.)
I am interested in leaf/stem growth right now, so I have a 5-1-1 organic fish fertilizer that I've added to the plant's water... But when I test the nutrient-water, the pH is off the charts in acidity (appearing as orangey-red, lower than 4 on the pH chart).
It seems obviously unwise to feed/water a plant a solution that's so drastically outside the "healthy" pH range... I've been asking for help and opinions on a few different forums (like this one), and most growers are saying "Bro, that's WAY too acidic"... But there HAVE been only a couple of growers who have said that I need not be concerned with the pH of what I add because the plans are grown in soil, and soil naturally buffers the pH so that high-acidity in the water/nute-solution doesn't really matter as it would if the plant were grown in a "soil-less growing-medium" (which does not buffer the pH).
Is this true???
Because these are Autoflowering plants, I'm actually only using 1/2 the dosages of ferts, as is recommended by several sources, so there's no danger of over-fertilizing... That being said, my "little girls" are starving, and need to be fed today, and I could really use some advice here ASAP.
I'd rather avoid spending the money on another bottle of solution if it won't matter anyways because of the buffering ability of my soil.
IS a perfectly pH-balanced water/nutrient-solution necessary if the plant is grown in soil???
DOES soil in fact buffer an excessively acidic nute-solution, making the pH-rating of the solution irrelevant???
Please offer your thoughts, experiences or insights. Thanks!
I am interested in leaf/stem growth right now, so I have a 5-1-1 organic fish fertilizer that I've added to the plant's water... But when I test the nutrient-water, the pH is off the charts in acidity (appearing as orangey-red, lower than 4 on the pH chart).
It seems obviously unwise to feed/water a plant a solution that's so drastically outside the "healthy" pH range... I've been asking for help and opinions on a few different forums (like this one), and most growers are saying "Bro, that's WAY too acidic"... But there HAVE been only a couple of growers who have said that I need not be concerned with the pH of what I add because the plans are grown in soil, and soil naturally buffers the pH so that high-acidity in the water/nute-solution doesn't really matter as it would if the plant were grown in a "soil-less growing-medium" (which does not buffer the pH).
Is this true???
Because these are Autoflowering plants, I'm actually only using 1/2 the dosages of ferts, as is recommended by several sources, so there's no danger of over-fertilizing... That being said, my "little girls" are starving, and need to be fed today, and I could really use some advice here ASAP.
I'd rather avoid spending the money on another bottle of solution if it won't matter anyways because of the buffering ability of my soil.
IS a perfectly pH-balanced water/nutrient-solution necessary if the plant is grown in soil???
DOES soil in fact buffer an excessively acidic nute-solution, making the pH-rating of the solution irrelevant???
Please offer your thoughts, experiences or insights. Thanks!