Hello ilgm🤟
This run was my third run with same soil. And i had runoff ph around 7.5 thru the entire grow. I think it was because of to much silicate.
I grow in peat mos and perlite and i add worm casting before each grow.
For my next run i have bought alot of other things to freshen up my soil. I have bought : worm casting, bat guano, rock dust, kelp mel, calsium sulfate, dolomite lime, biochar, spagnum.
I know i should be careful with the dolomite lime, because it has high ph. So maybe i should not use it at all?
The spagnum has low ph around 5, so it will lower my soil mix ph. But is there something els i can use?
If your wanting to lower it quick, powdered sulfur will do it, but don’t overdo it! In peat, or Promix, the easiest way is to put it in a bucket with lots of holes in sides and bottom and simply flush the peat with 5.8 ph water until it resets your media. I run Promix and perlite and flush and reuse with no issue. If your ph is climbing, don’t add any amendments and water a bit more often, and get good runoff’s. I had an issue of rising ph, it was fixed by raising my feed EC a bit and feeding every watering. The amendments you listed are more for soil, peat is soilless, like hydro and will need a ph of 5.8-6.2.
The guano is acidic. I add cotton seed meal (acidic, slow release) to amends. That will work with the biochar to hold organic acids and help with downward buffering.
Sulfur takes 6+ months to work so not an option. Plus adding sulfites bonds to the calcium and forms gypsum that ends the downwards buffering.
Adding a weekly dose of EM1 will also help to stabilize pH. The microbial source will work in the rhizosphere to balance pH and preform better nutrient cycling.
I use rain water. My rainwater is around 5.6 ph. But can i use that for flushing? Because i think i have read somewhere, that if you use rainwater with ec 0.0. When it goes in the soil the water will automatic adjust to the same ph as the soil is?
RO or no ppm water will self correct to your media ph. When I flush, I use water PHd where I want it and run it through until the media is that ph, that is a reset of your media. You need to add cal mag to get approximately 150 ppm, then your water will PH and can be adjusted and used. Water must contain bicarbonates to hold ph.
Those products focus mainly on nitrogen-fixing bacteria and mycorrhizae. EM-1 is broader. It’s a mixed culture of lactic acid bacteria, yeasts, and phototrophic bacteria. That diversity is what helps with pH drift and organic-matter breakdown.
So it’s not required, but it does add functions your current inoculants don’t cover, especially the acid-producing LAB that help bring and hold pH closer to neutral.
EM-1 helps stabilize pH because it adds active microbes that start breaking down the cottonseed meal and interacting with the biochar.
As they break organic matter down, they release mild organic acids and create a more biologically active soil environment. That biological activity naturally nudges a high pH (like 7.5) downward and helps buffer it so it doesn’t swing around as much.
Cottonseed meal = slow-release food
Microbes break it down and produce slightly acidic byproducts.
Biochar = sponge + buffer
It holds those acids and nutrients, giving the microbes a stable home and helping the soil settle into a more balanced pH over time.
EM-1 = the kick-start
Instead of waiting for native microbes to populate the amendments, EM-1 colonizes everything faster and gets the pH-adjusting biology moving right away.
Most organic growers don’t flush unless the ph dictates it must be done to correct it, then most follow up with a shot of mychos to get the crobes built back fast.
Flushing in organics is pointless because you don’t have all the salts. I can be done for purpose, but it’s a different beast. You add enzymes to help grab and remove toxins or excess nutrients. Flushes are rare since the more water the more the micro heard can move around and consume more nutrients.
You’re not washing away all the microbes. Well, yes, all the ones off the top. Many are fungal, too big, rod shaped, have extremities, etc. so losses in numbers that can be replaced easily.