Cant get ph to drop

The strain is the farmer daughter by Humboldt seed co. Growing in soil. 7 gal pots. I top dressed with Dr Earth's flower girl about a week ago and after testing soil pH it's reading at 7.6 and I've applied 1/4 tsp of sulfur multiple times and pH drops a bit for a few hours then does right back to 7.5- 7.6. anybody might know why this is happening??? I'm in week 2 flower right now and I do not need pH issues

Growing in soil it’s difficult to control ph. Build mixes with buffers ahead of time. Or playing with establishing a fungal dominant micro herd. But slot of times trying to adjust soil ph with some type of solution or toodress is kin to thinking your going to change your own gut ph by taking a shower.

Elemental sulfur takes weeks to get broken down and actually lower the soil pH. The sulfur you've added might not even be fully oxidized before this grow cycle is over.

Also, microbial activity can make the pH in the rhizosphere (the area right around the roots) differ from the pH of the rest of the soil. Personally I wouldn't stress about the soil pH at this point unless your plants are showing signs of a problem...

noob4560 said:

The strain is the farmer daughter by Humboldt seed co. Growing in soil. 7 gal pots. I top dressed with Dr Earth's flower girl about a week ago and after testing soil pH it's reading at 7.6 and I've applied 1/4 tsp of sulfur multiple times and pH drops a bit for a few hours then does right back to 7.5- 7.6. anybody might know why this is happening??? I'm in week 2 flower right now and I do not need pH issues

Click to expand...

Those cheap soil ph testers are notoriously crappy
The only way to test is a slurry test
Or a high dollar soil ph tester

Herb & Suds said:

Those cheap soil ph testers are notoriously crappy
The only way to test is a slurry test
Or a high dollar soil ph tester

Click to expand...

I'm using bluelabs solid pen this things saved me a few times for sure

noob4560 said:

I'm using bluelabs solid pen this things saved me a few times for sure

Click to expand...

Almost $200 bucks
Whoa

weedstoner420 said:

Elemental sulfur takes weeks to get broken down and actually lower the soil pH. The sulfur you've added might not even be fully oxidized before this grow cycle is over.

Also, microbial activity can make the pH in the rhizosphere (the area right around the roots) differ from the pH of the rest of the soil. Personally I wouldn't stress about the soil pH at this point unless your plants are showing signs of a problem...

Click to expand...

Thankfully they aren't showing any signs so far. Just gonna let it go and see what happens cause everything I try isn't working. I'm really just worried about the pH making the plants herm ya know :/

noob4560 said:

Thankfully they aren't showing any signs so far. Just gonna let it go and see what happens cause everything I try isn't working. I'm really just worried about the pH making the plants herm ya know :/

Click to expand...

I would put that concern out of your head.

pH is not a thing that exists in isolation. If the pH is too far off, the plants won't be able to absorb nutrients properly, and you'll see that in the leaves as a deficiency or toxicity or whatever. It's not like they're going to grow green and healthy, then suddenly herm on you because the soil pH is off.

noob4560 said:

Thankfully they aren't showing any signs so far. Just gonna let it go and see what happens cause everything I try isn't working. I'm really just worried about the pH making the plants herm ya know :/

Click to expand...

Agreed with others here. Don’t sweat it just watch your plants and not your ph.

what is your soil mix?

Ewc and molases cant help slowly .

Fish hydrolysate tea is good low ph too
Dya use ro water ? That’s ph is 6.5 fish drops it go 5.5

2cent said:

Fish hydrolysate tea is good low ph too
Dya use ro water ? That’s ph is 6.5 fish drops it go 5.5

Click to expand...

RO or distilled water has no real pH other than neutral unless it's contaminated with something and then it's usually slightly over 7 but has no impact on soil pH.

OldMedUser said:

RO or distilled water has no real pH other than neutral unless it's contaminated with something and then it's usually slightly over 7 but has no impact on soil pH.

Click to expand...

I would disagree. I’ve seen RO water soil grows that over time the soils buffering capacity greatly reduces. It’s almost like the RO water is a solvent and it attracts and absorbs minerals which can affect soil oh over time. No science behind this. Just observations.

OldMedUser said:

RO or distilled water has no real pH other than neutral unless it's contaminated with something and then it's usually slightly over 7 but has no impact on soil pH.

Click to expand...

I’ve never experienced this I use to all the time
Whatever I add it’s 6.5 if anything drops to 6 I raise it with potassium silica if I need to

ro doesn’t strip minerals that’s a myth that’s debunked allover based off nutrition and diet . If they have everything in the soil your not meant to water to runofftherefore all is contained and once in soil it’s basicly mineral

most living soils are based off ro water as I’ve seen and most problems come from tap water carbonates rising ph rapidly some I even seen well water ph 9what the hell and addbsulphur to buffer that good grower too done it years but damn

feed ro I never had problems till my filters needed changing carbonates raised soil ph daftly tested with a lab soil test

they asked for water sample and told me the 200ppm was in a 7:1 ca mg ratio from the tap which is very out

another problem is dolomite like the mg causes a soil collapse and fucks other elements up is should never be added to soil in containers gypsum and limestone only and there error on dept lime isn’t limestone it’s dolomite and most think there limestoning and there not they are mg adding again fastest way to fail your grow bed

2cent said:

I’ve never experienced this I use to all the time
Whatever I add it’s 6.5 if anything drops to 6 I raise it with potassium silica if I need to

Click to expand...

Depends on what you add but good RO water alone has no pH as it has few ions for a pH probe to read. Add a drop or two of pH up and it will read over 7 but there's no real 'power' there to raise a pot of soil's pH. Same if you add a couple drops of pH down it will be lower than 7 but little power to affect soil/soilless pH.

No one should be testing their pH on RO or distilled water until they've added their nutes anyways. After mixing testing should wait 15 min or longer for any reactions to complete so the pH will be stable. Overnight is even better depending on what was added. Potassium silicate is an excellent pH up and should be in every growers arsenal.

2cent said:

most living soils are based off ro water as I’ve seen and most problems come from tap water carbonates rising ph rapidly some I even seen well water ph 9what the hell and addbsulphur to buffer that good grower too done it years but damn

Click to expand...

If a person is using hard water then using pH down the minerals that cause pH rise there but in a different form so after many waterings they build up in the soil which makes it so the pH will remain high even if you pH your feed water down to 5. That's when you start seeing problems with new growth as many micronutrients which are immobile will be blocked or have reduced uptake at the higher pH.

2cent said:

another problem is dolomite like the mg causes a soil collapse and fucks other elements up is should never be added to soil in containers gypsum and limestone only and there error on dept lime isn’t limestone it’s dolomite and most think there limestoning and there not they are mg adding again fastest way to fail your grow bed

Click to expand...

That's probably why ProMix HP uses both dolomitic and calcitic lime is to keep the Ca/Mg balance.

green_machine_two9er said:

I would disagree. I’ve seen RO water soil grows that over time the soils buffering capacity greatly reduces. It’s almost like the RO water is a solvent and it attracts and absorbs minerals which can affect soil oh over time. No science behind this. Just observations.

Click to expand...

All water is a solvent but RO has no minerals in it so can dissolve more than something like hard tap water could. It really has no ability to 'trap' minerals or affect the soil pH on its own. There is science behind that as I am a retired environmental chemist so have had a lot of training in this kind of subject. Graduated over 30 years ago so have forgotten most of what they pounded into me but stuff like this sticks.

Gonna throw me 2 cents in here. I've grown in a variety of soils. PH stability is def not linear amongst them. First, I'll state that after many times of chasing my tail on what was going on with my plants, I bought an Apera 8500s Swiss glass probe direct soil PH meter a few years ago. It's accurate within 100th of a point. It wasn't cheap by any means.. almost $500. But! it did save my ass, and my whole (commercial) crop a few times, and/or helped me keep things in check.
That being said, I can say that there's not a soil on the market that's stable from start to finish. It even varies from bag to bag. When I'd go shopping for soil for a new run, I'd bring the Apera with me and stab bags till I found 30 bundles that I was content with as a starting soil. I'd see swings from the same vendor from 5.1- 7.4 I even questioned this myself and recalibrated in store. .. same results. I've found out through testing my own grow, and others, that 90% of the problem was PH related. Most of them were low. Some in the upper 4's, but the only way to really figure this out is to get a good meter, flush. For example. Let's say you get a reading in soil at 5. Your target is 6.5. You need to flush with plain water at 11.5 PH.. this is twice your reading plus where you want to be at. 5+5+1.5 =11.5, and then feed at your target pH Sounds crazy eh?.. but it works.. depending on how your medium buffers the ph. This is an experiment I've done many times. But!.. you do need a good meter to monitor your corrections. Just do the opposite for high PH... best of luck!

Yeah your correct there the ro has no battery no room of adjustment so it will adjust fast that why tap water carbonates put it in a dangerous zone
My tap has ph 7.4 and 410ppm in a 7.1 ca mg that’s bad as fook , now my ro 6stage makes 009ppm I then can add the correct ratio of ca at 150ppm and my ph is 6.5 still as the ca I added is calcium sulphate not carbonates but the sulphur didnt change the ph as it requires bacterial interactions from soil my water ph is the same and now has 159ppm
If I added calcium carbonate then it rises to 7.1 fast but that also takes time to dissolve
You can adjust that using citric acid but that reacts with carbonates and removes them then ppm drops and ph too

it’s fun but I run ro when I run tap I have 4weeks til it starts ticking the bomb and shit happens

Tap water is the devil it’s only okay in coco grows I’ve found anyway. Organic grows need rain water and a good soil that’s already in the correct ph range for your plant if using an old rain storage tank I highly recommend buying a bottle of hydrogen peroxide 12% and treating the tank before hand it will be good to use the next day the peroxide will have all turned back into water by then. as for good ph pens I’ve found the cheap ones get the job done it’s the storage of the pens you need to focus on get yourself some ph storage solution and store the pen after you use it as the the dried up minerals fuck with the probe readings. Hope this helped happy growing

The thing about organic soil is that you need microbial activity to keep ph in proper range for absorption. If your plants are healthy and green you don’t have a ph imbalance. As long as you keep the soil active by adding compost and/or aacts the ph will remain in range. Microbes need fertilizer and mineral inputs to decompose and remain active so it is also the composition of the mix that is related to ph. As long as you have these three things going for you in the mix soil ph will not be of concern. Whenever my plants start to look sad an ewc tea or top dress helps them bounce right back.