Well I went and lowered my pH to far after adding nutes thx @blackthumbbetty lol.
So anyway sitting here with 6.1 pH, looked up natural remedies, suggested baking powder for plant water, 1/2 teaspoon in 2 gallons raised it to 6.53
Just wondering if anyones used this before?
Baking powder or baking soda?
Oops Soda.
6.1pH of runoff or nutes before feeding?
I haven’t used baking soda to raise pH, but from what I understand it’s ok in a pinch but not a good idea to use regularly. It’ll build up in the soil and cause problems.
I actually got 6.5 in my ro , but yes I used 1/2 teaspoon baking soda , got to be more careful with the pH down, never really measure, but figured out 1/4 teaspoon increments.
Be careful using pH down, then going too low and using something to bring it up. It brings up your ppms and can lead to problems.
Sometimes it’s best just to toss your screw up and start fresh.
The healthiest plants I’ve grown were outdoors with good soil and nothing but clean water. It gets complicated indoors when we control everything.
Next time, just start over or add tap water to buffer it back up. I know it’s a waste, but adjusting down then back up (and vice versa) isn’t the best thing to do.
Thanks @DrinkSlinger and @blackthumbbetty…thinks for the heads up on not doing the pH yo yo, next time I’ll add slowly so not to drop to low, or toss out.
I actually have used it, when I screwed up and added too much vinegar. Doesn’t hurt every now and then. In my experience, my tap water is usually around 8.0, so adding vinegar carefully gets me down to the desired pH (5.8 in my case). I think pHUp and phDown are unnecessary products retailers want us to buy when dirt cheap household stuff like vinegar and lemon juice to go down, or baking soda to go up, work fine.
And yes, I have a degree in Biology and have made pH buffers in a medical research lab setting.
My first grow I did use lemon juice to lower my pH and I made it to harvest, my grow was light and fluffy in my opinion but I did alot of other things I know of that that contributed to that , light issues, no ppm readings etc,
It does make u think on these chemicals we’re useing, I mean I don’t know what’s in pH up/down
That makes it work, and I know some growers make there own natural soil that they never have to add anything, do I know it’s possible, I will have to research this more, I did read people didn’t care for the baking soda in there resivors because they say after a few days it wears off and pH goes back up, Idk, but it work for me, I only let my water sit 3-4 hours with nutes while aerating.
I appreciate your input, @1BigFella thanks for sharing your experience.
I Have used baking soda and lemon juice or vinegar to do ph of water for 2 or 3 years with no problems at all i use ph up and ph down now because it seems easier and takes less to raise or lower it. The is a green house by me that is all they use big jugs of vinegar and a case of baking soda for growing food and fruit trees with. Generally any thing that makes corn or tomatoes grow good will work for weed.
Thanks for sharing this with us, I totally by that, right down to mother nature, my mom was a garden growing fool until she couldn’t keep it up, a real grn thump, myself on the other hand could kill a catus.
Growing this medicine has made me feel like I’m in 9th grade biology again lol it is a learning experience that’s for sure, but I have a background of setting up reef systems and had a good understanding of using Mico bacteria to build the waste filtration within it’s own environment, etc etc, and the longer I’m doing this the more I’m leaning towards going in that direction as soon as I get my coffers caught up
I hate chasing PH. Occasionally, I put in too much ph down…and end up raising ph with baking soda. However, I find using less at a time of ph down…makes my life easier.
Now, if I screw up and get too much down…I dump it all and start over…a little more carefully.
If you’re using tap, add food grade ascorbic acid (vitamin c) to kill chloramine. Only needs 50 mg per gallon, or about an 1/8 of a teaspoon. I think you may have been looking for a base, but this is worthy to know if you find yourself with tap water. Plants dont mind a little C!
Thanks for the tip that’s going right in my book to look up where to get that good grade vitamin c? Do they make it powdered like still gnc ?
You only need to do that if your water utility uses chloramine. Mine uses chlorine and I get so little I have never even bothered to let tap water sit before using it. We water all our plants with tap water and they do fine. As for vinegar and lemon juice, the major components are acetic acid and citric acid respectively. Both totally harmless and part of the normal metabolic pathways.
I read some folks use dilute sulfuric acid (battery acid from the auto parts store). Much more dangerous, but it seems to work okay. pH up and down are probably potassium phosphates. Monobasic and dibasic give you a mild acid and a mild base. Mix the two together and you have a pH buffer that is anywhere from pH 5 to pH 8.5, depending on the proportions. Plants like phosphates. It’s a normal part of any fertilizer.
My experience with baking soda is it tends to cause a buildup in the soil but can be used once or twice in spare amounts. It will build up quickly and without much notice if it’s used often and it can mimic other conditions which can be confusing to a young grower like me. It also depends on the container size and the type of grow media being used. Sodium carbonate can be used to raise it but only on a one time basis and from using it I don’t recommend it. In addition all the artificial buffers we purchase are caustic and shouldn’t be handled with bare hands. Yep even the hydro stuff and GH products. Caustic to us ? Can’t be good for plants very often and studies show a decrease in harvest when buffers are used extensively even without problems. So what do we do ? Use them all sparingly wear gloves or wash hands and clothing after contact. I use organic soil and in some cases I get nute deficiency and I use a buffer to raise my nute water. The ideal situation is not use any buffers at all. Maybe one day I’ll get there
Not really sure why you don’t just buy gh up and down… I run rdwc and I barely ever use it… pretty cheap from my stand point… I like easy… and simple… just me tho… 
Yeah like that user stated it’s only necessary if your city treats its water with chloramine. Here in Portland that is the case, as I called my water company and just asked. It’s just chlorine bonded to amonia to preserve its gaseous state in water. Vitamin C is less commonly known as Ascorbic Acid at food stores, and yes it’s probably at GNC. Accoring to an article I found, the Ascorbic Acid dissociates chloramine in as little as 4-8 minutes, stir it occasionally; however after reaching equilibrium, residual chloramine reforms ater about 32 hours, so don’t wait overnight. I got mine from Amazon through a company called Bulk Supplements, got a kilo for about 18$ I believe it was. Shouldn’t run out for a long time at 50 mg per serving lol.
