Mixing mediums what PH to use

[darknight_420]

Hi all

I fancy mixing the mediums I use to get better root space for bigger planta

At the moment it's always been straight from the light mix biobizz and nothing else and I don't adjust my pH

I've a bag if plagron coco there which I've used 1 plant in the past so there's a good 40L still in the bag.

Growing in coco alone does my head right in as I really struggle with PH. Don't get me wrong I know what to do but every fecking time I've got issues with my blue lab ph reader.. They claim to be the best yet I chucked my 1st one straight out the back door and in the bin because it was constantly stuck on reading 7.4!

God knows why I bought another when I got my plagron because the same thing happens but this time its 6.0!! So it's made redundant as I'm back on soil

But I want to use my coco and I'm thinking if I did a 40/40 mix and 20 perlite what PH would I need to work with..

Could I get away no PH and treat as soil or will the coco cause me issues

Thanks

 

[Cannaficionado]

Hi all

I fancy mixing the mediums I use to get better root space for bigger planta

At the moment it's always been straight from the light mix biobizz and nothing else and I don't adjust my pH

I've a bag if plagron coco there which I've used 1 plant in the past so there's a good 40L still in the bag.

Growing in coco alone does my head right in as I really struggle with PH. Don't get me wrong I know what to do but every fecking time I've got issues with my blue lab ph reader.. They claim to be the best yet I chucked my 1st one straight out the back door and in the bin because it was constantly stuck on reading 7.4!

God knows why I bought another when I got my plagron because the same thing happens but this time its 6.0!! So it's made redundant as I'm back on soil

But I want to use my coco and I'm thinking if I did a 40/40 mix and 20 perlite what PH would I need to work with..

Could I get away no PH and treat as soil or will the coco cause me issues

Thanks

Be careful mixing different mediums especially coco and potting soil. They can work but coco and peat potting soils are different beasts all together. You'll getting buffering from the peat, and nutrient retention too. But the coco will just hold water and nothing else. Coco is a hydro-type medium. Meant to be fertigated regularly where soils are meanted to be fertigated once to twice a week depending how much you feed. It can cause issues especially later on in the grow.

When you say your mediums are staying around 7.4 when you used that one brand of coco, are you using a dedicated soil ph meter. One with a pointed probe, because a regular bulb style is meant for liquids only. The only way to get a relatively accurate example of the ph of the medium is to do a slurry test with a bulb style meter. Equal parts medium and distilled water, mix well, and let settle, then test. Only coco that has been buffered properly will be the proper ph right from the bag, and from what I hear its best if you do it yourself. Im not a coco guy so my info is based on what coco growers on here say about the stuff, but for me it seems to complicated. If you know how to use the stuff well yeah it can change your outcomes but from what Ive been seeing I dont see a real difference between growing in soil or coco, seems like its mostly personal preference. If you're looking into getting into drip irrigation or hydro type growing yes coco would be a good medium. But if you just want to water and feed stick to your biobizz.

As far as your elevated ph readings, soil is ok anywhere between 6.2-6.8 ph and as long as the inputs are always the same the range shouldnt change unless you're adding something like bone meal or getting build ups of nutrients that raise ph like calcium. Sulfer will help bring it back down but its a balancing act. If you wanna get rid of your coco by using it, I would suggest using it alone mixed with perlite. If the bag says its washed and buffered it should be ok-ish. Just make sure you dont water with plain water like ever because you will wash out anything available in the medium.

 

[Cannaficionado]

Thanks for the reps @darknight_420. Hopefully you find out whats causing a climb in ph. Another thing to remember is keep your probe bulb wet at all times. If the probe dries out completely the ph meter will never be accurate again and you will need a new one. A couple drops of tap water in the cap is great. Storage solution is mean for long term storage so if you use that you may need to recalibrate your ph meter. Storage solution is around 4.0ph, idk why, never really looked into it but you want the water if you use it often. Also remember to check the calibration once per week either by testing it on distilled water at 68° which will be 7.0 or just make sure it still reads the calibration fluids right.

A good indicator that your meter needs calibration is how long it takes to reach a stable reading. Or at least thats how I look at it. Mine just started to act funny today. After using ph down on my water and leaving the probe in for a couple minutes it settled, but my meter has a smiley face for when its stabilized, the face would pop up then disappear after a couple seconds, drop .1 or .2 then it would pop back up, and it would repeat that multiple times. Before recalibration it did finally settle at 6.21. After the calibration I retested and it was at 6.45 and the stable reading never went away after the first time it popped up. Another thing to remember is a probe works off a wick to draw ions into the bulb to read. After about a year the wick will lose its ability to draw in fluid effectively and the probe will need replacing. Ph meters measure the difference in ions in the bulb itself compaired to the amount of ions in the test solution and the wick is the key to that. Mines almost due for replacement.

 

[Cannaficionado]

Thanks for the reps @darknight_420. Hopefully you find out whats causing a climb in ph. Another thing to remember is keep your probe bulb wet at all times. If the probe dries out completely the ph meter will never be accurate again and you will need a new one. A couple drops of tap water in the cap is great. Storage solution is mean for long term storage so if you use that you may need to recalibrate your ph meter. Storage solution is around 4.0ph, idk why, never really looked into it but you want the water if you use it often. Also remember to check the calibration once per week either by testing it on distilled water at 68° which will be 7.0 or just make sure it still reads the calibration fluids right.

A good indicator that your meter needs calibration is how long it takes to reach a stable reading. Or at least thats how I look at it. Mine just started to act funny today. After using ph down on my water and leaving the probe in for a couple minutes it settled, but my meter has a smiley face for when its stabilized, the face would pop up then disappear after a couple seconds, drop .1 or .2 then it would pop back up, and it would repeat that multiple times. Before recalibration it did finally settle at 6.21. After the calibration I retested and it was at 6.45 and the stable reading never went away after the first time it popped up. Another thing to remember is a probe works off a wick to draw ions into the bulb to read. After about a year the wick will lose its ability to draw in fluid effectively and the probe will need replacing. Ph meters measure the difference in ions in the bulb itself compaired to the amount of ions in the test solution and the wick is the key to that. Mines almost due for replacement.

I forgot to answer the last part of your post, I believe coco should have a ph lower than potting soil like 5.8-6.3. Inputs need to be slightly lower too, in soil I ph to 6.1-6.4 in coco 5.8-6.1 I believe is where nutrient solutions should be ph to

 

[Mozzy]

I really struggle with PH

fwiw...I grow in decent organic bag soil only, haven't had real issues for many grows, and have never owned a PH tester; I currently just use roughly the same amount of down from a dropper per 2 gallons at a time to roughly get in range (and test by color maybe once or twice a grow)

soil is ok anywhere between 6.2-6.8 ph

That's the first-pee-of-the-day-color when you test with drops, if you're not too dehydrated, right?

I'm pretty ignorant when it comes to coco or feeding/amending, ymmv

 

[NORBY]

Hi all

I fancy mixing the mediums I use to get better root space for bigger planta

At the moment it's always been straight from the light mix biobizz and nothing else and I don't adjust my pH

I've a bag if plagron coco there which I've used 1 plant in the past so there's a good 40L still in the bag.

Growing in coco alone does my head right in as I really struggle with PH. Don't get me wrong I know what to do but every fecking time I've got issues with my blue lab ph reader.. They claim to be the best yet I chucked my 1st one straight out the back door and in the bin because it was constantly stuck on reading 7.4!

God knows why I bought another when I got my plagron because the same thing happens but this time its 6.0!! So it's made redundant as I'm back on soil

But I want to use my coco and I'm thinking if I did a 40/40 mix and 20 perlite what PH would I need to work with..

Could I get away no PH and treat as soil or will the coco cause me issues

Thanks

I think if your mixing the coco with Lightmix then you shouldn't need to test pH as the soil wil be your buffer,
Use more soil than coco.
Maybe give the coco a good rinse first as its probly got calmag pre added to it and the soil already has it so could be too much.
What nutrients you using,
Advanced nutrients Sensi range is PH perfect and can be used in both mediums.
Only Need the Bloom A+B tho when using Lightmix soil

 

[darknight_420]

Thanks all for your comments.

Firstly I was unsure what to do after reading the complications mixing might cause, now I'm still no 100% lol

I've got the full range of advanced nutrients ph perfect A+B 1L plus all the additions but only in 250ml bottles as I grew one coco plant last year which turned into a monster..

I've been giving a one pot mix from ecothrive to mix with either 15L soil or coco and you only water through the cycle with no need to add anything extra to it, I was going to try that in a mix but just wasn't sure of the PH.

I've so many different nutrients from canna coco, biobizz full range which hasn't ever been used, I've the one pot mix, advanced nutrients and the biotabs which I've used for nearly 18 month but they're no good in coco, I think I buy for the sake of it!

The seeds are still germinating so I'll make my mind up eventually