How to use pH Scale in your Marijuana Garden

Scaling the pH in your marijuana garden is highly important to do because you will be able to avoid encountering marijuana problems and you can get an assurance that your marijuana plant will grow with great potential which will work best at your personal desires. Some may find this a little bit complicated to do, but once you have mastered the secrets of checking and adjusting your pH in your marijuana garden, rest assured that this task will become much easier to deal with.

That being said, since everyone already knows what is pH, let us discuss the pH range that we should use when growing a marijuana plant, how to use the pH scale and its measuring tools, and how to adjust your pH if your growing medium is not placed on its ideal pH value.

What is the ideal pH value that every cannabis growers should follow?

We all know what is pH and its purpose. But for those who are not yet familiar with this, pH scale is being utilized to measure the acidity and alkalinity of your water solution. It contains numbers from 1 to 14 which helps in indicating the condition of your solution.

If you pH scale shows 7, it means that your solution is in a neutral phase. If your pH value is in 1, it only means that your solution is the most acidic, while the pH value of 14 means that your solution is the most alkaline.

The pH of your cannabis plants will depend on your chosen growing medium. For an instance, if you are growing your cannabis plants in a soil, you need to follow the pH range between 6.0 to 7.0 pH since cannabis plants are best to grow if the soil is acidic.

For hydroponics, coco coir, and soilless growers, you need to set your pH range between 5.5 to 6.5 pH. And when you are growing your cannabis plants using these mediums, you have to make sure that you will always monitor and make necessary adjustments to your pH when it is needed since powder and liquid nutrients are more difficult to manage. So be watchful to avoid encountering some trouble!

How to use the pH scale in your cannabis when testing and adjusting?

Now that we know the right pH range to follow while growing cannabis plants, let us now learn how we can use the pH scale when testing and adjusting your pH. But before we do that, we should prepare the following materials:

1. Your chosen pH tester

You can either opt for a digital pH pen as your pH tester or use the pH measurement kit that has inclusions of drops or strips. If you use a digital pH pen expect that you will get a more accurate result since you don’t need to use a chart or any guesswork to know the pH of your solution. However, the price is too expensive and you need to be extra careful when using this one since it is very easy to break.

If you will use the pH measurement kit with strips or drops, you can save a lot of your money since its price is cheaper than the digital pH pen. But as time passes by, you will notice that you are actually spending too much for this pH tester.

When it comes to the accuracy, there is no guarantee that you will figure out the right pH of your solution since you need to read the color and use a chart to know its value. But you can learn some good tricks on how to perfectly use the strips or drops, however, this is more time consuming than using a digital pH pen.

So the choice is yours – digital pH pen or pH strips or drops.

2. Nutrients

Prepare your nutrients as well for this will be needed while testing your pH.

3. Water and container

Get your tap water or special water if needed. But tap water is usually doing great and fine for most of our cannabis growers. Then after preparing your water, you need to get a container that is not fragile to use most especially if you are using a digital pH pen to avoid breaking it. Just use a container that is purposely made for testing pH if there’s any, but a drinking water container will do.

4. Use pH Up and pH down

This is needed when your pH is out of your range. If your pH is too high, then you need to add pH down, and if it is too low, add pH up.

Steps to follow when testing and adjusting your pH:

1. Get your tap water and add your nutrients on it.
2. Stir the solution or carefully shake it to get the exact pH of your water when tested.
3. Test your pH now using your preferred pH tester.

For those who are using a pH drop or strip, you need to get your sample first on a test tube using your drop then add two or three drops into your pH strip or dip your pH strip. Then after such, you can now match the color of your strip to the color chart to get the pH range of your solution.

With regards to digital pH pen, you don’t need to use a color chart or anything, you just have to follow the directions given on how to use your chosen digital pH pen brand then wait for its result that will appear on its screen.

4. Adjust your pH using pH up and pH down.

If your pH range is not ideal according to its right pH range, you need to use the pH up and pH down to correct its pH range.

If your pH is too high, you need to add 1 tsp per gallon or 1 ml per gallon of pH down as your starting measurement using a syringe to get the exact amount needed. If your pH is still high, add another one.

When your pH is too low, you need to add more pH up for about 2 to 4 ml per gallon of water since 1 ml per gallon of water can reduce your pH to 1 point. So when trying to increase your pH, you need to add more pH up to double your pH faster.

5. Test the pH again.

After the adjustments, you need to re-test your solution to ensure that it is in the right pH range. Take note, you don’t need to get the exact pH value. For an instance, your pH value is showing 6.8, it is okay as long as it will not go over its pH range which is 7.0. Let the pH value play on its own to avoid complications and also to lessen the hassle on your part.

Then after checking your pH, you need to water your plants using a solution with nutrients. But make sure that you will test your water first to ensure that you will not get a bad pH at the end.

 

There you have it! Checking and adjusting your pH is not too complicated to do for as long as you will follow all the rules. So be obedient and patient for this is one of the best ways for you to harvest the best crops!