How to raise my soils ph? Dolomite lime didn't work.

Okay guys for the past two grows I have had issues with lockout and ph. I use 50/50 mix of fox farm ocean forrest and happy frog. At first I thought the low run off was due to me adding to much nutrients. Well Im germinating a new seed now so I went ahead and put some soil in a pot just to test it out before hand. I watered the soil and checked the runoff and it's around 4-5 so the fox farm soil is already acidic straight out of the bag. I went ahead and added 3 tablespoons of dolomite lime for my 3 gallon container and it didn't change anything so other than lime what could I do to up the ph before I plant the seed in there? Other than buying new soil the closest hydro store is over an hour away and I won't be able to get their anytime soon. Other than that I wouldn't want to buy any Walmart or lowes soil so how can I raise my ph?

mix that mix you have made with seedling potting soil which doesn't have any ferts added to it. you might still get kind of low pH but it will also give you a dilution that should be better than what you have now.

Thats not a lot of dolomite lime. I started soil indoor from the Easy soil recipy ( http://forum.grasscity.com/organic-growing/1116550-easy-organic-soil-mix-beginners.html ) and have stuck to the lime ration for my soil mix.

Tazbud said:

Thats not a lot of dolomite lime. I started soil indoor from the Easy soil recipy ( http://forum.grasscity.com/organic-growing/1116550-easy-organic-soil-mix-beginners.html ) and have stuck to the lime ration for my soil mix.

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Thanks for that everywhere I have read says only about 1 tablesspoon per gallon of soil I'll try more lime.

polishpollack said:

mix that mix you have made with seedling potting soil which doesn't have any ferts added to it. you might still get kind of low pH but it will also give you a dilution that should be better than what you have now.

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Even the seed starting mix around her has miracle grow fertilizer so I just grabbed a bag of vermiculite that should do the same thing as seed starting mix

Iamlegend2121 said:

Thanks for that everywhere I have read says only about 1 tablesspoon per gallon of soil I'll try more lime.

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A couple things I have gathered here...
You want to use the powder form of dolomite as the chunks take months and microbes to break down. Vermiculite is avoided by many because its absorbtion/water retention supposedly also retains nutes making them unavailable to the plant. Use perlite.

Powderes is best but works short time. So add pulverized (the powdery stuff) and the pellet looking stuff. Also it need times for limestone to blend in. Lime does not change soil pH persay it's a buffer. Another thing that helps is oyster shell flour. fox farm is highly acidity and take dent buffering to get to a correct ph. You Need To Add More Lime 3 TBs is not enough. what coast do you live on.

bravedave said:

A couple things I have gathered here...
You want to use the powder form of dolomite as the chunks take months and microbes to break down. Vermiculite is avoided by many because its absorbtion/water retention supposedly also retains nutes making them unavailable to the plant. Use perlite.

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That's the problem to all the perlite around here is miracle grow perlite so it has nutrients in it also and the perlite doesn't help any the one I got going now is 25 percent perlite and it doesn't help with ph. I'm using the vermiculite more to buffer the ph then to aerate the soil. And right now my ph doesn't let any nutrients in so the vermiculite has to be better than nothing I would think

anzohaze said:

Powderes is best but works short time. So add pulverized (the powdery stuff) and the pellet looking stuff. Also it need times for limestone to blend in. Lime does not change soil pH persay it's a buffer. Another thing that helps is oyster shell flour. fox farm is highly acidity and take dent buffering to get to a correct ph. You Need To Add More Lime 3 TBs is not enough. what coast do you live on.

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The only lime I could find that was not quick lime is the Pelletized dolomite lime. So I got the pelletiized. I'm on the east coast. I wouldn't even know where to find oyster shell flour lol so how much lime would you suggest for a 3 gallon pot?

East coast fox farm has an even lower ph problem compared to original fox farm. the original fox farm and west coast shit uses red wood bark which has a higher ph then eat coast fox farm as here on east coast they use pine bark. I would go.to.Lowe's hime.depot etc and look for pulverized lime in garden section. I would add probably 6-8Tbs and start there

Put the pellets in a bag, run over them or whack em with a hammer

Homer store has 40lb bags of pulverized for bout $4

anzohaze said:

East coast fox farm has an even lower ph problem compared to original fox farm. the original fox farm and west coast shit uses red wood bark which has a higher ph then eat coast fox farm as here on east coast they use pine bark. I would go.to.Lowe's hime.depot etc and look for pulverized lime in garden section. I would add probably 6-8Tbs and start there

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I went to lowes and the pellets were the only ones they had I should be able to just crush them up a little right? Also you said oyster shell flour would oyster shell work the same way if crushed down? They sell oyster shell at animal feed stores. I have a bunch of fox farm in a Rubbermaid tote because I bought it all at once so I might as well amend the whole tub now so it can sit in there for a while.

Iamlegend2121 said:

I went to lowes and the pellets were the only ones they had I should be able to just crush them up a little right? Also you said oyster shell flour would oyster shell work the same way if crushed down? They sell oyster shell at animal feed stores. I have a bunch of fox farm in a Rubbermaid tote because I bought it all at once so I might as well amend the whole tub now so it can sit in there for a while.

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you c crush them to help break down faster. Don't worry about oyster shell flour lime will be plenty. How.many plants are you running in what size space

anzohaze said:

you c crush them to help break down faster. Don't worry about oyster shell flour lime will be plenty. How.many plants are you running in what size space

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I only do one or two at a time I have a small 22x36 inch tent so I can fit two but I like doing one so its directly under the light and not in the shade corners. The whole time I was thinking I was over fertilizing and causing build up when it's been this soil so I switched from fox farm nutrients to General organics for no reason it's all because of the ph lol atleast I know how to fix it now

Iamlegend2121 said:

I only do one or two at a time I have a small 22x36 inch tent so I can fit two but I like doing one so its directly under the light and not in the shade corners. The whole time I was thinking I was over fertilizing and causing build up when it's been this soil so I switched from fox farm nutrients to General organics for no reason it's all because of the ph lol atleast I know how to fix it now

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are you using bottle nutes, wanting to do organics or what?

anzohaze said:

are you using bottle nutes, wanting to do organics or what?

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Eventually I want to do all organic but the main reason I switched from fox farm to general organics was because I thought the fox farm nutrients were causing salt build up but it was the soil ph causing the lockouts. I think I will always have to use bottle fertilizers due to their being not enough resources around her to get everything I need for teas.

I only use ocean forest and fox farm line of nutes and have never had a ph problem. First, runoff is not an accurate test of the soil's ph. Get a good soil probe. Second, if you truly have a ph problem, it is most likely overfeeding or not ph'ing nutes before you feed.

Cant you just raise the ph of the soil by watering with a higher ph'd water? Seems simple really.

a mongo frog said:

Cant you just raise the ph of the soil by watering with a higher ph'd water? Seems simple really.

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No I tried that with a flush I put nine gallons of 7.0 phd water through a 3 gallon pot and it didn't change it at all believe me I tried everything and on top of that everytime I water I ph my water to atleat 6.5