PH Wert der Erde

My pH value: 5.47 This is my soil:

So my question is, should I best water with or without nutrients, or only 1/2 dose, and/or only plain water + Cal/Mag? And should I raise the pH level slowly to 6.0-6.3 first and then back to normal 6.0-6.5 next time, or would it be better to raise it right away to about pH 7.0? Or is this too big of a shock?

I still don’t understand which pH you’re measuring, whether it’s the watering water with or without fertilizer—doesn’t matter to me—or if you’re measuring the pH of the substrate, or the runoff tray. I really don’t understand what you’re measuring.
If you mean the watering water, you bought an All-Mix, you shouldn’t feed/fertilize, not because of the pH, but because the substrate already has plenty of fertilizer. Still, if you want you can fertilize; if the plants don’t show burnt tips, it means there’s no excess of salts. (high EC)
If what you mean is that when you add fertilizer to your water, the pH drops, you’re probably using mineral fertilizer, PK, or similar, which have high acidity. In that case, what you need to use is pH+, to raise the pH of the water.
If the substrate pH is what is acidic, at 5.x you can raise it simply by watering with the pH adjusted to 6.5/4/3/2

Ah, I understand.

I meant the pH 5.47 from the runoff.

But based on what you said about organic fertilizer lowering the pH, it must be my fertilizer.

Should I leave it out completely for the next watering? Or better just 1/2?

Yes, your bloom fertilizer is mineral, NOT organic.
Both are mineral, although I’d swear I read other posts of yours where you talk about organics, I don’t know if it was you, but they are mineral.
Just measuring the pH before watering is enough.
P.S.: measuring the runoff pH is not effective, it’s not a real measurement, it’s something done “by eye” to “get a rough idea”, you shouldn’t take it as a reference for anything.

Ok thanks

I can also measure the pH value differently. I could put 50/50 soil/distilled water into a sealable container. Shake well for 1 min so everything dissolves. Then let it sit for about 5 min until almost all the soil has settled. Then measure the pH/EC value from the surface of the resulting liquid. And just like that, you have the pH/EC value of your plant’s soil.

Magic

ok, from my point of view it’s still just a distant approximation, the pH is different in every part of the pot, I have substrate meters and I know why I say it

Ok Thx

Magic

What do you think about flushing?

I currently have a dramatically low pH level of 5.09, and that’s why I did a bit of research and found out that I should just flush my 18L fabric pot with about 6L. What do you think, will this really raise my pH level?

Or do you maybe have another emergency measure?

Magic

Good morning !!! and the EC values it shows you? they are high, right?

Hi

So my watering water has the values: PH 6.53 / EC 0.34

My runoff has the values: PH 5.09 / EC 2.03

Today I also watered without fertilizer or booster, just with Cal/Mag & Downer adjusted to 6.5 PH.

Do you think I should flush next time I water? I usually water with 4l and would then flush with 6l. What do you think?

Ok regards

Magic

Look, with that runoff EC at 2.03 mS/cm, you don’t have severe over-fertilization to warrant doing a root flush; the main problem isn’t the salts, but that your substrate pH dropped way too low. If you do a 6-liter flush with plain water, you’re going to make things worse because you’ll drown the roots and you could throw everything off balance without solving the acidity. So, I’m no big expert, but in your place, I’d keep your usual watering volume without drowning her, put away the pH Down for now without adding any acid to the input water, water with a higher input pH of 6.8 to 7.0 to gradually push the soil acidity up, add a level tablespoon of dolomite lime sprinkled over the substrate and water over it to raise the pH quickly and stably, and manage the fertilizer carefully at your own discretion based on what you’ve been using, but without going crazy with plain water flushes so you don’t leave the medium stripped of everything.

So you mean next time I should go ahead and water like today again, 4l with just Cal/Mag & pH at 6.5?

And that will make the pH value rise again?

The EC value is clear to me because of more or less fertilizer.

I hope I can still get this under control!

The thing is, and I’m just giving you my opinion, if you keep giving it pH 6.5 (and on top of that using pH Down to lower it to that number), it’s going to take a long time to bring that 5.09 back up because you keep adding acidity to the medium. That’s why the key for the next watering is to raise the input pH a bit higher to 6.8 or 7.0, but without using pH Down at all (if CalMag leaves it high, leave it like that, it’s great), and if you can add a tablespoon of dolomite on top of the soil before pouring in the 4 liters, you’ll see how the runoff starts reacting and going up much faster.

Bunker Ariel is right. Your pH has simply dropped drastically.

I’d say flush with water containing CalMag and a generously reduced amount of base fertilizer.

I’m dealing with the same thing right now. 2.1 EC
Only for me, it’s the other way around. I water at 6.3 and get 6.8 in the runoff.
Only for the last two watering cycles.

Next time, I’ll flush once with a reduced solution and 2 liters of runoff.

Whether you flush now or not.
She’ll handle it, but I would do a light reset. You don’t want to flush everything out, just correct it. That won’t happen from watering just once either. Make sure the runoff isn’t excessive.

Didn’t your soil already have a pH of 5.8 as a starting point?

Yep, it has.

And I skipped the fertilizer before today’s watering.

There’s the explanation for everything, at least for me: that soil is based on blonde peat (Weißtorf), which comes from the factory with a super low pH of 5.8 and is acidic by nature, so as the plant feeds and you flush the pot, the substrate tends to drop on its own towards those values, and on top of that, using an organic bloom fertilizer (Blütendünger) acidifies the mix even further; that’s why I insist you don’t flush the roots because you’ll acidify the peat even more, but rather add dolomite to curb the natural acidity of the peat and start raising the input pH to 6.8 - 7.0 from now on to counteract that very acidic base.

How do I know what kind of dolomite and where from?

BunkerAriel, then I’ll also correct my statement regarding the reset. Didn’t know that it was organic.

Dolomite is super easy to get as dolomite flour or dolomitic lime at any nursery, growshop, or garden center (even in online stores searching for “Dolomitkalk” or “Dolomite lime”); make sure it’s in a fine powder or micro-milled format and not in large granules so that it acts quickly, simply asking for it as agricultural calcium and magnesium carbonate. It’s super affordable, natural, and works great for applying a tablespoon to the substrate now and saving the rest to make your next mixes.

Ok thanks for now BunkerAriel​