I’m completely new to this too but have been fighting pH issues with ff soil for weeks. Mine has finally come up to acceptable levels through flushing and pH adjusting up to between 6.8 and 7. I also have leftover soil that I plan to adjust with lime before planting next time. My opinion is that lime is relatively cheap but the soil wasn’t so waste isn’t a good option for me. There are threads that cover the how to of mixing and checking. Try using the search tool for the forum. Good luck and happy growing.
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Just remembered whose advice I was reading. @PurpNGold74 had good and detailed advice on the subject I think.
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Thanks for the tag, im driving atm but will be checking in shortly to catch up.
Ok yea sorry for the myriad of issues. FF defo has a bad batch of soil (pH wise) a bit more often then Im comfy admitting lol. And it isnt even an ILGM product!
There are untold horror stories of pH around 5 and the fight to get it up.
Dolomite lime is quite possibly the best way to combat this ive seen. Its a tad slow acting, but scratch in a decent amount and ull definitely see a difference. Amending (priorly testing low pH) soil to bake with the lime is above recommended.
Baking soda is something ive used to adjust the solution upwards, not soil, although im pretty sure it would work…. Just not sure about the longterm viability of it.
Since u got it above 6, ur issues should be resolved. If i was assigning blame, ur spot on with medium. If uve been giving minimally amended solutions AND ph said solution properly (possible u were off a bit, seeing as how u just got the good meter) then the soil is the problem. If uve been giving nutrients at too low a pH, it just compounds the soil issue and u see the issues u see as well.
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I emailed Fox Farms customer service the following email:
I did a slurry test of your Happy Frog soil, which ,as per Fox Farm , should be between 6.3 and 6.8 pH. My results came out to be 5.6 pH. Can you explain why this is ( the soil came straight out of the bag )? I used 1 part soil to 2 parts water. Is this the “formula” I should be using to test your soil? If not, please detail what proportions I should be using, etc. Also, please describe the methodology or process Fox Farms uses to obtain the 6.3 to 6.8 pH numbers. Thank you.
Ireceuved this in reply:
Receiving an accurate picture of the pH of soil can be very difficult. We do not recommend testing the soil pH by testing runoff or placing the probe directly into the soil. The pH buffers in our soils, such as oyster shell, will not register on your pH meter if you are testing the runoff or if you just place your pH meter in the soil. The oyster shell works as a pH adjustor once it comes in contact with water.
All FoxFarm soils come pH adjusted right out of the bag between 6.3 and 6.8, which is the ideal range for plant nutrient availability. In order to ensure that your soil pH remains in the proper range, we recommend that you adjust the pH of your nutrient solution between 6.3 and 6.8, alternate feedings and waterings, and periodically flush your soil of excess salts.
Make sure that you have a relatively new pH meter that is clean and calibrated according the manual instructions. If you are testing for soil pH, we recommend that you perform a soil slurry test, as described below. This ensures that all of the pH adjustors within the soil work properly and register on your pH meter. It is important to note that the used soil may have a different pH than the new soil from the bag due to the pH of the irrigation water.
How to Perform an At-Home Soil Slurry Test to Determine Soil pH
Some gardeners like to be able to check the pH of their soil. Since actual soil pH can be difficult to determine without expensive lab equipment, we recommend a slurry test to determine the pH of your soil. Soil slurries provide a pH of the slurry, not the soil, and is used as an indicator of the soil pH. The soil slurry pH will be more acidic than the actual soil pH, which is to be expected. We recommend two slurries:
• A 1:1 slurry – mix 1 part soil to 1 part distilled water (by volume)
• A 1:5 slurry - mix 1 part soil to 5 parts distilled water (by volume)
• Thoroughly mix these slurries and allow them to sit for about 15 minutes
• Next, check the pH of the slurry with litmus paper, liquid indicator dye, or a digital pH meter
• The 1:1 slurry of Happy Frog Potting Soil should have a pH of 5.0-6.3
• The 1:5 slurry of Happy Frog Potting Soil should have a pH of 5.6-6.6
• If pH values of the slurries are in the ranges provided above, you can assume that the pH of your soil is in the 6.3-6.8 range
- These pH ranges are based off our testing, which is done with tap water. Your municipal tap water may be different from ours, so your pH may be different as well.
If your soil pH is not within the correct range according to the soil slurry then you may want to adjust your soil. Dolomitic limestone will raise your pH and soil sulfur can lower the pH. Be sure to follow the manufacturer’s directions and water thoroughly after adding a pH adjustor so that it will be activated. If your pH is outside of the ideal range, your plants will not be able to take up nutrients and you will want to wait to fertilize the soil until the adjustor has taken effect. This can take up to 30 days. However, you can supplement with foliar fertilizers during that time regardless of the soil pH.
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I flushed. I actually had to do it twice. Once from the bottom.
More lime as I had already added some.
My ph runoff is outstanding. Girls are in 7 week of flower and are eating well. Todays Ph runoff was 6.4 and 6.5.
FFHF needs some additions IMO.
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How nice of them to kick the can back to you assuming it is probably your tap water. Distilled water is the only way to get accuracy from what I’ve read. My soil is about 5.6 straight from the bag so I call BS. Tried watering in lime twice but it didn’t help my runoff number. Sifted the fine dust and added to water first. pH was 9.4 so I adjusted down to 6.5 before watering in. It might have been a mistake and hindsight, I think I should have gone to 6.8 - 7.0. Just keep adjusting to around 6.8 and it will slowly improve. Just takes several waterings to get there and alot of worrying until then.
Haha right. Thats the only thing about Dol Lime. Its impossible to give exacts! You just cant describe a ‘pinch’ and ‘breaks down’ in exacts! Whenever it kicks in, you get a swing 
.
Always best to start low with any additives, and when in soil ALWAYS give a couple days before adjusting something else.
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Hi guys, I guess this is sort of a farewell post, not really a rant. A little history here… Tried an experiment a few years back. Found a book on growing pot with cfls ( leds were fairly new, consumerwise, and expensive.) I have a horse, so I mixed horse mmanure,peat moss and perlite. Usually when I switched to 12/12 for flowering, I applied Alaska Fish Pellets ferts ( since discontinued). I used well water and bag seed. ( No ph meters, no testing runoff for ppm, no adding exotic supplements.) I got decent yields and deceent potency weed. Upgraded after leds became affordable, and did better. Had multiple grows… reproducable results. Eventually ran out of bag seeds, so I found ILGM and ordered seeds from them. ( Made a little money from my grows, so I decided to ( Since I had read so much about Fox Farm products) go “pro” and purchase Happy Frog soil and the Fox Farm trio and Cal-mag… the “Gold Standards”…ha, ha! Everything, excuse my french, went to shit. Been chasing ph, flushing, etc, haunting every forum I could find trying to figure it out and basically what one person says works, the next person vehemently denies. I really don’t think the Fox Farms products are what they are cracked up to be ( by using them I thought all the guesswork would be taken out and every thing would be simplified…big mistake. I am going to go back to my original “formula”, poorer but wiser. Thanks to everyone who tried to help.
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If it aint broke…. Yea nothing works for ‘everyone’. My homemade soil had me seeing deficiencies mid veg. FF just runs simplier imo. But again, diff strokes.
Best of luck all the same and dont be a stranger. If u get some nice bud porn, feel free to come drop some photos whenever.
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Another Ph issue with FF, I think. Low Ph I guess. Here’s the leaves that suddenly arrived. I’m having leaves that look like this, and I can’t determine the issue. But Ph has been in the 50s. I added lime and flushed. Awaiting what happens.
Northern Lights
FF/perlight
inside
LED
General Hydro nutes
What do you fellas think?
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Which fox farms soil are you using?
Is that 5.0 ph your metering?
Also how long has your plant been in the soil because ff is only good for 4 to 6 weeks.
@TommyD
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Yup more data is needed.
How old are the girls?
What specifically are you feeding?
What tools are u using for measuring numbers?
All runoff numbers you got?
Looks like they are asking for something… just what and why are the questions… off the eye test… cal mag? 
FFOF
Yes I’m getting 5.8 to 6.1 on a meter. Runoff.
40 days. I already determined that it needed nutes. I fed nutes first time. General Hydro, cal-mag.
Everything was fine then this, quickly. I was thinking copper at first.
I flushed.
Seems to be getting better some.
40 days.
I just stated using nutes and cal-mag as the PPM dropped and it was time. General hydro 3 part
I have a Ph meter, a decent one
Runoff numbers were down to 300 with only water and CM
Nutes added 886 PPM, only once.
I flushed. Seems to have worked. Used some lime too.
I was really curious to determine the disease by the leaf, I couldn;t??? I was thinking Copper.
Things are back to normal at the moment.
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So just hungry then? Glad you’re back on track. 
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Sounds good glad to hear sir. 6.1 is a little low typically want to be between like 6.3 to 6.7 in soil I think but idk if .2 is going to mess you up that much prolly just needed to be fed like yall said. 
Awesome growmie!
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Well I woke up to this today. This is my first Fem photo. I thought the flush worked. Something is up, I must investigate. What do ya think?
Did you feed her yet and if so what were your runoff numbers?
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yes, runoff numbers are good, she’s eating. Ph low Phosphorus def by Ph issue? New leaves are fine, then shortly this happens. ???
I been googling, but I think I have yo keep an eye on ph. I added lime. Last time that worked, but this is a fem photo and I’m new to them.
Girl is still doing ok I think??
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