ph problem again...but found culprit??

[fishens]

o.k. third time to post same problem...PH..I am beginning to hate ph..lol..It keeps ending up high..near 8. Except now after reading page after page after page after page in the forums, I think I know what is causing it. My organic potting soil has a lot of bark in it, which after all that reading, I know is not good. Now they have been in flower for a week and only once did I have to move the lights and that was very little. That is what made me check the ph again cause no growth =no good. So here is my question: can I just sift the soil I have and remove the bark and repot these with that soil?(I know not good to repot in flower, but it has only been a week and they aren't growing) Thanks is advance and Stinky if you are around stop and tell me what to do. thanks

[fishens]

o.k. third time to post same problem...PH..I am beginning to hate ph..lol..It keeps ending up high..near 8. Except now after reading page after page after page after page in the forums, I think I know what is causing it. My organic potting soil has a lot of bark in it, which after all that reading, I know is not good. Now they have been in flower for a week and only once did I have to move the lights and that was very little. That is what made me check the ph again cause no growth =no good. So here is my question: can I just sift the soil I have and remove the bark and repot these with that soil?(I know not good to repot in flower, but it has only been a week and they aren't growing) Thanks is advance and Stinky if you are around stop in and tell me what to do. thanks

[fishens]

ok i can see yall out there...lol...just a yes or no..can you sift out the bark and use the soil? thanks again

[stinkyattic]

Repotting in flower IS good- I do it during week 3, when stretch is over, and I go through and look at my plants and see who looks like she's going to finish too big for her pot.
I don't know anything about the bark component of potting soils- if there's bark, it should be well composted and pretty well ground up. Are you sure that's not a bagged mix being packaged as 'top soil'?
Honestly if you suspect your soil sucks, instead of trying to make it not suck (which more than likely won't work or be more trouble than it's worth), why don't you run out and grab a bag of pro-mix potting soil or even just regular potting soil (no extra nutes though!). That will get you through to harvest anyway and you can go back to mixing your own from better ingredients next round if you like DIY media, or go shopping for a new type of bagged mix.

[fishens]

Thanks Stinky for stopping by...I have been going in circles with this ph problem. I thought it was the bark, but I was yet wrong again. My ph is high and after doing even further reading I see too much bark causes it to lower. I just got some more ph strips. My others expired last year and I guess they weren't too accurate. My tap water that I thought was 7 appears to be over 8. So it was me hurting my gals. tommorow I will get ph down and just add it to every feed to adjust ph. Is that what you would do in this case? It appears my soil is o.k. And they are starting to show sex, even though they haven't done any stretching (about 2"/7days), so do you think once I can get the ph right they will still do a stretch? I believe out of 3 I have 1 male, 1 female, and one unknown. I will wait a few more days to pull the male (just to make sure). Thanks again Stinky...I have read pages of your advice and you ROCK!!

[Greenthing]

Hi Fishens,
What are you using to test your PH ?

[fishens]

hey Greenthing
Agugrow ph strips. Do you know if they are acurate?

[Greenthing]

hey Greenthing
Agugrow ph strips. Do you know if they are acurate?
I have two PH meters and they both give me different readings, i was just thinking a faulty meter may have been your problem.
I dont know about Agugrow ph strips as i have never seen them in the uk.:)

[fishens]

I had one that you stick down in the soil, but that didn't seem accurate at all plus once roots were forming, I didn't want to stick anything thru them. This one saids to use soil in a little vial, but I test the runoff with it. I don't know.. maybe that doesn't work right either.. Never even checked ph a few years ago when I first grew a couple of plants. I guess I just got lucky cause they turned out great. It is a WEED for petes sake..I usually have no trouble growing weeds.lol.

[Greenthing]

I have a friend that grows in soil and he dont bother with PH he says he has no problems with PH when in soil.:)

[stinkyattic]

Well great... your friend is one of the lucky ones. We all will face pH problems at some point. It's simply a matter of time, and it's good to be prepared! Soooo.... here ya go!

Here's a pH testing tutorial I slapped together:
http://boards.cannabis.com/plant-problems/153522-soil-runoff-ph-why-how-do.html

I like having a backup test kit. I use liquid indicator, which is pretty darn foolproof. If I had a meter, I'd still check it against the indicator every time I calibrated. If you don't feel like mucking about with buffers and calibration, stick with strips or liquid.

Also, potting-up to the next pot size on a regular schedule, using fresh soil and not making a HUGE jump in size all at once, will often keep pH troubles at bay for longer.

[fishens]

Yes Stinky, I read that a while back very informative. That is when I started checking runoff. My plants were having problems and apparently my ph testing was also. Now the plant itself has a healthy appearence, but as stated before, in flower for 7 days and only have grown 2". Hence the new ph test strips to discover my tap water over 8. Once I get it under control with ph down, do you think my plants will start their stretch? thanks again

[stinkyattic]

I don't know how much your particular plants will stretch- the 3 main factors are strain, light spectrum, and night/day temp swing. But any increase in quality of their care will translate to an increase in vigor and health. Good luck.

[Greenthing]

Well thats a friend who is not to botherd about his grow, ruff and ready is what he is.
I myself have had loads of probs when i first started with NFT and rockwool blocks untill i found out that you had to soak the rockwool in PH water for a good few hours, after that everthing was fine and dandy. ;)