UpNorth

Are you growing in soil or hydro?

Soil is 6.3-6.8 (I believe) and hydro is 5.3-6.0ish.

Read the grow faq if you haven't already and watch some of those free vids on youtube.

Also, don't mix your PH products. If you used PH down and it wen too far down just use plain water to bring it up instead of PH up.

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Something clever...

bluecheese

I have read here that baking soda is bad for your plants - it can kill them. I forget which element is bad. But do not add it!

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cheese

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steward

Im trying to grow on normal potting soil. ill go hydro when i have more room

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indicapro

HESI plant nutrients makes the best ph adjuster products out there they are ultra potent and have a seperate ph down for veg(nitric acid) and for bloom (phosphoric acid). always dilute ph adjusters to less than 10% of the original strength out of the bottle.

eleaf

I too just read that somewhere. DO NOT USE BAKING SODA TO BRING pH UP. Just buy some pH up, it's not that expensive and it goes a long way so it should last a long time.

IslandSwTSativa

thanks for seconding me.. why would you dilute the pH adjuster to only 10% potency?



1 gal (8.0pH calcium hardness 45ppm) takes roughly 5 "drops" to adjust to a 7.0, at least here where I'm from.

I've also heard of potassium carbonate raising pH fairly well, without adding much but K.

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adamx

First a quick note on the use of baking soda.
1 word.. DONT.

baking soda = sodium bicarbonate, sodium in anything other than trace amounts is not helpful at all.

As far as ph adjustment, honestly, Ive always used the plain PHup / PHdown kits you get for aquariums.

For almost 2 years I also used the PH adjust kits for aquariums with the indicator solution and little insert card to check your ph.

Tho since I purchased my first PH pen I wont grow without one.

I happen to have a 60+ gallon aquarium, and a few other smaller ones.
The PH-up and PH-down bottles I use for the fishtank, ive always used for hydro setups, and its cheap, effective, readily available.. all kinds of good stuff.

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--adamx

Ask not what your pot can do for you,
But what you can do for your pot.

ILLEGAL-SEED

dont know what ph adjusters your using, but ive tried at least 3 years back and they take way too much to raise it. if i stuck with that i would have spent atleast 100 dollars on ph up in a year.

got some GH ph up powder for 20 dollars and not even halfway through after a couple hundred gallons.

slowthestone

steward, stop shopping pool supplies. There are dozens of 'horticulture supply' and or 'hydroponics supply' stores to shop online.

Personally I prefer either GH or Earth Juice buffers...the price is entirely affordable...and the amount, either wet or dry, lasts ya a long ass time.

GENERAL HYDROPONICS
earth juice natural pH - Google Product Search

adamx

I've used Hagen PH Adjust Up and PH Adjust Down.

Looked up the MSDS safety sheets for em (aparently they dont like to say on the labels or inserts what chemicals they contain, thank god for safety stanrds and full disclosure)

PH Adjust Up Contains:
Potassium hydroxide 8 - 10 %

PH Adjust Down Contains:
Sulfuric acid : 13 - 14 %

I will in the future look into how much of the potassium hydroxide ends up ionicly capable of being processed by the plant. Considering the low concentrations and tiny amounts added to adjust the PH, I doubt this will be of any signifigance.

Sulphuric acid is also one of the few sources of sulphur for your plant that can be added with little to no risk of throwing your other nutrient concentrations out of whack.

<excerpt from delta's raw salt fertilizer thread>
Table 5 - Sources of Sulfur
Fertilizer Name, Total N (Nitrate) (%), P (%), K (%), Mg (%), Ca (%), S (%)
Ammonium Sulfate, 21, 0, 0, 0, 0.4, 24
Calcium Sulfate (Gypsum), 0, 0, 0, 0, 11, 15-18
Magnesium Sulfate (Epsom), 0, 0, 0, 11, 2.2, 14
Potassium-Magnesium Sulfate, 0, 22, 0, 0, 12, 28
Potassium Sulfate (Potash), 0, 0, 60, 0, 0, 18
Superphosphate (normal), 0, 20, 0, 0, 0, 12
Superphosphate (triple), 0, 20, 0, 0, 0, 12
Sulfuric Acid, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 20-23

Also Potassium Hydroxide is another great source of nutrients for the plant

Table 3 – Sources of Potassium
Fertilizer Name, Total Potassium (K+) (%)
Muriate of Potash (KCl), 60-62
Potassium Sulfate (K2SO4), 50
Potassium Nitrate (KNO3), 45 (12N)
Potassium Hydroxide (KOH), 70

So all in all, im sticking with this stuff, other than that getting ahold of your own potassium hydroxide and sulphuric acid in higher concentrations, and diluting with distilled water. (very carefully, google caustic/corrosive chemical handling procedures).

As far as the price is concerned, you can get 16oz bottles online for a little over $10 plus shipping.
I ran a 60L hydro system for 5 months with a single set of 4oz bottles, and still have about 1oz left of ph down and 2oz of ph up. If you find you need alot of ph adjustment, you may want to look @ your choice of nutrients. Sometimes its worth the effort to find extra sources of N/P/K that are both acid and alkali so you can adjust the PH and top up nutrients at the same time. No easier way to keep balance than to use one nutrient to counteract/balance the other.

I personally perfer to avoid the "contains no phosphates or nitrates" versions of ph adjusters. Whatever acid/alkali substances they're use'n.. I'd rather stick with the ones my plants can eat.

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--adamx

Ask not what your pot can do for you,
But what you can do for your pot.