I use promix, it likes a bit lower ph. 6.1 is ideal for promix but i also use advanced nutrients ph perfect so i dont adjust the ph, it mixes to 5.7 to 5.9 every time with rain water but have used it on well water and it mixes to 6.4 wich i also did not adjust. I use the connoisseur base and all the additives for flower.
In my entirely unprofessional opinion, best to mix your soil to be ph6.5 and vary your solution A few tenths either way depending on the growth stage. Seedlings and clones get filtered/uv sterilized fish tank water, if I didn't have the fish they'd get weak veg nutes or weak fish emulsion when they need it That said, this can be strain dependent info, some strains and some plants within the same strain seem to have odd needs sometimes
If you use the easy soil mix posted on GK, I wouldn't sweat it unless the plants show problems. My well tests below 6 and I haven't adjusted PH in years with no problem. Like the guys are saying though, if you're using GH or Advanced shoot for the low 6's. Promix right out of the bag also has a decent amount of lime as a buffer. That'll give you some leeway on PH.
I’ll second this. Between the lime and a happy herd of microbes there’s no need to worry about fussing with the PH.
I've come to depend on the dolomite lime to balance PH in soil myself. If growing in soil it's best to test the soil's PH rather than the water's PH that you are using to water with. I found that even if the water PH is off a bit it may or may not affect the actual soil PH. My advice....test the soil PH...water...test soil PH again....wait an hour and test the soil again. It can vary depending on so many factors. Best to see what you're working with and adjust accordingly.
Do you have a recommended means of measurement? I've always thought this was quasi dart toss -ish...but this has got me thinking about soil ph out in the garden...I'm thinking I'm gonna get the Home Depot edition and see how long it lasts There's dropper test kits for soil as well, but I hate drops. Steam plant/cooling tower chemistry killed it for me. Plug it in and let it go or toss it to the wind, I says
GG I’ve used several of the inexpensive soil testers like the those and found them to be a complete waist of money. Consistent results were elusive at best with back to back tests of the same soil varying by more than 1 to 1 1/2 points up or down. Blue labs on the other hand makes a very nice albeit expensive ph tester for soil. I bought one years ago because I convinced myself that I needed to monitor the PH of the pots. It worked great, used it several times until I realized the whole idea of adjusting ph in an organic mix sort of when against the grain of letting the microbes do their thing. Once I stopped constantly fucking with the ph my grows steadily improved.
I too drove myself crazy always trying to test and adjust PH. Once I started adding dolomite to the soil mix I just let things happen and had no worries.
Gobby....those be shit. Worse than dart board'ish. Can send a guy in the entire wrong direction if you start trying to get one of the cheapo garden store meters to read consistent. Test strips and run-off water or dropper kit are the tools in my box. Suppose a guy could bury a test strip in moist soil for a minute or two and get a reading. Never done that one myself but figger it'd probably be a better dart board'ish number than the cheapo meter.
I use a Bluelab meter just like in the pic, for my hydro nutes. I checked pH calibration a couple of weeks back. Still holding perfectly. It was last calibrated a year ago. Not real sure that it's the right tool for soil testing, though. I suppose if the soil was dissolved in distilled water...
There be the rub. Soil testing. I can get different readings from the same pot depending on moisture content in each specific spot of soil.
I have nevered used a ph meter, used test strips a few time. While using gh3 useless formula everything always worked good with ph so yeah i dont use them
