pH'ing your outdoor grow water?

banananutbread

banananutbread

Member
Hey all,

First off I'm a noob and in the middle of my first outdoor, all organic grow. My current local tap water runs at a pH of around 8.5 with the occasional 8.7ish. I have had a non-cannabis aquaponics system for many years and get pH locked of various things because of the high pH's (most notably iron).

My question is this. How many of you guys/gals pH your water before feeding your outdoor plants? For next year I was thinking aboutl setting up a 300+ gallon reservoir that I can hook up to a on-demand pump to water my veggie and pot garden. This way I could just top off the reservoir, monitor it with pH probes then pH down it when necessary.

What do you guys think? I have also heard that once the water enters the soil the pH is altered (usually down) and that it doesnt really matter. Kinda confused on the whole thing.

Thanks for the help!

BNB
 
Rainbow Warrior

Rainbow Warrior

Well-Known Member
banananutbread said:
Hey all,

First off I'm a noob and in the middle of my first outdoor, all organic grow. My current local tap water runs at a pH of around 8.5 with the occasional 8.7ish. I have had a non-cannabis aquaponics system for many years and get pH locked of various things because of the high pH's (most notably iron).

My question is this. How many of you guys/gals pH your water before feeding your outdoor plants? For next year I was thinking aboutl setting up a 300+ gallon reservoir that I can hook up to a on-demand pump to water my veggie and pot garden. This way I could just top off the reservoir, monitor it with pH probes then pH down it when necessary.

What do you guys think? I have also heard that once the water enters the soil the pH is altered (usually down) and that it doesnt really matter. Kinda confused on the whole thing.

Thanks for the help!

BNB
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I don’t ph, I use rainwater. But your ph is way too high, so bring it down straight away!
Some people check the ph of the run off; I never do.
 
FresnoFarmer

FresnoFarmer

Well-Known Member
banananutbread said:
Thanks @Rainbow Warrior and @FresnoFarmer

I am adding those as well...good to know about them being low ph.

@FresnoFarmer how often and how much hydrosylate are you adding?
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1tbsp per gal of fish will take it down to 6 or .2 or .3 lower i think. I know that 2 tablespoon of the molasses in. 5 gal will take it down to around 6.5 or so. You can switch off the molasses and fish so you dont get too much of either in the soil at one time. I usually start at 1tsp per gal and keep adding until it's at or near 6.5. Just gotta kinda play with it. If you add too much and the ph goes low then just add back some tap water to raise it up a bit.
 
FresnoFarmer

FresnoFarmer

Well-Known Member
I also give plain water at times and have never really had any issues with ph. Soil stays around 6.8-7. Idk whats in your soil mix though. Do you have anything to buffer ph?
 
banananutbread

banananutbread

Member
Uh ohhh America v. Russia...lol jk jk. Our alk is crazy high as well in our tap, very buffered. I only have 1 out of my 6 girls looking shitty though. She looks REALLY nitrogen deficient. Part of me thinks its really nutrient lock. Who knows! Shes yellowing from the bottom up, the oldest and largest fan leaves.
 
CanadianJim

CanadianJim

Well-Known Member
If you're right in the ground I'm pretty sure it doesn't matter. The root system will be pretty extensive, cannabis roots grow really fast. The ph of the soil in contact with the root system is what determines if anything gets locked out, and unlike hydro, the ph varies across the surface of the roots. It's also why ph is less useful to soil growers in pots, than to hydro growers. In pots the ph of your feed will have more of an impact, but the soil in different parts of the pot will have different starting phs. I've been using water straight from the hose, I have no idea what ph it is. Still doing pretty well.
 
SuperNutz

SuperNutz

Well-Known Member
I started giving my tomato garden the 6.0 ph water this year and they're growing like they're on steroids, but could also be the Epsom salt in the water as opposed to sprinkled on the ground. I'm sticking with 6.0 just to be safe.
 
xp0c

xp0c

Well-Known Member
My plants are in the ground. I use water from a huge pond, but my nutes bring my PH down below 6, so I PH it up to 6.5.
 
eddy600

eddy600

Well-Known Member
Sevenleaves said:
I use plain old Saco River water straight from the tap. My plants do very well, sometimes humans overthink.
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Taking mine out of the California Acquaduct american river water the first 3in of soil will buffer it out,no problems since 1987
 
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