Best Water PH for Pot? (For Maximum Growth)
As I start to increase my marijuana knowledge so I can grow bigger and better buds on my plants, I am realizing I need to take a bit more of a scientific approach. At first, when I thought about the water that I was providing my plants, I took the stance of it’s just water and marijuana grows like a weed so it’s not really a concern.
The one thing I do is leave water out in a pail until it gets to the room temperature of the grow tent, so it doesn’t shock the plants. I don’t know if it makes a difference but if you are trying to keep a plant’s roots a certain warmer temperature, why would you pour cold water on them?
What is the best water PH for pot? If you grow marijuana in soilless substrate such as a hydroponic setup or using coco coir, the ideal PH is 5.5 to 6.5. When using organic soil, the ideal water PH is 6 to 7. Adding water to the grow medium will change the PH of the substrate. Testing the substrate with a PH testing kit is necessary.
Now that we have a high level of knowledge on what PH level is best for your weed plants, some other things come to mind for me such as how does soil PH affect my plant, how do I raise or lower the PH of my plants substrate? So, that is what this article is about. Figuring out what the water’s PH should be ideally and how to raise or lower it to benefit your pot plants.
And now, if you are ready to dive in then let’s get right to it!
What is PH in Water?
Before we get started on the rest of this article, let’s first understand what PH is. PH stands for “potential hydrogen”. PH is essentially a scale that tells you if your water is acidic or alkaline and just how acidic or alkaline by the number test results display – 7 is the line between acidic and alkaline water. Anything lower than 7 is acidic and higher is alkaline. Drinking water is ideally 6 to 8.5.
Does Soil PH Affect the Plants?
Soil PH affects how your plants grow. The PH standard for soil you use to grow your weed is 6 to 7. If you use hydroponics or coco coir, for example, then the PH should be lower in the range of 5.5 to 6.5.
When the PH in your plant’s substrate is higher or lower than the range it should be, your plants can’t absorb the nutrients they need to, too flourish. You have probably heard the term “nutrient lockout” before and this is exactly what that means. Your plants can’t absorb the nutrients they need. They will still absorb water and grow but they won’t produce big lush buds like they should.
How to Test Water and Soil PH for Pot Plants
Thanks to ever improving technology, you can easily test your PH in water and soil by using a digital tester that can be purchased at places like Amazon. It is as easy as sticking the end of the tester into the water or soil and checking the meter for your results.
***These PH tester’s for water on Amazon are good options.***
***This PH tester for soil not only tests PH but soil moisture as well. ***
Now, you are probably wondering if you need a tester for water and soil. I would say no, you don’t need both however, having both will allow you to better troubleshoot what needs adjusting more, if you know what needs it. If you had to pick just one though, I would go with the soil tester. You can determine if your water needs to be more alkaline or not simply by testing wet soil and dry soil.
How to Adjust Water PH for Plants
Luckily, water is typically slightly alkaline whereas soil is acidic, and the waters PH will pull up the PH of the soil bringing it into the range you need most of the time. However, there are times when this just doesn’t happen, and you’re left with underperforming marijuana plants. It’s such a waste of time and energy to spend countless hours trying to grow a beautiful plant to end up with sub poor results.
- If you want to raise the PH naturally, try using garden lime in the water before you pour it onto your plants. Baking Soda is also a good option.
- If you want to lower the PH level naturally, try mixing in a bit of white vinegar into the water. This will help bring the water down as vinegar makes water acidic. Lemons are also a good option to lower a waters PH.
Those are a couple of natural ways to lower or raise PH levels in your water for your pot plants.
If you want to take the guess work out of this process, thankfully there are products available to help you raise or lower PH quickly and easily. Nectar for the Gods has an excellent product to raise or lower your waters PH levels. Check it out on Amazon.
Signs of High or Low PH in Weed Plants
To fully and completely answer this question would take an article of its own with multiple pictures as examples. Maybe something for a future post. For now, what I can tell you is that if you have any yellowing or browning of the leaves, chances are you have an issue with PH.
Your weed plants will either have deficiencies or an abundance of nutrients, causing the issues. These problems are also called nute lock or ute burn, depending on which issue it is you have. Some plants have a lighter green than they should or maybe the outer edges of the leaves are turning brown. These all have different reasons for happening. Here is a short reference list for you.
- Correct PH for Soil 6 – 7
- Correct PH for Soilless 5.5 – 6.5
Problems you might notice with your weed plants.
- Brown spots – Calcium deficiency
- Yellowing tips – Copper deficiency
- Inner leaves turning yellow – Iron Deficiency
- Leaves yellowing between veins – Magnesium deficiency
- Brown spots and yellowing between veins – manganese deficiency
- Brown or yellow edges – potassium deficiency
- Top leaves yellowing – zinc deficiency
Believe it or not, these are not the only issues your plants could have. You can also run into issues with over or under watering as well as problems with bugs. What you should take away from this list is if you see some sort of discoloration, you should take immediate action.
Now, I know you can purchase products such as cal-mag for calcium and magnesium deficiency but if you don’t check and adjust the PH levels, the plants health will only get worse. You end up over fertilizing, causing nutrient burn which means that plant just won’t absorb any nutrients at all and end up dying.
Best PH Level for Seed Germination
The ideal PH level for seed germination is not known however there is a recommendation of approximately 5.2 to 6. In my opinion, here are the ranges you should shoot for the recommended PH range for your growing medium.
For instance, if you are using organic soil get your PH in the range of 6 – 7.
If you are using hydroponics or coco coir (soilless medium) shoot for 5.5 – 6.5.
With those ranges being said it looks like as long as you are in the range of 6 – 6.5 you will be okay in any type of growing medium.
Final Thoughts
The most important information to take away from this article is that your weed plants need a specific PH level. This can be checked by over pouring your plants pot and checking the runoff for the PH level. I also use a soil PH tester.
Typically, you won’t have any issues as the combination of organic soils and most tap water combined provide you with just the right PH level.
It is also very important to ‘take action’ immediately, if you test outside of the PH range you want to be in. Reason being is if your plant starts to lock out absorbing nutrients it is hard to correct the problem.
Luckily, marijuana grows ‘like a weed’, regardless of problems the plants might run into. Chances are when you provide the heat and light, they require you will be just fine. Good luck!
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