Hello,
My two ladies have been having some signs of ph problems with spotting and the other looked like N toxicity, but I read up on that and ph issues can cause that also. Correct me if I’m wrong. I just got my PH pen in the mail so I decided to flush my plants and test the run off. I have them in 8.8" pots and I flushed them with a gallon of water. I didn’t want to go over board for my first try at this. I flushed with PHed water at 6.5, assuming the calibration is already correct,and the plant"symph", which was showing the signs of Nitrogen problems had a run off PH of 3.0. As the other one had a runoff PH of 3.1. I am curious to know of what I need to do to fix everything. I know that that is too acidic but I am lost on what I do next I’ve been reading up on it but can’t find anything useful. All the help is greatly appreciated.
Your pen should’ve come with caliibration solution but if your ph is 3 then you should do proper flush which is 3-4 times the volume of pot so if say your pot is 1 gal you rinse your soil with 3-4 gallons of water ph’d accordingly testing ph of run off as you go when it is closer to range 6-6.5 you stop. You can use water with higher ph 7+ to accomplish this but the idea is to rinse any build ups out of soil. I typically do this by saturating soil then letting sit while I move to next pot then after several minutes (this allows salts to dissolve) I rinse through soil with double volume then check ph etc. Don’t stop because soil is drenched the goal is one trauma not repeated traumas during close duration once the soil is drenched it takes time to dry so doing it all at once is always best.
Okay that makes much more since now. I should of done this earlier in the day. It’s like 2AM here, could there be any other alternative to bring the runoff PH up tomorrow or the next watering? I don’t want to drown my plants. Lol
2 things factor first by giving fresh water roots get fresh oxygen second the corrected ph and clean medium encourages the plant to grow more roots and hunt what it needs. Don’t forget to feed at next watering
Would they be ready for a feeding with the ph issue? I ordered lime dolomite today so I could fix the soil ph in a few days. I didn’t know if it would burn them if I fed them with the soul being so acidic. I have not given them nutrients yet ever.
If you did proper flush as I described they will be hungry since it rinses salts and nutrients out of your soil Dolomite lime works to adjust soil but is typically added while mixing your soil but correctly adjusting your watering ph will do the same thing and be needed regardless. Your ladies are at the size where being fed is a good thing just start slow
Okay I’ll start off a 1/4 of what’s recommended. Also I did not do the flush properly. I just watered a gal. Each which was basically just an over watering. That’s why I ordered the lime I didn’t want to stress them even more by doing the right way to flush the next day.
What soil are you growing in? I’m a noob, but that’s a really low pH considering you’ve never fed them. I don’t recommend feeding them till the ph issue is fixed. They can’t absorb much when the pH is out of range. I’m trying to correct a similar issue myself, but my problems start in flower. I just added dolomite lime and it brought my pH from 5.6 to 6.5.
Be sure to get it in powdered form. Don’t get any other lime.
Sphagnum peat moss is what my media is mixed with perlite. I hope you don’t mind but did you mix the lime with water to bring the ph up? Or how does that stuff work @thereisnothinginmycloset?
If I recall your original problem was over watering this will cause ph issue as roots stress but in a moss perilite mix you want your ph slightly lower than in regular soil it will raise ph simply by raising the ph you water with when you get lime stir a bit into soil but not too much.
There is not really an issue it is a simple matter of patience water when pot feels light water from bottom or around sides of pot this encourages roots to seek water and keeps main root mass a bit drier as it gets what it absorbs from surrounding soil giving it chance to dry some. Ph water everytime you water measure runoff every water to see how you need to adjust at next water take notes when you water so you know what to adjust next time dry erase board works great
if you finnished flush as I suggested yesterday your ph should be closer to target? watering again so soon would only continue issue if you didn’t flush then flush as directed and yes you can use higher ph water to adjust. If you are going to flush again feed once close to target ph 5.8
Would it be okay to flush my plants the right way today to fix the ph even though I over watered them 2 days ago. The soil is still wet from the last “flush” that I messed up on. All help is appreciated
take notes when you water so you know what to adjust next time dry erase board works great