pH and nutrient problems in organic soil

ShLUbY

ShLUbY

Well-Known Member
jungpot said:
so ph will drop more or i add more peat:)
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i'm actually experiencing this with my mixes that i've recycled for about 18 months now, and the peat seems to have lost its acidic quality. I have a couple fresh batches of soil that i'm trying out, if my yields go back to normal and pH goes back to normal, i'll be cutting all my old mixes with fresh peat, and just deeming everything else as compost that's in the mix (with drainage being an exception). So soon, i will find out if that's what's really going on. in the mean time, with my mixes that are showing a slight alkaline pH, i'm making a peat extract "tea"... just straight rinsing peat with water and using that water as a source for protons, hoping to acidify my soil with those proton dense waterings. was pH'ing my waterings at ~6.0 with the peat extract... so hoping to see some increase in acidity after this week (did two waterings like this).
 
Stink Bug

Stink Bug

Well-Known Member
Chrisz0825 said:
Not sure of the pH of my tap water. But I will test it.

I just measured the pH in both tap and ro and they are both about the same. Tap is 8.8 and ro is 8.2 Ppm is 211 in tap and 10 in ro
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I would double check the calibration of your pH pen. RO water should fall in the 6-7 range generally.
 
T

Tim1987

Well-Known Member
ShLUbY said:
i'm actually experiencing this with my mixes that i've recycled for about 18 months now, and the peat seems to have lost its acidic quality. I have a couple fresh batches of soil that i'm trying out, if my yields go back to normal and pH goes back to normal, i'll be cutting all my old mixes with fresh peat, and just deeming everything else as compost that's in the mix (with drainage being an exception). So soon, i will find out if that's what's really going on. in the mean time, with my mixes that are showing a slight alkaline pH, i'm making a peat extract "tea"... just straight rinsing peat with water and using that water as a source for protons, hoping to acidify my soil with those proton dense waterings. was pH'ing my waterings at ~6.0 with the peat extract... so hoping to see some increase in acidity after this week (did two waterings like this).
Click to expand...
What do you use to adjust ph? Organics, or ph up and down?
How do you check the ph in your soil?
Please let us know.
Thanks
Tim
 
ShLUbY

ShLUbY

Well-Known Member
Tim1987 said:
What do you use to adjust ph? Organics, or ph up and down?
How do you check the ph in your soil?
Please let us know.
Thanks
Tim
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i never check my water pH. I check the soil pH with the Bluelabs Soil pH pen. little pricey... but totally worth it. and it also does water pH as well. For this particular situation though, i used the rinse water from rinsing peat (because peat is loaded with acidic protons), and "pH'ed" the RO water with that peat runoff to 6.0 acidity.

I rely on the acidity of peat to keep my soil acidic, and the oyster shell flour or dolomite lime to be the buffer from letting it go too acidic.

other than that, it's just a water only grow :)
 
ShLUbY

ShLUbY

Well-Known Member
Tim1987 said:
Have you taken a soil sample??
Ya gotta know.
Please check.
Ph.
Ppm
We'll go from there.
Tim
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no but that's my next move. I think what i'm gonna do, is take a few samples from the pot in its current state and send that in just to check and see if my hypothesis is correct. if it is, then i'm going to cut the mix with fresh peat and aeration and amend it like usual, and be on my merry way :)
 
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