PHing water/nutes

GrowinDad

GrowinDad

Well-Known Member
Great post Nullis. i am curious of your thoughts on what is below. Comes from a thread I started a while back that related here, not trying to hijack the tread. Silky, I never check runoff either unless I think I have an issue. If i know what it is going in and i trust my medium, no need.

"So... we know that if growing in a "soilless" environment, you want to PH to 5.8 or so (I don't grow hydro).

If you are growing in soil, 6.5 or so is the sweet spot.

Is this an all or nothing deal. What exactly makes it a soil grow?

I am not being stupid. I am just not sure what makes soil or at what percent and if a grow medium with less "soil" should thus target a lower PH. Is optimal PH a spectrum from high soil to no soil.

I grow in a mix that is roughly 25% each of potting soil, peat moss, vermiculite and perlite. Potting soil counts as soil. If peat moss does, than 50% at most of my mix is soil. So if no soil is 5.8 and all soil is 6.5, would my plants prefer around 6.15 (splitting the diff to demonstrate 50% soil).

I PH to 6.5 and plants seem happy generally. But this crossed my mind because it seems illogical that we make it black and white.

Thoughts?"
 
ThorGanjason

ThorGanjason

Well-Known Member
dubcoastOGs said:
I've used ocean forest for the last decade. I recently switched to roots organics. I don't bother anymore with mixing my own, and have found the rootsO to be top notch. Anyways, because OceanF is peat based, It has the possibility to drop. Most people report it towards the end of flowering. you could mix a little dolomite lime into your soil now, or topdress it later. I never worried about it.

A little perlite won't hurt. I like to use a layer at the bottom, to lift the dirt a bit. The oceanF dirt could use a little extra. I haven't needed it with the rootsO.

as far as adding nutes go, a gameplan might not hurt, but probably won't help. learn to read what your plants need by the color of their leaves, stems, the direction they're facing, curling, etc, etc.

btw, people often mistake ph problems for Mg deficiencies when using RO water. you will need to supplement Ca and Mg if using RO water.

and I wouldnt bother with flushing when you flip. Maybe another transplant if it's needed, but you want that remaining nitrogen to stick around for a bit into flowering. But they should be fading to yellow if not completely yellow when you harvest. IMO.
Click to expand...
I keep hearing better and better things about people liking the roots 707 soil, I'll probably it out next go around. I use Aurora's roots organics line of nutes in my soil grows and have had great results.
 
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