Organic growing and Ph, where is my fault?.?

[Bondido]

Hi gals and guys,
I am 2 1/2 weeks into my grow and need help. I am using biobizz light mix (ph 6.2) with 40% perlite. I added 6 teespoons dolomit lime per gallon and some root activator according to the manufactors chart to the soil. I filter my tap water which lowers the ph from 8 to 7. After applying biobizz grow (1.5ml per liter) the ph was 6.5.
The runoff is ph 5.5. How can this be? Does this mean my root ph is around 4.5?
When people say soil and/or dolomite lime will buffer ph, does this mean the soil/lime is actually changing ph values or does it mean that the nutrients are still available to the plant even if ph is off.
Thx for any replys and please pardon my english

P.s plants look great...

 

[Eyes on Fire]

Lime is good but gyspum in tandom , and other higher PH items as a buffering capacity over the course as they break down.same thing with the lime and other thing which makes up the buffering capacity. bottled feeds typically dont buffer or normalize your PH for you. and fyi the runoff technique isnt always the way to test your soil PH. and Accurate 8 is your best bet.and Lime added takes time to breakdown and if its slammed with lower PH its get eaten up somewhat quickly. so there are variations. pics help if there are issues. if not I would make a top coating personally so that way ready to be used Lime is leaching through from the top helping negate acids and the like raising the PH some if used right.

http://articles.extension.org/pages/63500/solutions-to-soil-problems:-high-ph

https://www.rodalesorganiclife.com/garden/what-do-if-your-soil-too-alkaline

http://www.savvygardener.com/Features/soil_ph.html

https://www.motherearthnews.com/organic-gardening/gardening-techniques/soil-ph-zm0z14amzkin

 

[Bondido]

Thx EoF,
i think you are right, just reading the ph values of the first runoff will not say much about my root ph. I got a cheapo soil ph meter from a friend, it says 7.0. If i put it into 4.01 calibration solution it reads 4.0. Also not accurate but since the Plants doin great, i will not further mess with Ph other than mixing carbon filtered tap water and unfiltered tapwater with biobizz nutes to Ph 6.3-6.8. If i run into Problems i will get myself a Accurate 8

Still it would be interesting for me to know (I have not been through all of the linked articles):
When people say soil and/or dolomite lime will buffer ph, does this mean the soil/lime is actually changing ph values or does it mean that the nutrients are still available to the plant even if ph is off.????

Cheers

 

[hecno]

Bondido , lime will bring your ph up and help buffer , 4 table spoons of lime per 1 square foot will raise your ph by 2 points , dolomite lime needs time to work . Here in Australia we can get a product that works faster , Liquid dolomite 0.01 micron , which acts a lot faster .

 

[hecno]

Got it, I just had to dig it up .
. How lime neutralizes acidity.

H+ H+ + CaCO3 ==> Ca2+ + H2O + CO2

in solution

CaCO3 + H2O ==> Ca2+ + HCO3- +OH -

This OH-can react with H+ ==> HOH (water) or to precipitate Al as Al(OH)3

Lime reduces the concentration of H+ ions and increases the concentration of OH - ions, and adds non acid forming cations. the material must contain an anion that combines with and neutralizes H+ ions and Al ions.

CO3 ............. does

SO4..............doesn't

oxides .......................CaO

hydroxides.................CaOH

carbonates.................CaCO3

silicates .....................SiO3-

H. Factors influencing the quality of liming materials

1. purity - any impurities in the lime will reduce its ability to neutralize acidity. ( sand, rocks, clay, etc. )

2. fineness - large particles react more slowly and less completely than fine particles.

Particle Size



Efficiency Rate (%)


larger than

4 mesh

0



4-8 mesh

10



8-20 mesh

20



20-60 mesh

60



60-80 mesh

80



100 mesh

100