New Grower Potential pH problems?

[MikeyB57]

Muddy, good 1st advice!

"Do you have a pH meter? If not, I'd recommend getting one. pH issues are the most common problem we see and should you run into any we'll need to know in order to help you out."

I am so glad that you stated that in the first instance, although I realized that specific plant types have differing pH requirements, as I have only done outdoor grows I'd never given it much thought and let mother nature do her own thing (always got reasonable results). Well, I may have run into trouble straight away, I checked on my water suppliers website and found that the pH of my water is 7.4!

So its obvious that I need to address this problem, I'm assuming that 'Canna Terra' growing mediums have the right pH balance when they are manufactured, so by my logic they shouldn't need any alteration of pH, so the questions are:

1. Any recommendations for a reliable pH meter please?

2. If any of you live in a similar area, how do you go about getting over this?

There are figures for calcium carbonate as well which show that this is a 'hard water' area, I don't want to become an analytical scientist just yet (leave that for the DWC boys!) but, will that cause any potential problems in the future?

Peace and love to you all.

 

[Duck Commander]

Muddy, good 1st advice!

"Do you have a pH meter? If not, I'd recommend getting one. pH issues are the most common problem we see and should you run into any we'll need to know in order to help you out."

I am so glad that you stated that in the first instance, although I realized that specific plant types have differing pH requirements, as I have only done outdoor grows I'd never given it much thought and let mother nature do her own thing (always got reasonable results). Well, I may have run into trouble straight away, I checked on my water suppliers website and found that the pH of my water is 7.4!


So its obvious that I need to address this problem, I'm assuming that 'Canna Terra' growing mediums have the right pH balance when they are manufactured, so by my logic they shouldn't need any alteration of pH, so the questions are:

1. Any recommendations for a reliable pH meter please?

2. If any of you live in a similar area, how do you go about getting over this?

There are figures for calcium carbonate as well which show that this is a 'hard water' area, I don't want to become an analytical scientist just yet (leave that for the DWC boys!) but, will that cause any potential problems in the future?

Peace and love to you all.

my water is the same 7.4 and you have to bear in mind when you add nutes to your normal 7.4 water that the ph will go down. mine goes down to 6.5 but then when i add it to my bio bizz light mix soil it goes down again to 5.9 (run off ph) its a case of trail and error to get it right im still on my first couple of plants ive had my share of ph probs ill tell you fella any ph pen will do realy altho people do recomend an more expensive one i got mine of ebay for like 15pound does the job fine

 

[ukvaporizer]

My water is almost 8 on the south coast, i started out checking ph with a dropper solution kit, got fed up with it and did the same as Si and bought a 15 quid unit of ebay.

Rico

 

[Muddy]

I doubt your water source is a consistent 7.4. I have city water and can check it today and again tomorrow and get different readings. I also wouldn't make any assumptions about your growing medium. We've seen pH vary greatly right out of the bag with some mediums, especially Fox Farms.

My personal choice for liquids is the Hanna Combo meter. For soil, the Control Wizard Accurate 8. You can just use a liquid meter if you don't want to spend the money for both by checking your run off. Just not quite as accurate as taking a soil reading. I recommend that you stay away from the cheap ones. For every person that has had good success with them, there is someone who hasn't. Most cheap ones are notoriously inaccurate.

I wouldn't be concerned about the calcium levels in your water unless you plan on using the Advanced Nutrients pH Perfect products. For them to work properly they need low PPM, below about 125. I believe water companies have to keep it below a certain level, which in most cases, is fine for the plants. That's one of the nice features of the Hanna Combo. Besides testing the pH, it also records and compensates for the temperature as well as checking TDS (Total Desolved Solids) and PPM (Parts Per Million). PPM readings are used to show the level of nutrients in your feeds.

 

[sativalover]

Muddy, good 1st advice!

"Do you have a pH meter? If not, I'd recommend getting one. pH issues are the most common problem we see and should you run into any we'll need to know in order to help you out."

I am so glad that you stated that in the first instance, although I realized that specific plant types have differing pH requirements, as I have only done outdoor grows I'd never given it much thought and let mother nature do her own thing (always got reasonable results). Well, I may have run into trouble straight away, I checked on my water suppliers website and found that the pH of my water is 7.4!

So its obvious that I need to address this problem, I'm assuming that 'Canna Terra' growing mediums have the right pH balance when they are manufactured, so by my logic they shouldn't need any alteration of pH, so the questions are:

1. Any recommendations for a reliable pH meter please?

2. If any of you live in a similar area, how do you go about getting over this?

There are figures for calcium carbonate as well which show that this is a 'hard water' area, I don't want to become an analytical scientist just yet (leave that for the DWC boys!) but, will that cause any potential problems in the future?

Peace and love to you all.

using hard water will give the same problems to soil as to dwc
i would only use 1/3 of your mix w/ hard water and the rest rain water or Reverse Ossmosis water(R/O) water to tlower the levels
you might even be better off w/ less than a 1/3 depending on the levels
bottom line don't penny pinch on the water it is the most important thing to make sure expensive nutrients are given what is needed
i mix in about a third of my well water to slightly increase cal/mag/fe/ most especially
but if i use straight well i get problems especially in hydro settings
the increase yields will offset the price for possibly having to purchase water(R/O) at the grocery store
you will also notice less extreeeeeeemes in your buffering of solution when R/O is used
i would advise atleast reading the ph manifesto for a quick easy to understand why this is so important for your water

 

[MikeyB57]

Muddy,

I've been checking out the Hanna combo meter you recommended but , there are two different models 98129 or 98130. Which one should I get? I can't get the soil meter you suggested over here in the UK, so I've taken a gamble on a Luster Leaf 1845 Rapitest Digital Soil Ph Meter for the testing of the growing medium. Also, seeing 'sativalovers' comment on R/O water I've been looking at the practicalities of installing a unit for my water supply or do you think that would be overkill at this stage?

Peace and love to you all.

 

[Muddy]

Either of those will work as they are virtually the same. Sorry, but those Rapid Test meters aren't very good. They are notoriously inaccurate. You can get away with just the Hanna by doing run off tests. pH your feed first, then capture what runs out the bottom of the pot and test it. Not as accurate as a good soil meter but close enough. What about Kelway, can you find those in the UK? They are another good one, I just like the longer probe on the CW better.

RO is nice but not really necessary unless you are growing hydro. Most RO systems produce 50 - 100 gallons per day, so it's not like a tap you can just turn on and get the water. You will need some kind of storage tank that will hold enough water to feed all your plants.

 

[Muddy]

Just had another thought. Have you sent an email to Control Wizard to ask if they have a UK distributor?

 

[MikeyB57]

E-mail sent!

 

[MikeyB57]

Finally received an e-mail back from Control Wizard and they don't have a UK distributor (they are looking for one though, anyone interested?), so after ordering a Hanna combo I've found this available in the UK:
http://www.digital-meters.com/epage...hops/digital-meters/Products/"Lutron PH-220S"

Looks very accurate from the specifications, what do you think Muddy?