How does perlite effect PH?

[McDanger]

I am no expert, but your plants look good. If you want to lower it a little, to say 6.5 or 6.4 I think that would be OK. I am not sure you need to though.Sorry, no pics. I read a lot of posts today.

[8182KSKUSH]

Update,
After significant reading, I found some info.
On another forum I found someone with the exact same issue. Although fflw is supposed to be ph balanced to 7.0, it appears that it is not uncommon for it to come in a little higher.
I have decided to not flush, but over water, (do a half assed flush) for the next few waterings with ro h2o ph @ 6.0- 6.2, I tried this today and was able to get my runoff readings down to 7.0 from 7.2. From what I gather the fflw, will in time come down, and that it has, um shit I don't remember now, but it is something that helps buffer or keep the soil around 7. Eventually I am guessing this will run out with a few more pseudo flushs. Again, the plants don't appear to be suffering from anything that I can see, and since they are so young, from what I understand they are getting all their nutritional needs from themselves at the moment so I am not really sure if any of this is an issue to worry about. Just the same though, I will work on getting my runoff readings down to around 6.5ish. That would put my soil around where it needs to be I think, please correct me if I am wrong!
Also is there any harm in watering with 6.0 for seedlings considering where the ph of the soil is currently? I hope not!
On a side note, has anyone had any experience with ro h2o ph raising a half point to a point? I was under the impression that ro h2o should be more stable once it is ph'd. Any thoughts?

[stinkyattic]

you are on the right track. I would not go any lower than 6.0 for your 'flush' water, and now you'll just want to maintain a watering schedule at 6.7 or so, which should keep you right where you need to be until the lime in your bagged dirt is used up. That's the most common reason to see what you had been seeing in the past, which is a DROP in pH over time- the lime raises soil pH and keeps it close to neutral. When it is gone, the component acting most on the pH is the peat itself, which is acidic. There's another explanation in the 'continuous canopy' sticky which has an FAQ link embedded in it somewhere.
You will be fine. Now on top of all this, remember that if you are flushing a lot, you need great drainage and air flow around your plants so they don't end up waterlogged.

[8182KSKUSH]

Thank you so much Miss Mam!
Hopefully the soil ph issue will be resolved after a couple more HAF (half assed flushes) with the 6.0, if it goes down .2 every time! This has inspired me to go ahead and get the ffof mixed with the rest of the fflw I have, add some lime, and get it tested and ready for it's eventual use. I really misunderstood soil runoff, so ideally you really want your runoff coming out @ about 6.5ish or so, that's good to know. That kinda explains some stuff that happened last time! Poor plants. Oh well they are all dead and gone now!
Aww Drainage, yes. You would be proud! Not only of the drainage for the cups that they are currently in, but of the table that they are on! I got these handy dandy plastic storage shelf things that you just put together to, store shit on, well anyway, I took 3 of them and put the legs on so they are all side by side. They have like maybe half inch slots all through the shelf thing, so instead of having my cups, and in the future pots sitting in those damn dishes, they are just sitting on top of the "make shift table that is supposed to be a 5 level shelf. I got some panda plastic and made a sweet tray that the legs are in so that when my cups/pots drain, the runoff just falls straight down and collects about 2 ft away from the bottoms of the pot/cups so they aren't sitting in any water at all! Of course extra extra holes in everything in the bottoms and up the sides! And it is so easy to just sop up the runoff and wipe it clean. I may get to play around with a scrog in the future too, the legs are hollow, and I can easily just drop in some poles that will allow me to tie a screen on. It's pretty sweet really, might not sound that cool but it is to me. I made it with my hands and it works!
Now if I could get a handle on my damn temps! That's one good thing I guess, I'm running right at 85* so in those small cups with all the excellent drainage I have, they dry out in like 2 maybe 3 days tops! Where as before.......ug. Anyway thanks again to you and everyone really, so much good info here this place is a friggin' gold mine!:thumbsup:
Eventually I will hopefully be able to post a grow log, once this is all said and done anyways. I am keeping a good journal now, and collecting all the pics, so after it's all said and done I will put it together in 1 nice shot as a tribute to you and all the other wise growers here. Hopefully it turns out well!
But really, the table is sweet!

[veggii]

hey kush I found this website on perlite P.H 7 neutral
www.perlite.net

[8182KSKUSH]

Thank you. I believe everyone that it's neutral.
I am still having mixed issues, a few are still coming out around 7.0, a most are still anywhere between 7.2 - 7.5ish, I am getting pissed. I think Now also getting some what appears to be burning? WTF, it's fflw, I don't know how that's happening, I am not adding any nutes, just extremely low ph'd ro, around 6.0- 6.3ish, so I don't know if the low ph'd water could cause this, or if it is in fact due to nutes in the soil. They all still look fairly healthy, but I am just going to throw up my hands on this one, don't really want to flush again, (3rd time), hopefully the lime will work itself out. If not, they will be re-potted sometime within the next month, so maybe that will help things a little. Thanks again for the help folks.

[veggii]

yes its gotta be soil!! its too hot!! I've been using fish emulsion and the ph after mixing is orange!! low!! needs yellow, but everything looks ok no burning, gonna get some ph up or use baking soda I hear works as ph up.
check in my picture album got some info in there, work in progress

[stinkyattic]

Yeah that fish glop is mad acidic. Be real careful with Sodium bicarb- you don't want sodium around your grow. Adding LIME to the soil mix instead does the same thing, without the sodium. It's Calcium carbonate instead of Sodium bicarbonate, and plants LOVE their calcium! It should be considered a 'macro' nute for how important it is, IMVHO... lol!

[ddxsinxcosxdx]

Adding LIME to the soil mix instead does the same thing, without the sodium. It's Calcium carbonate instead of Sodium bicarbonate, and plants LOVE their calcium!

Do you just dice up a bunch of limes when you transplant and mix them in?

[stinkyattic]

Haha! Cute!
That would be ACIDIFYING the soil lol! Save the limes for your Tall Cool Ones.
Lime in the gardening sense would be pulverized limestone, or Calcium carbonate. It comes pre-mixed in a lot of soils [ most] and can also be purchased bagged if you need to add more.
I just added a link to my siggy that has a long post about all this stuff... gimme a sec... it hasn't updated yet.