This is my first time ever growing in Happy Frog potting soil. I mix the soil with 30% perlite
My question is when preparing water and or feed what should the final pH be set to when I water.
Thank you in advance
3 Likes
6.5 PH watering or feeding in soil would be fine.
3 Likes
I have a gallon of rain water I had to ph up the rain water as it was low.
After using ph up and vigorously shaking it is now at 7.0
Is 7.0 okay? If not what would happen if I used pH down to lower it 5 (or is that a dangerous thing to do)
1 Like
There was a previousl thread with rain water causing a ph imbalance. I dont remember who it was. Becareful
Good to know. Thank you. Should I reframe from using?
1 Like
Everyone’s situation is different that would be a call you would have to make.
@Lostgirl Check the PH of your tab water if it is lower than 7 PH Cut it 50/50
2 Likes
Luckily it’s rained in the last hour I was able to catch another gallon I mix them together and I’ve got it down to 6.79 if I get another gallon (that’s a big if) I’m sure that’ll get it closer to 6.5
In the meantime am I good with 6.79?
4 Likes
My tap water is pathetic. We have the worst tap water on the planet. I think it all originates from someone’s ass
4 Likes
Fun fact, a ph of 6.5 in human feces would fall in the “normal” range
2 Likes
6.2 to 7.0 is acceptable but the sweet spot is 6.5-6.8 on pH. I too use Happy frog and use RO water which usually comes in about 7.5 pH. The thing with water only days is you need about 250-300 ppm’s for the pH of your water to hold it’s own and bring the soil in line to the same pH as the water you are giving. If there are no ppm’s in the water to begin with, then the watering even if at 6.8 will take on the pH of the soil. Does that make sense?
Yup. no problem.
3 Likes
6.8 will be fine .
@Bonjoyle yes this makes 100% total sense to me. I just added a third gallon of rain water to the party mixed it all together now I’m at 6.6 so I’m dead on. All I can hope for is more rain I do have free access to RO water as well
Thank each and every one of you for your kind assistance. I couldn’t do it without you guys
3 Likes
I use happy frog with well water that is over 7. I use a little less than a 1/4 tsp of citric acid just to be on the safe side. My plant seems to like it ok.
3 Likes
Water PH is something I haven’t checked but did this morning and was surprised by my results. We live in rural Alaska and I have 2 water sources. A 1000 gal tank that I collect rain water in which we use for our food garden, and well water for household drinking, washing etc. The well water is delicious to taste, but the well only produces 1/2 gallon a minute and will run dry trying to water the yard stuff so we use the rain catchment system for all crop watering. When I put the meter into a sample of rain water it went up to 8.6! But the well water is around 5.3. I have been putting a little coffee into the feeding bottle that I give my AF’s around once a week and it has kept the soil at around 6.8. I use a auto drip system (Blumat) fed from 5 gal buckets. I am now going to start mixing well water with rain and see if I can get the soil PH down without the coffee. So much to learn on this stuff!!!
@Arktikos yes it’s overwhelming.
@Arktikos I use a elevated plastic bag at the end of it is a 5 gallon bucket I can get about 20 gallons of water every time it rains on a decent rain to feed the girls through their life.
So far the rain water has pH that 6.51 and parts per million is 2.
Really makes me wonder why my rain is so alkaline here. I always figured it would be neutral because we don’t have any of the things within a thousand miles that could affect it. I can see why it isn’t acidic, like having lots of cars or industry nearby. What are the causes of alkaline rain I wonder??? Guess it doesn’t matter, but am glad I stumbled on your thread and checked so now I have to mix well water and rain 
.
So, a dumb question from a total noob, what are you referring to with PPM of 2?
PPM or parts per million refers to the amount of “dissolve solids” in your water. Things like lead Mercury iron etc…
2 Likes