krappozaure Posted March 12, 2004 Share Posted March 12, 2004 Hello I read a message from OT1 telling that adjusting the ph is not necessary in 99% of the situations, when using bio bizz all mix soil and ferts... My tap water ph is 8.5, which seems really high. Can i use it straight or will it grow better if i adjust it ? or am i in the 1% of situations where its really much needed ? Thanks for help, have a nice day Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bish Posted March 12, 2004 Share Posted March 12, 2004 8.5 does seem a bit on the high side. And leaving it to stand over night does tend to raise the ph even higher. I'll point OT in the direction of this thread Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldtimer1 Posted March 12, 2004 Share Posted March 12, 2004 Welcome to uk420 krappozaure! I don’t think I have ever come across tap water that is really is that high. Every time this has come up here before it has been due to inaccurate readings from ph pens, when it was checked with the local water board it was lower. If it is 8.5 it could be because of two things, it is really saturated in bicarbonates or it has some other content of alkaline salts as well. If its just bicarbonates, your kettle will be filling with chalky residue very quickly, your taps and shower head etc will also need constant cleaning as they will crust up as well. I think I would ask the local water board what the water ph is, also if it contains any other alkaline salts, apart the common calcium and magnesium carbonates. If there is any amount of soda or sodium salts you may be in trouble as cannabis really does not do well with them. If its just normal bicarbonates from chalk or limestone, then I would check what happens to the ph after you add the fertiliser, leave for half an hr, if above 7.8 and adjust as below. For watering without fertiliser, use citric acid to bring the water ph to between 6 and 6.5 no lower. If you are going to adjust your water, use ph buffer 7 to calibrate your ph pen and not ph buffer 4. As a point do you garden out doors and grow things like tomatoes, peppers etc or do you know people who do in your area, if you do, and they/you use a hose to water through the summer and the tomatoes grow well in your area, the chances are that your water will also be ok in allmix. If this does not answer you ask again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krappozaure Posted March 13, 2004 Author Share Posted March 13, 2004 Thanks everyone, and thanks ot1 for this very detailed answer. This place is the best for organic growing To test my ph i use the cheap liquid color test from general hydroponics... The color is supposed to be dark green for ph 8, and blue for ph 8.5. Mine is definetely more blue than green, so it seems the ph is higher than 8... The water leaves chalky residues like you said, but I know it can work great, i've been using it with a mix of 1/3 perlite, 1/3 vermiculite, 1/3 potting soil and Gh 3 parts flora serie (semi-soiless). I was also using the Gh ph down...If i want to have a solution with the right ph (between 6.5 and 7), i need to add 4.5 ml of ph down in 8 liters of water (or only 3.5ml of ph down if i add a full fert solution to the water). Now i dont use the ph down to keep it organic, so i've ordered some earth juice natural down (made of citric acid). It's a bit expensive, but i have no idea where i can find citric acid alone... I may add i'm from france, so here it will not be sold in the same places... I was thinking the soil could maybe buffer my high ph, but i think i will need some citric acid from what you say ot1. I have 3 days old seedlings in a mix of 50% perlite and 50% all mix, watered with non ph adjusted tap water. They are healthy but growth seems very slow, but its difficult to judge at such an early stage. It may take 10 days before i get the ej natural down so i wonder if before i get it its better to keep on using tap water, or adjust it with some nice chemical gh ph down :bush: I'm also curious to know more about how this kind of chemical ph down (phosphoric/nitric acid) can affect in a bad way the soil ecosystem or even the final result. I had no idea there was anything bad about it before i read this forum I hope my post was not too long, thanks again everyone for the great vegetal wisdom shared here ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dohped Posted March 13, 2004 Share Posted March 13, 2004 if citric acid works as ph down, so will vinegar, it is ascetic acid (any ex smackhead will tell you the same) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bish Posted March 13, 2004 Share Posted March 13, 2004 I have 3 days old seedlings in a mix of 50% perlite and 50% all mix, watered with non ph adjusted tap water. They are healthy but growth seems very slow, but its difficult to judge at such an early stage See how they go krappozaure. If you can get away without adjusting the ph, then great What temps have your seedlings got? Cold temps will bring growth to a virtual standstill mate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dohped Posted March 13, 2004 Share Posted March 13, 2004 about collecting rainwater, we got a leaflet through the door the other day offering water butts and water collection stuff @ very low prices from my water board. DO NOT BE TEMPTED!! if you do collect rainwater in your garden, legally the water board own it and have the right to charge you for the amount of water in the butt, (due to it supposedly not now going down the drains and back to the ressy) so don't buy any stuff from them, no matter how cheap as you could get a nasty knock Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bish Posted March 13, 2004 Share Posted March 13, 2004 UB - Using phosphoric acid with Allmix kind of defeats the object of organic growing. Plus the acid will probably destroy the micro organisms in the Allmix. You might as well be using JI#3 & chem ferts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldtimer1 Posted March 13, 2004 Share Posted March 13, 2004 Sorry I'm not feeling too good today. uglybudly why are you confusing things, its pretty clear that krappozaure wants to grow organically. Allmix is a live micro flora organic compost, using either phosphoric or nitric acid will kill quite a few of the flora vars completely ruining it, if you are going to do this you are just using the allmix in the same way as an inert medium. You might just as well be growing in rockwool. Also either of these act as chemical fertilisers, phosphoric acid in particular makes the bud taste of this metallic element. You are either going to grow organically or you are not, you can not apply chemical/hydro technology to organic growing, they are not compatible. Citric acid is very gentle in its action and is more friendly to both the compost/soil bacteria and fungi than acetic acid. Citric acid is easy to find at any chemist, but better from a wine making suppliers, only a quid or two for a kilo, that should last the rest of your life. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldtimer1 Posted March 13, 2004 Share Posted March 13, 2004 Forgot to finish answering you. I would carry on using just tap water on your seedlings. One part indicators are very inaccurate, so I’ll repeat what I said before, ask your local water board what the ph range is, there will be a variation between hot and cold weather depending on the water treatment. They should give you the max min figures. Do they extract your water from the local river? I looked at where you come from at the end of a river like that, there may also be a lot of nitrites, nitrates and phosphorus in your drinking water as well. One of the other things I was going to say was that you could use earth juice nutrients they really take the ph down. But personally I prefer the quality and taste of bud grown with Biobizz grow and bloom. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krappozaure Posted March 13, 2004 Author Share Posted March 13, 2004 You know, the funny thing about this is that the seller at the hydro shop here laughed at me because i was looking for some organic ph down...They sell the whole range of bio bizz soils and ferts...I told him it was a bit of a paradox to use only organic products, then mix it with some pure chemical nitric/phosphoric acid at every watering, thus making a crop that does not qualify as organic anymore...I also told him it could be bad for the organic soil micro fauna...Well he looked at me like if i was really stupid and told me i was a lot too meticulous. Did i say they also store all their biobizz ferts at the entrance of the shop, under the full sun ? Thanks Ot1, i had forgotten that phosphoric/nitric acid is also used up by the plant as a chemical fert. This and the fact some micro flora varieties could be particularly sensible to it make me understand better how counter productive it can be. Mr Bishie, my temp is fine, but thanks for the suggestion. Ot1, I hope some haze can lift you up very soon I'm going to smoke one in the name of mota20, it was him who taught me all the basics back then on cannabis.com... See you later all, enjoy your gardens Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lazlo Woodbine Posted November 7, 2022 Share Posted November 7, 2022 Nearly 20 yrs old .... but well worth repeating! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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