Noob question regarding water / dolomite lime.

So i just pH tested the water from my faucet, looking to be about 7-7.5, I had assumed my water was acidic and got dolomite lime to add to my ffof/perilite mix. Will the dolomite lime be completely pointless since my water is at 7.5 or will it still help buffer the soil to keep it at 7.0? Also, should i just go buy distilled water gallons from the local store and use that over my faucet water? Ive got a seed just barely cracked so i need to figure this out fast! ANY help appreciated, thanks!

Bump, anyone willing to help?

It would be better to use your tap water and either boil for 10 minutes or leave out for 24 hours so the chlorine evaporates. Then test pH and then add a pH solution to pH it to 6.5 or so. Then again I am not sure you would even need to do pH that if you are using dolomite lime. Dolomite lime will naturally buffer it to 7 so I believe you are correct on that. And again on the water its cheaper to use your faucet rather than distilled water that you'd have to keep buying. Distilled will only take you so far, it has nothing of benefit really to the plant except H2O itself. I am using FFoF at the moment, didn't add anything to it. Kind of just going with the flow and didn't do much planning for the plant itself. I was using distilled water for the first 2 weeks and a combination of temps and light and I believe the soil were hurting the seedlings. I transplanted them to bigger pots and did a little flush with tap water I had boiled and left out. Idk maybe its the transplant or the better temps but there is only green above the burnt growth. If they weren't sleeping I'd be fixed on them right now.

You'll probably still need to do a little pHing but the lime again will do the trick. I wish I used to it begin with but kept forgetting to buy me some before I transplanted.

So even if my water is above 7, the lime will keep the soil buffered at around 7? I guess i assumed it would only do this if the water was ph'd below 7.

Also, ffof can be really hot for seedlings from what ive been reading, people normally cut it with 2/3 ffof and 1/3 perilite to help. (again, from what ive been reading)

We're both beginners. Gonna need to do some more reading up on dolomite lime. I also never really thought of if the pH was above 7 since usually ferts lower the pH.

And yeah FFoF apparently will do some damage. The seed leaves and the first set of leaves I had to cut off. The 2nd set of true leaves have minor burning and yellowing at the tip and then above that is all green.

I think they just need to grow enough to where they can handle it. But yeah I should have added some things to the soil before hand. I kind of jumped the gun and wanted to start my grow.

I hear you, i have water sitting out to get the chlorine out, ill ph test it tonight after the 24 hour mark to see if it changes the levels. Going to be using tiger bloom, big bloom and grow big, but not for a few weeks after putting in the soil since they have plenty of nutes. I think ill still add the dolomite lime since it offers calmag and id hate to hit a deficiency down the road.

Ive been trying to find a thread about if u should still use dolomite and if it still buffers the soil ph to 7 if the water ph is above 7, no luck so far.

It's a whole lot easier to keep your ph in check by adjusting it yourself. Now when it comes to tap versus RO, you should first test the PPM of your tap water if you have the tools to do so. If your tap is as bad as mine (700 ppm) Use RO water instead. Good clean Ro water has a PH of 30 or below.

i dont have RO or a ppm meter, still looking to find out if folomite lime will buffer my soil around 7 if my water is above 7.5 ph.

Ajjax said:

I hear you, i have water sitting out to get the chlorine out, ill ph test it tonight after the 24 hour mark to see if it changes the levels. Going to be using tiger bloom, big bloom and grow big, but not for a few weeks after putting in the soil since they have plenty of nutes. I think ill still add the dolomite lime since it offers calmag and id hate to hit a deficiency down the road.

Ive been trying to find a thread about if u should still use dolomite and if it still buffers the soil ph to 7 if the water ph is above 7, no luck so far.

Click to expand...

I'd go with kbo's comment about pHing it always. As far as ppm I haven't messed with that. I know what the right levels should be but I am not gonna bother worrying about that when you can just pH it.

You're spot on with not using nutes. My babies are 19 days old and still no nutes. Plus transplanting them will make that go for even longer. I don't even know if I'll be using any nutes during veg, just some Epsom salt I got from CVS for mag.

Adjusting it yourself with a PH up or Down can create a build up in the soil, which youll then need to pay attention to so you can flush etc.

You just keep coming up with things dont ya. Well I have pH UP on hand myself, hesitant to use it. Haven't watered them since I think thursday, soil is still moist below the surface.

balactus said:

I'd go with kbo's comment about pHing it always. As far as ppm I haven't messed with that. I know what the right levels should be but I am not gonna bother worrying about that when you can just pH it.

You're spot on with not using nutes. My babies are 19 days old and still no nutes. Plus transplanting them will make that go for even longer. I don't even know if I'll be using any nutes during veg, just some Epsom salt I got from CVS for mag.

Click to expand...

ph doesn't have anything to do with ppm. PPM tells your how many particles are in your water. PH just tells your the akalinity or the acidity level of your water. If you know the ppm of your water you know what you're giving your plants. If you use RO water that is

Ajjax said:

i dont have RO or a ppm meter, still looking to find out if folomite lime will buffer my soil around 7 if my water is above 7.5 ph.

Click to expand...

You can buy RO water at almost any store. Have you seen the water dispensers out infront of stores? Thats RO water.

At least thats what ive read about the PH up and Down balactus, which has made me hesitant to use it as well, although flushing the plant is pretty straight forward.

@ kbo, i know it doesnt have anything to do with ppm, again, I dont have a PPM meter and wont be investing in one atm, this thread was started on trying to get an answer on if Dolomite lime will still buffer my soil to 7 even if the water is above 7.5 or 8. Still lookin for the answer, but ty.

however, if i find a ppm meter online, theres no way one can lower the ppm of your tap water right? All it would do is give me some info on how much ppms there are and tell me if i should go get distilled water?

You don't need to add more lime to the soil. Make sure you weaken the soil with coco or a lighter base before you put a seedling in it. FFOF is a little too strong.

Ajjax said:

i dont have RO or a ppm meter, still looking to find out if folomite lime will buffer my soil around 7 if my water is above 7.5 ph.

Click to expand...

Short answer is yes.

Get the lime, add it to your mix and you're done.

No need to pH anything, not water or nutes .... nothing. Tap water is fine unless the water is so bad you can't drink it. I use it right from the tap, but if you want to let it sit out ......

Wet

Im cutting 2/3 ffof and 1/3 perilite for the beginning mix, will doing this then flushing the soil a good amount help as to cut down the nutes already in it for the seed?

Another good reason to let water sit for 24 hours (aside from evaporating chlorine, etc) is that is should also raise the water temp to room temperature. If your tap water is coming out at a temp u consider to be nice & cold & refreshing for drinking on a hot summers day (i.e under 20C), then it'll probably be too cold for the plants - u can shock the roots by giving them water thats too cold. Water at room temp is preferable.


Sorry to add another equation into the mix anyway! lol!

Ajjax,
I know you don't have much time since you got seeds soaking so I'll try and keep this short and easy. Cutting your FFOF with Perilite does nothing for how "Hot" it comes from the factory. Perilite is used for low water retention and helps prevent soil compaction. For your seedlings I would get a bag of Light Warrior and use that to cut the FFOF.....2/3 Light Warrior to 1/3 FFOF. To answer your question about the lime and ph....You should dump the FFOF out on a tarp and add 1 Tablespoon of powdered lime per bag to it and mix it in real good then wet the soil down with about 2-3 cups of water per bag to moisten it up do not soak it just moisten it up. Take that soil and stick it in a Rubbermaid crate and let it sit and by the time you are ready to transplant your seedling your soil will be money. If you have any doubts take a Tablespoon of the soil put it in a glass add a couple tablespoons of distilled water let it sit for 15 min or so and test it with your PH meter should be about 6.8 (that's about what i get) As for Tap water, distilled or RO like Wetdog said Tap water is fine unless its so bad you cant drink it just make sure to aerate it before use, fill up a 5gal bucket and stick an airstone in it for 24hrs letting it sit without aeration does nothing for getting rid of chlorine, you do not want to boil that would be the same as using distilled no nutrients left. If you buy a RO machine make sure you add Cal Mag back into the water or you will run into issues later.