ph, the "correct" range

I've heard alot of stuff here and there, but I can never get a definite answer for this question.

What should the ph be? I've heard 5.1 - 5.8, 5.2 being optimal.

Local hydro shop owner says at those ph's, rockwool actually "melts??" Is this true?

He's telling me to keep it 5.8 - 6.8, aiming for 6 and 6.3 being optimal.

This is my problem.

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Water: Distilled
Nutrient: DNF Bloom A+B
Additives: DNF Bloom Fortifier, DNF Gold & DNF CARBOLOGIC
System: ebb & flow, 4-inch rockwool

I use a soil-less mix and like 6.3. I vary about .2 in either direction.

Peace, Farmer Rich

Thanks Rich, and for the speedy reply as well.

1-0 shop owner

i have been growing now for 18 years and have used diffrent grow mediums,at the moment i am soil less.and have messed with ph a great deal looking for better results.in my experience 5.5-6.2 is fine not below this and not over this,certain strains like different phs but i always go as close to 5.5 as i can and have gained better results from this.
good luck mate i hope this helps

my dirt runs about 6.8 and my soilless hits aroud 6.2. i think hydro guys may run a lil lower not sure though.
and i would stop the distilled water unless ur nutes offer calcium and magnesium. tap is usually fine i let mine chill for a day before i use it so the chlorine can evap as not to kill microbes

lol, well I was sort of hoping you'd side abit more with the other oppinion to ease my concience but YES, yes it does. Much appreciated.

1-1

Quote:

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Originally Posted by phatsesh101

my dirt runs about 6.8 and my soilless hits aroud 6.2. i think hydro guys may run a lil lower not sure though.
and i would stop the distilled water unless ur nutes offer calcium and magnesium. tap is usually fine i let mine chill for a day before i use it so the chlorine can evap as not to kill microbes

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spot on distiled water you must use calmag

im growing hydro,im telling you hit 5.5 you will see the difference.

stop using distilled water? Bloom A has 2.3% calcium but neither indicated magnesium. I assume my three additives would be enough.

The shop owner also said it would be fine with that water as well as the nutes I was using. None-the-less, I could use any info submitted, thank you.

One thing I'm a little farfetched about it the mixing directions. I mix 5ml each of A & B per liter of water. It says I should aim for 1400, but by following those directions I get a ppm of just over 650, then the additives brings it up to about 750-800.

Should I double the ammount of nutes specified?

do your plants look as if they are lacking anything,as your plants will give you all the answers,but i would increase a bit at a time.and your plants willl give you all the answers.

Yes, they have life...but there's no BANG. But there's more confusion about the ph values though.

Thanks again for the input.

heres a graph that might be helpful

I've seen this graph before and brought it up to the owner, but he is still adamant about aiming for 6, 6.3 being optimal.

According to that chart, there are both benefits to 5.5 and 6.3, but which direction is better?

Hey Immortal,

I wouldn't make this too hard. I did see earlier in the thread the comments about dropping the distilled water. Couldn't agree more.. If you're drinking the water, the plants are going to be fine. I would recommend that you do let your water sit in open containers at least 24 hours before you add nutes and/or balance the pH. This will allow any chlorine to evaporate and allow the pH to stabilize before you tweak it.

Stay in the low 6's and you'll be fine!

Peace, Farmer Rich

Hey Rich, thanks again for the input on the subject.

As for dropping the distilled water, this I cannot. In my area as well as NY state, we have some real shitty water (not literally speaking ofcourse) and one factor I had to take care of was hard water burn.

I've been using RO and distilled ever since it was the factor which led to a lockout. I did grab a jug of this stuff from Grotek called CAL-MAX. It offers calcium, magnesium and iron which distilled water has relatively nothing of.

My most concern is for the cubes as well. Will rockwool melt in a ph saturation of 5.5? At present, my ph is 6.0+ so I'm not sure what direction I should take.

Thanks.

maybe you should post in the hydro section

I seriously doubt that rock wool cubes will melt as a result of 5.5 pH water.. You could always use rapid root cubes as an alternative if you're worried about it.

Hey Phatesh, feeling a little cranky today? I think it's good to see some activity around this place for a change. You know how these threads tend to take on a life of their own occasionally..

Peace,

Farmer Rich

In 15 yr or so I have never had my rockwool melt and I saw a few extreme alk/acid flux and never saw it melt so I think dude is just speculating the cause of degredation which it does on it's own buy the end of your cycle. I sure wouldnt do a re-veg with it though. Now that is for a hydro setup. If you are refering to a start cube to soilless then dont worry bout it soo much. mixing medium is not at all recomended but that particular combo wont at all be detremental, maybe a little troublesome. Try a peat puck next time. I concur with 5.8-6.3, 5.8 being optimal for hydro IME.

If we are talking hydroponics I've always found that staying between 5.6-6.1 does me peachy. Soil and soil-less mixes are a different story.

You are stating ebb and flow in rockwool......that's hydroponics You most likely SHOULD be using CalMag but I'm not positive there because I'm not really familiar with your nutes and some seem to have calcium and magnesium in them and some dont. If yours don't, you'll need to add it. Yes you can use your tap water and if the ph of it remains stable (put some in a cup, adjust with ph up and down, let it sit overnite and see how stable the ph remains. We use RO water (with CalMag) because of ph issues with our own water.

I personally would stick with the distilled and find out if you should be adding CalMag. I am assuming you are using true ph up and down for plants and not something made for aquariums or lemon juice or whatever. That will make a difference over time as well but that's just an aside.

Hi weedhound, thanks for your time.

The DNF Bloom formula I'm using has 2.3% calcium, and the fortifier has 0.5% magnesium. I'm going to try the CAL-MAX at half strength at first and drop my ph to about 5.5.

My ph up and down are from DNF as well, not homemade. I also use Grotek's up and down as well.

Thanks again for your assistance.

Well that sounds like a good plan to me and you are using products for plants....you get double brownie points for that one alone. :)