PH problems with soil

Hello RIU,
I am having soil PH problems. This is over my head. I have fox farm ocean forest soil. It comes ph balanced. I have been adjusting my PH levels of my water (and nute mix) to 6.3 or so. Not perfect with PH dye method, but consistent. I tested my runoff a week ago and it was 5.0. I stopped adjusting my levels on my water that is at 7. It climbed to 5.5 over a week of this. I had some nute burn on a couple of plants so I flushed with fox farm sledge hammer at 2tsp/gallon. After the flush I added a bit more water and tested my runoff and it's at a 5.2 PH level. How do I fix this problem and what is the cause? I am lucky and my plants are doing great, but I do see yellowing on a few and yellow spots on a couple on the oldest leaves. I would appreciate any help with this.

Thank you all,
Smokey McSmokerton

Yellowing leaves are generally a sign of nitrogen deficiency but is also common in the later stages of flowering when your plants use their nitrogen reserves to produce buds. When growing in soil, the soil and water supply should stay within the range of 6.5 to 7.0 so I think you're a bit acidic. I would recommend after you mix your nutes into your next watering, test the PH, use PH up to adjust a bit on the base side say 7.2 or so, do this until you have corrected the problem. After that try to stay in the correct range.

Any idea how it got lower? I have tested and adjusted every drop going in there until the problem was noticed. I'm kind of at a loss. It's like the PH down I used to adjust my ph worked overtime once it hit the soil. I don't know, I'm lost here.

what are you saying in soil you should hve ph @ 6.4 to 7.0 but inreality you should be running it 6.8 - 7.0 the yellowing is prob caused my low ph locking out N and Mag

i don't use fox farms soil...overpriced and i have gotten the same results with a half dozen other soils that are much cheaper...from miracle grow to sunshine #4 ....the two times i used fox farms i had the same problem...ph too low in soil....i fixed it by adding baking soda to my water. teaspoon per gallon of h2o...good luck

if the soil ph is below 6.4 it causes lockouts...if above 7.2 same thing

lighting said:

what are you saying in soil you should hve ph @ 6.4 to 7.0 but inreality you should be running it 6.8 - 7.0 the yellowing is prob caused my low ph locking out N and Mag

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I was going for 6.3-6.5, but 6.8 is good to know. I just don't know how it "drops itself". If the soil started at 6.5 and I have added nothing but 6.3-6.5 water then how is it dropping? How hard is hydroponics to run? Atleast I can keep my ph straight if I do that. And I'll probably end up with root rot, lol

i have a pH problem in that don't have a meter or the strips. strips are cheap enough but consumable. does anyone recommend a good (and affordable) pH meter for soil?

Don't buy the rapid test soil meter off amazon. It's only $6 but you may as well wipe your ass with that $6 bc no matter what you test with it you get 6.2

The ph dye stuff works well and it's cheap

i grow in fox farms ocean forest as well, have been for the last 3 or so years now, and have never, not a once checked the run off for ph..

i tend to think that people get all jammed up when it comes to ph, especially when it comes to soil grows.. i have now gotten to the point that i no longer even ph my nutes or water, and don't run into any issues doing so..
ever since reading a member on here stating that he has never even owned a ph meter, and seeing the trees that fdd2black grows without one, i have adopted his theory and have had good results doing so...
so unless one is growing in a soiless mix or hydro, i usually suggest not to worry at all about ph, and i am willing to bet that they cut out many problems from their grows...

thanks...i'll use that.. .and woohoo...i am now "Able to Roll"

artemisia said:

thanks...i'll use that.. .and woohoo...i am now "Able to Roll"

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LOL... Congrats friend!

Thanks racerboy. Going by the amount of posts you have I'm gonna go ahead and guess your speaking with experience, lol.

well i always ph my tap water to see what i am working with initially ...have lived in 3 homes in the last 7 years and all with varying ph from 7.2-8.9...so not testing is just dumb imo...now if i never checked the ph of my most recent place i would have been fine because it was almost neutral ..but that would be taking a big chance that after a month i would have to fix many problems...and no offense to to fdd but a chimpanzee could grow trees in cali with a card ..it really is not that hard

Do you think PH adjusters could hurt the soil? What about an inch layer of perlite at the bottom of the pot I put for drainage? I also mixed 20% perlite into ffof soil. Just a thought. This is driving me crazy!

I'm wondering if the accuracy of the runoff water is accurate

perlite is neutral...perlite is not the problem

Ok. Thanks Corso