Grow Mediums To pH or not to pH

I stressed about all Ph my first few runs, but pros use BlueLab for Ph'ing water. Ph'ing soil is Dr Frankenstein shit, not needed.

Renfro from RIU is an old bud, he grows commercial sized runs. He uses BlueLabs pens, only. I'd guess anything Blue Labs is legit.

I use a doctor pH meter. Affordable and accurate, like all pH pens, you need to store it in the correct storage solution, not test solution or water. Have replaced it once about a year ago. At under 50$ I can replace it a couple of times for the cost of a blue labs unit.
Soil will naturally buffer, but... that is only if your growing in large containers. Running 2 or 3 gallons and expecting that small amount of soil to hold your pH while you keep adding things is asking for issues.
No Frankenstein, slurry test of soil is how I check a new bag of soils pH and ppm prior to planting, also how I check throughout the grow. Can quickly see if they're eating, am I feeding enough, and is the pH in the "zone" where the plant is actually feeding. Have had runs in soil that the pH slid down into the mid 5s, way too low. Was my main reason from moving away from FoxFarms. Ph drift.

I have an Apera and a Bluelab. Good pens still need to be calibrated and stored with storage fluid. All pens will drift. I like the Bluelab because it is fast reading and fast to calibrate. It comes with enough storage fluid for at least 6 months. I locally paid $85 for the Bluelab and peace of mind.

olbobcat said:

I have an Apera and a Bluelab. Good pens still need to be calibrated and stored with storage fluid. All pens will drift. I like the Bluelab because it is fast reading and fast to calibrate. It comes with enough storage fluid for at least 6 months. I locally paid $85 for the Bluelab and peace of mind.

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My Apera is going strong after more than a year. I have checked calibration numerous times, and it has never been off far enough yet to require re-calibration.

IMO you do not need to spend big bucks for storage solution. Just order the smallest bag of lab grade Potassium Chloride (KCl) you can find, and you will have a lifetime supply. My Apera has been stored in plain 3 molar KCL solution since purchase. I periodically change the solution in the cap to keep it consistent and clean. I am still working on the initial ~250ml batch of solution that I mixed up. The bag of KCl I bought would do multiple lifetimes of this mischief, and as I recall it cost less than one small bottle of the commercial stuff.

OTOH, perhaps there are some magical components in the commercial storage juice that will work better. Perhaps.

I would at least pH the water and nute mix going in. Just in case something is way off. I know I'm still very very new but I think if you've been at it a while, investing in a nice meter is worth it. I agree with proph on having the basic tools for your hobby.

Like most hobbies, there gets to be a point where you just want some nicer equipment and if it's something you use a lot, it's worth it. I love my Knipex pliers and cutters but man, they are expensive. Same with JIS screwdrivers. But, not stripping a critical screw is absolutely worth it. Same with not killing a plant cause your ph pen was off by 0.5 or worse.

I have 3 soil testers....two are still in the cardboard attached to it.......tried one, found it a waste of time. I am not a scientist, why should I fake it?

Ph'ing water is a must......I use very little nutes, mostly natural substances........earthworm castings, bat guano, seabird guano, rock dust (has some mineral content), Recharge and Ph'd water....... I have used flowering nutes but only if I have to. I dislike synthetics.

Some love to use nutes, they use many and often........But they are the ones that smoke it, not I.
:smoking:

Everybody has their own style, anybody insisting only they are correct is a tool.

Towlie said:

Thanks for the information guys it's a big help everyday a learning day and it good to here other people's opinions @Couch_Lock you lost me at Dr Frankenstein care to elaborate

@Proph great answer that's basically everything I needed to know very informative and easy to understand for a stoned idiot like me thank you

@Olderfart thanks for the input my friend very useful I'll definitely be ordering some Potassium Chloride feel free to share how you mix your solution who descent like to save a few quid

@DCLXVI thanks for the imput mate I do need to add to my tool arsenal I need to stop buying seeds and lights and focus on the basics

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I don't have notes about the recipe, I just looked up 3 molar KCL on the internet and mixed it up with distilled water. This is one recipe that shows the calculations if you are interested:

Bottom line is that 23.35 grams of KCL added to 100ml of distilled water will give you a 3m solution. I seriously doubt that the weight of KCL has to be accurate to four significant digits, 23 grams is likely close enough. It seemed to me that 3m is pretty much saturated because the very last traces of KCL didn't seem to completely dissolve. I ignored that and used the clear solution to fill the storage cap high enough to keep the glass probe submerged. I use a syringe to move solution from the supply jar to the storage cap. I store the pen in the upright position so the probe is always immersed. Over time the storage liquid in the cap will get contaminated and depleted, so as soon as it gets low or shows signs of any kind of junk, I just chuck it, rinse the storage cap and probe with a bit of distilled water, and put another charge of fresh storage solution in. If you want to be really fastidious about it, you can rinse the probe off with distilled water after every use, but I have not gone quite that far.

It is my impression that the worst thing you can do to your pH probe is let it dry out, even partially. If you keep it in storage solution at all times when not measuring, including while making adjustments to your solution between pH measurements, it will stay happy for a long time. The second worst thing would be scratching the probe or knocking it. Don't even think about trying to clean it off by wiping it with anything. If you use it to check slurry, be extremely careful to not allow perlite or the like to abrade the probe, and give it a good rinse in some distilled water to make sure nothing is left adhered to it.

Good luck with it.