Seems quite high.
What meter are you using for testing PPMs?
You can do that try the 50/50 mix the only thing is if it’s actually 6.9 it will take a lot in order to raise your PH up to around 6.5 or so.
What may also help is the calcium content in the water if that makes up a large percentage of the 650 ppm
Oh ok well that’s a different story lol
Unless you’ve had it tested with a report on it than it’s crap shoot on minerals in water.
Maybe ask a neighbor?
Excellent advice,
Just Google Water test report “your city name and state” PDF
and you should get a result. Almost every city is required to post this.
I have 3 meters, an affera which I use most of the time, and 2 other lower quality meters and their PPms match up with the affera
Probably correct then. Some municipalities are high.
Couple extra questions,
Did you amend anything to the Happy frog like Peat?
Is the soil fresh or was is it old stock or leftover from last season?
Peat, which is an addition to many products will become acidic as it gets old.
Blueberry farms add peat to their soil because blueberries like acidic soil.
When peat is fresh it holds water well and thus why its added to soils, but as it ages it does drop the pH numbers.
Great questions… actually, the majority of the sold used in the 1 gallon pots was from the balance of a bag which I used in a grow I started last Aug so the material was about 9 months old in a well closed bag.
No Peat added
Did add 25% perlite to the mix, and I didn’t rinse the perlite if that would make a difference.
I’ve had bags of Happy Frog go bad after a few months.
@Spiney_norman has a great point. Peat will become acidic as it degrades over time. Happy Frog has quite a bit of peat in it.
Ok, so it appears my problem may likely have been caused by the soil going acidic in the 9 months after opening it, will I be able to neutralize it by flushing to 300ppm and ph of 6.5-6.7? I did see that my PPMs were quite high for not using nutrients, around 1700
Or is there no way to improve the acidic nature of this current soil ![]()
Perhaps the addition of some fresh lime could help.
Look for a water soluble type.
Unlikely if decomposing peat is the source of your problem. Seems like a transplant is in order. How old is the plant?
I did amend the middle of last week with pulverized dolomite lime powder, about 3/4 tablespoon scratched and watered into the surface
Lime is a good as a pH buffer, but it isn’t useful for adjusting pH. It takes too long to break down to be an immediate solution.
I did actually move the 4 plants yesterday from the 1 gallon to 5 gallon pots with 40%\40%\20% mix of NEW Happy Frog/ Ocean Forest/ Perlite
I did not remove any of the older soil in the original 1 gal.
I know it takes too long to add any useful calcium, but I think it will neutralize some of the acid. Might not be enough though.
Thanks Midwest.
Seems like we now have you pointed in the right direction.
