Vinegar will also drop the ph. The thing is its growing in soil so personally I’d not bother messing with the ph.
Really? PH only matters with Hydoponics?
Most compost and soil have buffers. In the wild the ph levels don’t get messed with. Adjusting ph to much to often will only lead to further problems. That just my opinion and I’m sure other will disagree with me but it’s a plant and it’s in its “normal” environment so just let it do it’s thing
Did I understand that Baking Soda raises the PH ?
I know vinegar lowers it to neutral,I was not aware of the citric acid use.
Looks like lack nitrogen… you likely used a fast acting nitrogen source like blood meal and have run out… you can top dress with a little more blood meal if you’d like, depending on stage, if it’s in veg I’d add it if in flower only if it’s in the first two weeks.
As for PH if you are in true organic soil just make sure your water is around 6.8-7(this is where most microbes thrive especially nitrogen Fixers) and let the micro life do the rest…
It looks fine to me now. You didn’t say but did this happen not long after putting it in this pot? My plants always seem to have a small adjustment period when I’m changing soil or transplanting in my organic soil. Almost as if they take a minute to start absorbing Nitrogen. I personally just give them a jump start with fish fert then they usually seem to straighten themselves out. Looks like the same here. Either that or the soil ran out of juju and they just needed another feed.
I agree with @Esrgood4u and stopped messing with the ph (I have the opposite problem, super acidic water) and the soil handles that itself. My plants did all kinds of crazy shit when I messed with the ph levels outside. Since I started leaving it the hell alone, it’s much better.
Whatever it was it seemed to straighten out. Happy Growing and magical green thumb juju to ya!
Sorry @Desertdiva for not explaining better.
PH down is a very strong acid that will lower ph by adding millilitres to 10 litres of water. It is not only for hydroponic growing. If you don’t have that, use citric acid, available in stores with canning supplies or pharmacies or Amazon. (I don’t like vinegar except in salad dressing )
Last year I had to get PH DOWN because where I grew, the water was 8.3ph.
For bringing ph up, use baking soda, a household item.
I would not mix nutrients in my water reservoir (230 litres) because of fear that it might spoil in hot weather. Some of the modern nutrients have to be mixed and used immediately.
Last year, (my first grow) I had a serious nutrients lockout due to my city water and being a noob I had no idea about ph etc. and growing pot in general.
They were transplanted 3-4 weeks ago and took off like rockets.
At first I was using the Blumat carrots for drip watering. Now I hand water out of a bucket. I might have put too much of the lava stuff for drainage into some pots, therefore the water runs through quickly and the cloth bag dries from outside in the wind…
Do you guys grow in pots or in prepared soil? I got 2 plants in soil, they seem to be doing just great.
I try not to fiddle too much because I don’t want to get into complex problems, that I created myself lol.
Thanks to you all for your help and support and Happy Growing.
Love to you all.
Most of this years grow is directly in the ground, but most of my autos are in fabric bags with an organic soil. I amended all the soil in my backyard late winter after a soil test. So mostly it’s water and sit back and watch.
My current grow is here… Meesh's 2019 Outdoor Grow Show - #615 by Meesh
I grow in pots because my farm is in indoors… but now that we’re 100% legal I may start to experiment with sun grown and light dep… after I get this indoor running smoothly
good job they look healthy
How much citric acid to how much water to lower the PH in my soil, I misunderstood what I was told and mixed baking soda with water and itraised the PH from 7 to 8. I am wanting 6.5
@Desertdiva, Why don’t you re-read my answer to you 6 posts above and think about it.
I really explained it in details. You only need CITRIC Acid added in small quantities.
Phosphoric acid is very dangerous, use with extreme care…rubber gloves and glasses. But it’s the best as @vernal explained.
Citric acid will lower pH but isn’t as stable as mineral acids like nitric or phosphoric (phosphoric is the gold standard pH down). Phosphoric acid or nitric acid is also nutritive, it’s an available source of phosphorous/nitrogen, respectively. Citric will lead to pH swings.
Baking soda will temporarily raise pH, but is again less stable than potassium hydroxide (again, also a nutritive source of potassium), and is really better suited for raising alkalinity (resistance to pH change). It’s also too much sodium for plants, they need very little sodium, it’s a micronutrient, using it to raise pH can potentially lead to problems. I use silica for pH up. Available K and plants love the silica (stronger stems/leaves/flowers).
Thanks, I think I will just leave them alone other than a very small amount of the citric acid in the water they receive since my water tests at 7. This is very much like being a new Mother for the first time, next year I should have it all down.
Growing in soil is like cooking in those t.v infomercials. “Just set it and forget it!” but honestly the soil will adjust itself unless you over water or over feed. Nutrient lockout happens in hydroponics because you are the media regulator. In soil there are microbes that do it for you. But if you kill the regulators with too much water or nutrients you plant will look “deficient” because the roots are dying/dead. Your plants look like they just needed a bit of a feed. Looking good now man
@Desertdiva I agree with @_randomguyinthewoods LITFA! Soil will buffer itself! Don’t mess with it.
Are you talking about garden soil or store bought soil?
I honestly don’t know how much difference there is between the two, but last year I successfully locked the nutrients out (over a period of few months) in which the plants used up the nutrients in the soil (and me locking them with de-chlorinated tap water of 8.3ph) and suddenly I was looking at plants that didn’t grow= 7 gallon fabric pots until I started to control the ph.
The best is rainwater with “correct” ph = 5.6 and reacts with soil in garden and adjust the soil.
Like I said I had a problem with too high ph that the soil in pots was not able to adjust. This was before I knew that ph really matters in gardening in small pots.
Anyway, that’s my previous experience and was a chain of events like aphids, leaf miners, light pollution, overwatering…lol you name it. Still I did ok for a complete noob.
Sorry for the long post
I think I figured out and hopefully solved the problem.
It was a combination of both. Maybe even more on the water side. It’s so hot here, with hot wind blowing, those black fabric pots dry out in one day/night.
I water early in the morning. With nutrients.