The Absolute Truth About PH

Antidote Man said:

So I wanted to clear this up. When I do a google search for proper PH levels for cannabis, most of the responses say between 5.8 - 6.2 is optimum. But I find posts everywhere on multiple forums saying 6.5 - 7.5 is optimum. I find others that say between 6-7. What is the consensus here?

And I'm talking soil, standard top down watering, after nutrients are mixed into the watering pail.

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Soil pH of 5.3 and I feed pH 9-10 early veg.

Day 14, about a ft wide.

Microbes are what matters most in soil. Next pic is her 28 days later.

Antidote Man said:

So I wanted to clear this up. When I do a google search for proper PH levels for cannabis, most of the responses say between 5.8 - 6.2 is optimum. But I find posts everywhere on multiple forums saying 6.5 - 7.5 is optimum. I find others that say between 6-7. What is the consensus here?

And I'm talking soil, standard top down watering, after nutrients are mixed into the watering pail.

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In good organic soil and when using good organic feed you shouldn't have to worry too much about ph. The micro life in the soil adjust and breaks it all down to the right level for the plant. You have to just feed your micro life with a bit of sugars every now and then. But if you do want to keep aneye on ph and your feed instructions say to adjust for best results in soil I would ust stick to 6-7 and you should be fine. Sometimes a bit of a gentle swing is good within the usual range.
Also just to add, too acidic/too low ph in soil can kill or hurt the micro life.

Antidote Man said:

'They' are google. Instead of laughing about it, answer the question.

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That's not how google works.. You read a snip from the link below it and would need to click the link to get the full story, you read what fluence.science says not google and fluence.science does not mention the medium they are referring to so the link and story are king of useless..

Antidote Man said:

'They' are google. Instead of laughing about it, answer the question.

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50% of the time Google gives you the wrong answer. 90% of the time the answer it reads you is a snipit from a forum or some arbitrary article.

To answer your question no lower that 6.0 and not higher than 7.0.

Also if you are using the proper soil and amending at the correct times (which is paramount to your success) you will not need to worry about PH levels.

PadawanWarrior said:

Sounds like you have lots of calcium carbonate in your water. That will add alkalinity and make the pH want to rise. Bubbling it will also raise it, but not as fast as alkalinity. What's your water like?

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Very high ph from the get go , I’ve never done a full on test , but I have no issues as far as my ladies loving it

6.4 wins

I target for 6.5 direct soil measurement.... seems to work for me. How your nute mix buffers with the soil, and what comes out the bottom (run off) can be different, that's why I like to see what's going on in the root zone.

I figured I'd close this up with some more information. I was talking with Dr Greenthumb on phone, he said my output PH should be 5.7, water coming out at the base of the pots. I never water like that, I water less, more often, than the other way. I don't even use plastic dishes to catch the run off. I found some high end ph pens for soil, got an open box bluelabs for 100$. He said they don't work. That's all I have for checking the soil ph, but I might also flood my pots and check from there. You learn something new every day..

xtsho said:

I never pH when I'm growing in soil. That's even when feeding nutes not just plain water. Never have any issues. I think many are doing unnecessary things.

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I never ph. But I know my well water is at 7.0

Antidote Man said:

I figured I'd close this up with some more information. I was talking with Dr Greenthumb on phone, he said my output PH should be 5.7, water coming out at the base of the pots. I never water like that, I water less, more often, than the other way. I don't even use plastic dishes to catch the run off. I found some high end ph pens for soil, got an open box bluelabs for 100$. He said they don't work. That's all I have for checking the soil ph, but I might also flood my pots and check from there. You learn something new every day..

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Runoff isn't a good way to check. It can give you an idea but it can also be misleading. BlueLab makes decent stuff, and it works. Apera makes some even nicer stuff I think.

My Oakton PH meter is awesome. I have a bluelabs that i haven't used in a decade.... we'll see about the soil pen...

Deadly accurate at the root zone. It has a Swiss glass tip probe that you can stab down about 4-5 inches into the medium....Cheap? No.

Antidote Man said:

My Oakton PH meter is awesome. I have a bluelabs that i haven't used in a decade.... we'll see about the soil pen...

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Those Oakton look nice.

DoubleAtotheRON said:

Deadly accurate at the root zone. It has a Swiss glass tip probe that you can stab down about 4-5 inches into the medium....Cheap? No.


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I miss seeing updates on your grow. It really was a beautifully well cared for garden.

If you guys had PH of water of 8 and above, would you still bother to ph water when growing in soil? I'm too scared NOT to ph down my water hah. Maybe I should do a test plant that doesn't get the ph down.... hmmm...

Tracker said:

I miss seeing updates on your grow. It really was a beautifully well cared for garden.

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Thanks brother... it was a fun ride. Still growing personal tho.

BucketGrower said:

If you guys had PH of water of 8 and above, would you still bother to ph water when growing in soil? I'm too scared NOT to ph down my water hah. Maybe I should do a test plant that doesn't get the ph down.... hmmm...

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They will get nute lock out for sure at 8... unless your soil buffers it down. Every soil mix reacts differently. Some are stable, some crash.

Nutty sKunK said:

Soil pH of 5.3 and I feed pH 9-10 early veg.

Day 14, about a ft wide.

Microbes are what matters most in soil. Next pic is her 28 days later.

View attachment 5275994View attachment 5275995View attachment 5275996View attachment 5275997

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How are you testing the soil pH?

DoubleAtotheRON said:

They will get nute lock out for sure at 8... unless your soil buffers it down. Every soil mix reacts differently. Some are stable, some crash.

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Thanks for reply. Yeah, the soil I use is quite active and has lots of ingredients. I'm kind of curious to try it on a few plants in the future. No Ph down at all vs plants that had their water ph'ed to correct range.

BucketGrower said:

Thanks for reply. Yeah, the soil I use is quite active and has lots of ingredients. I'm kind of curious to try it on a few plants in the future. No Ph down at all vs plants that had their water ph'ed to correct range.

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Good. You're experimenting. I like you already. Throughout my years in the commercial side, I'd do some crazy shit just to see what would happen.... keep it up.