New Grower Should I PH my plain water?

[Sunny747]

On regular water days should I PH my water? My tap water is around 7.8. I use a PUR filter and also leave it sit for 24 hours. When I nute the PH always comes out around 6.5 which I am comfortable with.

I am using Roots Organic (coco) but it has a lot of organics mixed in shuch as guano and worm poop so it seems more like soil than it is like hydro. I added proper amounts of dolomite in the beginning.

I see some people that say yes always ph our water and nutes and some experienced growers say they never PH anything when growing in soil/soiless.

I am sure things will come out fine either way, but I feel like I should be dropping my water ph a bit. If I do use PH Down will it kill my mycos?

What do you all think? PH the plain water or leave it be?
Thx for the help.

 

[pickpocket33]

uh... PH your water.

- - - Updated - - -

Always. lol....ESPECIALLY HYDRO

 

[Larky.Derry]

im growing in a soiless medium ( plagron light) and i haven't ph'd my feeds all the way through the grow! no deficiencys at all. i cant speak for the roots organic but the plagron works great at buffering the ph of the feed. and yes using ph up or ph down will damage/kill the myco.

 

[Muddy]

I would highly recommend that you not only pH your plain water feeds but that you also capture and check the pH of your run off. The pH of the soil is much more important than the pH of the feeds and unless you have a soil probe, checking run off is the only way to know where your soil is at. If your soil pH is low, feeding at a higher pH can help to raise it and if it's too high, feeding at a lower pH will help lower it. Should you start having problems such as spotted or yellowing leaves, they could be related to your soil pH so it's always good to know where it's at.

Regarding the use of pH Up and Down, according to the techs at General Hydroponics, their products will not kill beneficial microbes when used at normal rates, which is usually only a few drops per gallon. It's only when high concentrations of their products are used that you run the risk of killing off the microbes.

 

[Epic Genetics]

I would highly recommend that you not only pH your plain water feeds but that you also capture and check the pH of your run off. The pH of the soil is much more important than the pH of the feeds and unless you have a soil probe, checking run off is the only way to know where your soil is at. If your soil pH is low, feeding at a higher pH can help to raise it and if it's too high, feeding at a lower pH will help lower it. Should you start having problems such as spotted or yellowing leaves, they could be related to your soil pH so it's always good to know where it's at.

Regarding the use of pH Up and Down, according to the techs at General Hydroponics, their products will not kill beneficial microbes when used at normal rates, which is usually only a few drops per gallon. It's only when high concentrations of their products are used that you run the risk of killing off the microbes.

well said

i see people claim with organic grows it is not necessary , but i also see a few friends locally irl who all grow organic and the one who does monitor and adjust his ph accordingly does far better then the 2 guys that dont, they all use the same home made organic medium

peace

 

[Muddy]

well said

i see people claim with organic grows it is not necessary , but i also see a few friends locally irl who all grow organic and the one who does monitor and adjust his ph accordingly does far better then the 2 guys that dont, they all use the same home made organic medium

peace

Thanks b0b. IMO pH is still one of the most misunderstood aspects of growing.

 

[krug]

I wouldn`t be without my ph meter(for both my own and m`girls health!) "Check your PH" If y`find you`ve got a an issue occurring, 1st thing t`check is ph in and run off out!(unless y`know it`s a pest/disease scenario) Then you have a base t`start eliminating/fixing things! Just "My 2 cents" ...

 

[Sunny747]

With your guys input I'm going to subscribe to the theory that it IS best to check soil PH and try to adjust with watering and nute solutions. Two of my plants look like total crap underneath the lights. Spotted, yellow, funky leaves. They're still alive, but I'd prefer healthier looking plants.

My water is very basic. The soil I used for this grow was not optimal. When you use Scotts products it's difficult to know what the heck is going on since there are time release nutes etc. Today I tested my runoff. I ran 7.0 water through them and it came out 7.4. This may be the cause of the leaf problems although I do notice that my new growth is looking much better as of late.

I'm going to water with 6.3 - 6.5 for a while and see how it goes. I chopped my (photo) mother wayyy down since I don't really need her right now. I left about 1/3 of only healthy growth. I'll see if I can get to her to a healthy looking plant by adjusting the PH of my water feeds to correct the ph of the soil. Call it an experiment.

Here is another question. From a health/organic/medical viewpoint, Would it be better to use lemon or vinegar rather than PH Down?

Thanks for all the input.

 

[Muddy]

I cringe when I hear someone is using Scott's products to grow weed. Always problems. If your feeding at 7 and getting run off of 7.4 that indicates that your actual soil pH is closer to 8. Lower your feeds down to about 5.8 - 6. You might also check around and see if you can find some 17% Aluminum Sulfate. I doubt you'll find it at the big box stores, check nurseries and garden supply stores. Add about 6 grams per gallon of soil mix, mixed into the top layer of soil. It's effects are almost immediate and will quickly lower the pH of your soil.

The amount of pH Down normally used, a few drops, is insignificant from a health standpoint. But lemon juice and vinegar do work as well.

 

[Gonzo]

im growing in a soiless medium ( plagron light) and i haven't ph'd my feeds all the way through the grow! no deficiencys at all. i cant speak for the roots organic but the plagron works great at buffering the ph of the feed. and yes using ph up or ph down will damage/kill the myco.

I grow in Plagron Lightmix too but had many troubles with too high ph. Many more as in ordinary soil before Plagron. But tap water here around is above 8, yours is perhaps lower.

Poblems started to show after some growth, because little nutrients did not low ph enough. later, in flowering, ph lowered due to higher nuts doses and grow went on until the end with modest yield, of course.

Now when I use water above 8 and nutes at two thirds in the very high flowering, ph is OK at 6,5. Everything else needs to get some acid.

So I would say, do not adjust ph only if you know that you do not need to adjust ph.