ph

do i have to test and treat for ph
because i want them to grow somewhat natural

yes. yes. yes. yes.

but why waaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!!!!!

because you do.

but there weeds they grow anywere

Yes, very true, they grow anywhere. It just helps more if you do it properly. Ph'ing the soil will increase your likelyhood of getting a female plant as they prefer less acidic soil to the males. Also your yield will be better and your plant is less likely to die. Just ask some advice in your local grow shop on using the kit. You can buy digital testers which are probably the best, but you can buy tester kits for a fiver (about $7.50).

ok i think ill get the cheaper one

You are right, SuperHI, you don't need to adjust pH. Even if you live in a city and use tap water, you can just ignore the pH.

BUT if you want to grow a better plant, then adjust the pH to below 7.0,
which is acidic.

Have I been getting it the wrong way round? I'm going back to second year seniors here so that might explain it. 7 is neutral? anything above, acidic? Below, alkaline?

Anything below 7 is acidic.

Anything above 7 is alkaline.

6.2 - 6.8 is pretty much where I keep mine.

I won't forget again; my apologies to all involved.

but how do you change your ph level if its so low or to high???????

PH up or PH down.

To ph down during veg', you should use nitric acid. In flower then it's phosphoric acid.

My first grow I assumed that general purpose flowers/tomatoes/etc. soil from the garden center would be good. I assumed that tap water would be fine.

WRONG

The plants started fine but grew more and more slowly. the leaves yellowed. by the time I got a pH tester half of them were nearly dead.

My soil pH was 5.4 - far from the optimal range! My plants were dying from nutrient deficiencies related to pH imbalance. Even if nutrients are in the soil, the plants can't absorb them if the pH is wrong.

Always test and balance your soil before you plant. Always monitor soil pH - it will change as your plants grow. Test your tap water - I bet it's NOT 7...

To adjust with baking soda and vinegar...which is up and which is down ???

CrazyEyes187 said:

To adjust with baking soda and vinegar...which is up and which is down ???

Click to expand...

Vinegar will make it more acidic and can you guess what the other will do..

I wouldn't recomend doing this. Go out and spend a few bucks on some pH increaser and pH decreaser. People cheap out on nutes, lights, or whatever and then wonder why they can't grow that bombay shizzle. lol

MajoR_TokE said:

Vinegar will make it more acidic and can you guess what the other will do..

I wouldn't recomend doing this. Go out and spend a few bucks on some pH increaser and pH decreaser. People cheap out on nutes, lights, or whatever and then wonder why they can't grow that bombay shizzle. lol

Click to expand...

Nothing wrong with cheap nutes. If you want to spend so much on nutes when they all do the same thing it's up to you. The only thing I splash out on is the voodoo juice and carbo-load.

Ph up and ph down is essential, even in soil (although not by much). I grew 20 plants in soil (my first time) without ph'ing once, and I got virtually an oz per plant. At the moment my nutes cost me 0.89p and I'm growing dwc.

I am a little sorted about this, maybe someone can help;

If my babies have are looking pale, and some leaves dying, they probably have a nute deficiency, correct?
- And nute deficiencies are caused by having either too acidic or too base Ph, which hinders teh plants uptake of nutes?

- LOUNGE; Not just for dinner!

Deficiencies are caused by misaligned pH's or just straight up deficiencies like there isn't enough in the soil to begin with. Temperature can also cause deficiencies, like Phosphorus.