Soil pH ALKALINE ! help me before they die

Hi there ! My plants started to show no growth 2 weeks ago and presenting some nitrogent / magnese deficiance , i did a runoff and found that my all-mix dirt is now with a 8.5 ph ! What shoud i do ? please help me

how big are you pots? I would ph my water at 6.0 and flush hella gud. what kind of soil are you using?

next time use different soil

MrStickyScissors said:

next time use different soil

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I have 3 gallon pots and i've used Biobizz All-mix Soil . dont you recommend using it ?

Shoudn't i flush it with an even lower ph ? like 4.5 or something ?

thats why I would use fox farm oceans forest. it will regulate the ph around 6.5. I would just flush with 6.0. 1 gallon to each 3 gallon pot

Mix some finely granulated dolomite lime into your soil, or water with it..It will stabilize your ph

Also when you flush you want to use 3 gallons of water per 1 gallon of soil. So if you have a 3 gallon pot flush with 9 gallons of water.

pH changes should be gradual, not sudden or your plant will not like it. Use the 6.0 water, you don't want to use something as acidic as 4.5.

How did you get a pH so high? Do you measure the pH of your water before you water your plants? Do you make sure you measure it after you add all ferts and things to it? If you've just been using unadjusted tap water that could be why you have a pH problem.

i had the same exact problem with my plants . they turnd completely yellow (light yellow almost white). i tried that flushing thing and waited a week and things just got worse so i ended up transplanting them in to new soil (fox farm ocean forest). i just dug them out around the stim lost some root but all you need is the majority of the root ball. 4 days it been now and there showing great improvement, got new dark green growth and the yellow is turning green again too. i messed up because i used untreated tapwater(ph 8.9!) to water with so i bought an electric ph tester and water at 6.5 ph. my plants were still small and i also use 3 gallon pot so if you got small plant u you shold do the same .

have you checked the WSPH? wet soil it climbs at watering (not to 8.5) but does fluctuate also if it is night or day. Nutes will raise you Ph if you are reading Ph water run off. What kind of meters are you using? a great way to bring the ph dn on the soil is to cut it with pete moss or coco that stuff is at 5 and the manure and compost is about 7 so you get there pretty close without having so much releasing nutes.

dont listen to any of these people. you need to go to growersunderground.com and find the pdf on ph and water. it will explain the ins and out on water and what to look for in city water and if you need a reverse osmosis for your water or just a water softener.... my opinion though......your water sucks...if it reads 30ppm by itself your water has a lot of metals in it and if so get a reverse osmosis machine

The phdown I used in my water IS ok to water my babies??

I do measure my pH and water plants with a 6.0-6.5 , but i must have left some unadjusted tap water on trays during some time and my tap water goes around 8.0 ph ! But even my new seed plants on small pots ( that dont have tray) have a ph around 7-7.5 , and i've been giving them adjusted water since the beginning !6.0-6.5 ph water is what I've been giving it and they dont seem to be getting better ! They were doing fine and now they are stuck and show deficiencies ! I'm feeling very disapointed :S

- Should i use sulfur to try and lower ph soil ?

it might sound dumb but my little brother watered my plants one time when I was out of town and he wasnt mixing the water after he put all the nutrients and ph down in and the ph was hella high. make sure your stiring

Is there any inconvenience using vinegar to lower water ph ?

I found out that vinegar can easily change the water ph's for a while , but after some hours the water ph will go back to the same ! So the vinegar wasnt doing the job , and i bought Ph down ! I hope if you have the same problem as i did it can help you .

Thxs to all who helped !

Bingo Snapple. PH manifesto PDF

How I control my medium ph from rising is through chemistry or you can just keep flushing all the time like did in the past or you can control your ph....

PH stands for Potential Hydrogen and is a measurement of Hydrogen and Hydroxide ions and is measure from 0 to 14 and 7.0 being neutral if I remember correctly at 71 or 78 degrees F,this will raise and lower with temps

When your mediums PH is below 7.0 it contains MORE Hydrogen ions than Hydroxide ions. and vise versa alkaline state has mor Hydroxide ions(7.0 or higher)
Now these interact with each other to perform a balancing act that determines the PH in your water,growing medium and nutrients.

So these Hydrogen and Hydroxide ions are in the elements that make up our macro and micro nutrients and are classified in two groups Cations and Anions
Cations contain more Hydrogen ions
Anions contain more Hydroxide ions

Our growing medium is dramatically affected by these cations and anions contained in the micro,macro and secondary nutrients.REMEMBER this because this is very important when selecting nutrients for your medium.

Micro,macro and secondary nutrients that are cations are urea and ammonium(both forms of nitrogen),potassium,calcium,magnesium,iron,zinc,manganese,copper,and cobalt

and the elements that are anions are nitrates(another form of nitrogen),phosphates(phosphorus)sulfates,carbonates,bicarbonates
This covers most Cations and Anions

So get your books or Pc and research back to basics NPK.If your PH is rising in your medium,use nutrients or make nutrients that have more Cations(hydrogen ions) to bring your PH down.

Good Luck and Happy Growing

MrStickyScissors said:

I would ph my water at 6.0 and flush hella gud.

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I wouldn't, soil has a harder time buffering up than down & going below 6.5 will wreck your soil. You dont have to pH your water in soil unless your tap water is below 6.5!
Also flushing is horseshit but that's another story.