Am I doing something seriously wrong?, 3 hours ago I watered with tap water, tested the runoff with my new calibrated Hanna Checker which said 5.8. I watered in some garden lime with some ph up solution and test again at 5.7(??). I keep watering with pH up which I keep making stronger (Tests at pH 10.8). I keep watering with this for like 2 hours and the runoff keeps getting more acidic (now pH 4.9). It doesn't make any sense. Can anyone tell me what's going on here? please help
How big is your container? Are you flushing it completely when you're watering? Do you have blood or bone meal, or both in your soil? (these individually raise and lower soil acidity) Are your plants showing any nutrient lockouts from the ph levels? Also, when you say tap water, i hope you mean you let it bubble or sit out for 24 hours to remove the chlorine.
I'm using 8 inch pots, filling to the brim of the pot with water and letting it drain, over and over for 2 hours, while throwing in Garden lime and Potassium Hydroxide sol. I am using compost, with no blood or bone meal. The girls have been barely clinging to life for the last month or so, as the soil is so acidic, they haven't been able to absorb any nutes. ALL the leaves have yellowed and fallen off as the buds have had to drain all the goodness from the rest of the plant. I have been using water straight from the tap. I know I'm not s'posed to, but a li'l bit of chlorine ain't gonna kill a plant like this.....is it? Anyway, It's too late to try to try to save them now. Even the buds are starting to go yellow, so I decided I am gonna cut my losses and strip the plants tonight. 'Least I should still get some kind of a smoke. I just don't understand how the more alkali I add to the soil, the more acidic it gets. It just don't make any sense. I wondered if there was some kind of weird chemical explanation that I am unaware of. or I'm not using the checker right. I am about to transplant my clones for the next crop and I want to avoid this happenning again. Thanks
Mmm..that may have been a problem, anyway, too late for these girls, they are now in a bag, but thanks for the advice. I'll remember with the next bunch