soil ph

so i water my plants with 7.0 ph water, tested the drainage water and its 4.7!! do i raise ingoing water by 2.3?

no, no, no, no. First off you should be watering with around 6.3 ph water. I would guess that something was off on your reading though because 4.7 is extremely low, from just draining through your soil. Test the soil directly and then test the run off before it hits your drainage dish and let us know what you get. Did you by chance eat a lemon over your pots, because something must have gotten in your drainage tray to throw the water off that much. Just do the retests and let us know, this way we can figure out where the source of the lower ph is. It is possible I would guess that over the course of many waterings you have washed a lot of lower ph substances out of your soil and so now you have very low ph build up at the bottom of your drainage tray.

we just put them in new soil... my ph probe must be off, we will do tests again. i dont have a way to test the soil though. What should the ph of regular tap water be at?

are you using miricle grow? it has an extremly low pH. I not sure what it is, sorry. If the readings are accurate you should raise the pH using baking soda. You want the pH of the soil to be at 6.3 for the best growth. Keep adjusting the pH of the water so your runoff is always around 6.3. Also, if you want to lower the pH use vinegar. good luck

skeevy360 said:

are you using miricle grow? it has an extremly low pH. I not sure what it is, sorry. If the readings are accurate you should raise the pH using baking soda. You want the pH of the soil to be at 6.3 for the best growth. Keep adjusting the pH of the water so your runoff is always around 6.3. Also, if you want to lower the pH use vinegar. good luck

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Do not listen to this dude. Using vinegar or other forms of ph alterers can fuck your plant. They are unstable after a certian period and will widly fluctuate your ph.

Stop being a cheap cunt , buy a liquid ph kit. Soil run off will be hard to maintain as they will have fertilizers in them which will adjust the ph once the water hit the soil.best to flush with ph 6.8 water untill all run off is 6.5.-7.0 .

Also keep an eye on ph cos a fluctuation either way can spell death or at least growth stunting

Vinegar and baking soda wont hurt your plant, and they are easy to find. All they do it addjust the pH of the water you are using. A liquid pH kit is a better option, but you can get the same results from vinegar(acid) and baking soda(base). Whatever you chose the best groth happens at a soil pH of 6.3-6.5.

just watered with phd water 6.4 and again the runoff was 4.7 i used a liquid test kit. i thought soil was easier than hydro, i have a hydro grow too and its doing fine.

Check ur meter(calibrate), or read my journal and see what can happen.