ph problem.(i have evidence)

[TheXFactor]

i bought a nice ph pen... tap water i have is 7.4-7.6.... the run off on a few of my plants are around 7.8... thats after i added some adjusted 6.6 ph water...

things look okay, in that, i feel they could and should be worse with a 7.8 runoff.. but things again seem to have halted, aND I have a few claw leafs, some discoloring, of greens, yellowing leaves, and branch stems.. some holes in the growing leaves.. some burn looking spots, but overall still looking healthy... sorry no pics at this time..

but how do i lower the PH of the soil from 7.8 to atleast 7. if i have to flush i will but i dont.. im using happy frog soil, which is organic and can become very dense. and i dont want to use tap water anymore as i was reading that can make organic soils dificult to work with, especially with the cloramine....

[TheXFactor]

bump

i ended up kinda flushing 2 with 6.9-7.0 tap water, with 1 gallon per 3 gallon pot. to finish with a run off of 7.1...


i might have shocked them but well see.. at least i know nutrients are available. or should be atleast.

[Wobster]

You're gonna need to flush with water with a lower ph value than u want to achieve. 6.4 is good for soil so if your water is ph 7.4 you need to adjust it down to about ph 6. Flush through keeping an eye on the runoff ph value. When you reach the desired ph... adjust the water you use for feeding to the desired ph value every feed. I keep a large container of water so Im not messin around with the ph too often

[PlainJane]

My soil tends to bring my pH down ever so slightly. Different soils, different chemistry. Lowering your watering pH down past 6.5 can be harsh, and depending on what you are lowering it with, it could damage the microherd. Don't do anything in the extreme. Take it eeeeeeasy. :jointsmile:

My nutes (BioBizz) bring my pH down, but earlier in veg when I wasn't using any nutes I lowered my pH with a dab of phosphoric acid. You have to be careful with that stuff. Cider vinegar is probably safer. I took my pH from 7.5 to 6.8 and that brought my run-off water to about 6.5-6.6. Now my nutes do it for me and I don't have to bother.

Your mileage may vary but this is my experience and my jab at it.

Be sure you are not over-watering, droopy claw leaves and odd spots/colouration could be because of that, but it is hard to know without a photo and more information. Fill out the troubleshooting form (http://boards.cannabis.com/plant-problems/127058-troubleshooting-form-yay-you-know-you-wanted-one.html) if you do want more help with this.

Much luck.

[Wobster]

Good point about nutes. If you make up a tub of feed water, your best adding the nutes before getting your ph right. I use Biobizz nutes aswell and they lowered the ph as Plainjane says. I still had to add a tiny amount of phosphoric acid (ph down) as my tap water is about 7.5. I tried cider vinegar at first but strange things happened. It would lower the ph, but as the days went by the ph value of my solution began to creep up again until it was back where I started. That was only with cider vinegar tho. Dunno why. Phosphoric acid worked fine though.