SOIL Living Organic Soil, RO water, and pH. What's the deal here?

[static]

Reverse Osmosis system is working at peak performance, pH from faucet at a near perfect 7.0 and a TDS/PPM of under 20

Have suffered deficiencies in previous grows and overwhelming consensus seems to say LED + RO water means additional Ca/Mg is a must

So I bought this stuff: https://www.planetnatural.com/product/camg/

and this stuff to adjust pH which is pro-beneficial: https://www.hawthornegc.com/shop/pro...ph-up-and-down


After adding the CaMg+ from General Organics, the water pH plummets (NOT rises) to around 5.6 pH.

So what do I do? So much ridiculous conflicting information out there about people claiming with organics you don't need to pH.

Well are those people taking into consideration that other peoples untreated tapwater can contain chloramines and ridiculously high TDS? So those of us resort to RO. And then find out "Oh our advice wasn't meant for RO"..

Would greatly appreciate some advice! Thank you in advance

[D.A.A.S.69]

I'd stick with the tap water, if you want it easy.

[9fingerleafs]

i dont understand whats the issue. just add ph up until ph is around 6.5. in theory organic living soil needs no nutrients and no ph adjustments because the life inside the soil maintains the right balance. the moment you add calmag you mess with that balance because calmag is acidic. besides the soil has no use for calmag, the plant drinks it directly with the water so the ph must be around 6.5 for the calmag to be absorbed and for the soil life to be kept alive

[Reggie]

Hello What other organic soil do you recommend what I can get in the U.K. as I’m just starting my first grow and don’t want to be really messing about with bloom n boost lol As long the tap water is 6.5 ph Will it be okay with just the tap water

[9fingerleafs]

im not a soil grower but ive used fox farms with great results, any branded soil mix will work great. if you want to get into it theres a lot of recipes for making your own with the nutrients you are going to need

[static]

I'd stick with the tap water, if you want it easy.

Thanks for the reply!

I wish I could use tapwater.. But I live in a part of Canada that is right at the top of the graph of cities with the hardest water. Because it is nearly entirely sourced through bedrock, it's extremely hard.

Tap water stats for Waterloo, ON: pH of 8.3. TDS/PPM of ~350 (only in my neighbourhood, some areas are 700+!) . Heavily chloraminated, not chlorine.

https://uwaterloo.ca/canadian-index-wellbeing/sites/ca.canadian-index-wellbeing/files/uploads/files/waterlooregionreport-ciw-final-accessible.pdf

Does this seem better?

[static]

i dont understand whats the issue. just add ph up until ph is around 6.5. in theory organic living soil needs no nutrients and no ph adjustments because the life inside the soil maintains the right balance. the moment you add calmag you mess with that balance because calmag is acidic. besides the soil has no use for calmag, the plant drinks it directly with the water so the ph must be around 6.5 for the calmag to be absorbed and for the soil life to be kept alive

Hi there and thanks for the reply

The issue is the combination of LED lighting and RO water seems to reccomend additional Ca/Mg.. In my last grow, I developed deficiencies by using just straight RO water

[9fingerleafs]

oh yeah, specially if the plants are strong and fast growing calmag is a wonderful additive. just make sure you water at ph 6.5 every time and you wont have any issues. i wanna ask about you soil, what is made from? is it a branded mix? if the soil contains too many acidic or basic ingredients the ph could be out of range no matter what you do so remember not all soils are equal

[static]

Thanks again for getting back to me, I'm using KIS soil, this stuff here: http://blackswallowsoil.com/products...-blended-mixes

If you click the picture I think it gives the full ingredients list

I'm a novice and not sure if I even bought the right stuff

[9fingerleafs]

thats a great brand, havent used it myself but its one of the biggest and most respected brands. thats the kind of soil made to have a stable ph and supposedly all the nutrients it needs but some strains/environments have different nutrients requirements so theres gotta be room to dial it down with some additives, in your case some calmag

[Cali]

Are you sure it’s calmag issue? Maybe you are overwatering? Do you have any pics? Can you get kelp meal/alfalfa meal? Also can you get worm castings? If so top dress or make a tea water with that, should cover anything going on with your soil. You shouldn’t have to ph. As long as your water has no chloramines or chlorine your good to go. That soil you have there has all you need, from listening to chads podcast his for his soil he recommends keeping the moisture high, he also says the number one problem with organic growers is overwatering that’s why I asked the first 2 questions. I grow in soil similar to that one with less amendments and my issue is overwatering. In mine I added worms (red wrigglers) their worm castings are coated with calcium so when I see a deficiency that looks like cal mag I know I’m most likely overwatering. Or a kelp/alfalfa tea brings everything back to life.Definately don’t want to be adding any nutrients in bottles.