Potsative Man

With 6.2-6.5 being ideal PH for your h2o solution...(right?!??!?!?!?)

If my plants were begining to flower, would 6.2 OR 6.5 be best? Above or Below?

Also, how much does .5 dif. effect the plant???

It seems every time I water my ph is a little high or low, which side should I stay on?

Keep in mind I can not check the ph of my soil.

Im using earth juice organic ph up/dwn...I don't like the powder, its too flimsy for small adjustments...Thats why I am asking this question.

Any thaughts?

Thanks-

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Pepperpot

Now think about PH and how it affects the plants ability to take up nutes. If you can start at 6.3-6.4 and slowly increase the ph up to 6.8, during flower, you will see a difference in the plants. At 6.3, Nitrogen (N) and Potassium (K) and some micronutrients are readily available to the plants but Phosphorus (P) is not so readily taken up by the plants. At 6.8, Phosphorus (P) is readily taken up but some micros such as iron and manganese are not so available. It's a good balance for the whole cycle of the plant.

You need to be able to check the PH of the soil.

~PP~

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panamajuice

If I remember correcly, flowering is better to keep your pH on the high side: around 6.7---

If you are cheking your pH using the runoff water that comes puring through the holes on the pot after you water, then allow me to tell you that that is not a correct reading of your soil pH.

Soil has a strong boffering capacity, the pH of soil will not change drastically after only one watering... And don´t expect to make that much of a difference in the soil pH by only watering, it takes some time to change.

For example: My soilmix which consist of mostly peat moss that is very acidic, some perlite and limestone to make it a bit more alkaline. I water my plants with a pH of 7.0 all the time, and my soil pH is always around 6.5... Even after month of watering at 7.0, the soil stays at 6.5 throught out the entire grow.

Oh, and when I test the run off water from the pots after watering it shows a extremely low pH... this is why I advise you not to use that as a reference.

I bought some peace of mind once I got my soil pH tester, it cost me 70.00 dolars but it was worth it.

this is the one I got

h t t p : / / rosemania . com /shopsite_sc/store/html/product100.html

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jamesgang

... From StOney...

JG

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Potsative Man

Thank you fellow growers

That helped me out a lot!!!

I should have asked that question 2 months ago...
I was going on less specific information, ohh well.

Peace-

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grass_hopper

Everyone knocks the probe type meters sold inexpensively at garden shops but having been a dirty grower of many different types of plants I can tell you they work fine as long as they're well cared for, which includes cleaning the probe tip before every use with a scrubby pad. The probes are the best way to measure pH in the root-zone, where it matters. they're no good for water, though.

.5 fluctuation will not harm your plants and as Stoney's grid shows, some pH drift is good. But it should be incremental and slow.

Measure soil and water pH separately and try to get both as close to your target as possible. Don't rely on one to try to cancel out the other or you'll run into problems.



Hope this helps.

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Potsative Man

The probe meter I got, came broken

Along with the moister meter

Both were probe type...

Time to order somthing digital, I like digital.

This PH stuff is a little more time consumng than I had first anticipated...

I need to hone my methods, for sure.

Thanks again-

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Lizzie Borden

I agree with those who have said measuring water, nutrient solutions and/or runoff pH are not accurate methods of testing soil pH.

Here are some links to studies testing the (un)reliability of different soil pH probes:

http://ipcm.wisc.edu/wcm/pdfs/2004/PetersJune2.pdf

"Even though this was not a highly scientific study, is clear that the accuracy and resultant value of pH measurements taken in the field are subject to a tremendous amount of potential variability. It can not even be stated with much confidence that an in-field test can give a reliable assessment of whether a field has a relatively high vs. low soil pH."

http://www.joe.org/joe/2001august/tt3.html

"Despite careful attention to moistening the soil and shining the tip of pH test probes, all four probes read 6 in limed and non-limed soils."

"All in-field pH test methods, except the test probe, produced satisfactory measurements of soil pH as compared to results from 82 laboratories testing the same soils"

"A soil probe that was inserted into moist soil in plots provided poor response to soil pH and is not suitable for diagnosis of soil pH problems."

Here is the soil pH testing method I use (used to be online at http://ag.udel.edu/extension/informa...c/chap3-95.htm but not anymore):

Soil pH Procedures

Equipment:
pH meter with appropriate electrode(s).
Electronic balance or standard, 5 cm3 stainless steel scoop.
Pipettes or automatic dispensers.
1-oz. paper cups or equivalent.

Reagents:
Distilled or deionized water.
Standard buffer solutions for calibrating pH meter, usually pH 4.0 and pH 7.0.

Procedure:

Calibrate the pH meter over the appropriate range using the standard buffers.
Scoop 5 cm3 (or weigh 5 g) of sieved, air-dried soil into a paper cup. See Chapter 2 for details on soil sample preparation and scooping technique.
Add 5 mL distilled or deionized water to the sample.
Stir vigorously for 15 seconds and let stand for 30 minutes.
Place electrodes in the slurry, swirl carefully, and read the pH immediately. Ensure that the electrode tips are in the slurry and not in the overlying solution.

meonorph

Where's chapter 2 brindie, you were going to explain propper soil sampling procedures?


Neomorph<->

meonorph

found the link http://ag.udel.edu/extension/agnr/pd...g/CHAP3-95.pdf

Neomorpg <->