Ph levels

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pebble
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Ph levels

Post by pebble »

So was down at the big green warehouse today buying a few things, and walked past ph tester.
Had been reading a bit about what ph levels certain plants should be and thought I would get one and test some of my soils.

That got me thinking is this a regular part of your bonsai regiment?
Do you check your ph levels regularly?

Does it need to be done? Or if you use a good potting mix it doesn’t need to be done?






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Re: Ph levels

Post by shibui »

Most plants will tolerate a range of pH so, in practice you can grow trees in most mixes. Some growers have a different mix for different classes of plant but I grow a wide range of species in the same standard mix and they all seem to do OK. In most cases the potting mix supplier has already checked for you and used ingredients they know will react in a known way.
I'm told that the electronic probes are not particularly accurate. Most people buy one, use it a couple of times then it stays in the cupboard with all the other 'useful' gadgets.
When I need to check pH I use the kit with the indicator solution and powder which is supposed to give a far more accurate reading.
One of the problems with checking pH of potting mix or compost is that it will change as the mix ages so the initial measurement is not always the same as the pH after a year or 2.
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Re: Ph levels

Post by dansai »

While studying horticulture a few years ago we had to do a ph test on a soil. We had to dry out the soil completely (was told you could do this in a microwave. Ended up drying the soil and killing the microwave). We then had to weigh out exactly 100 grams of soil and add some water (can’t remember the exact amount, but it also needed to be weighed). We then tested this solution for ph and ec. At the time the teacher said it was far harder to get an accurate reading from a potting mix.

As shibui has said, potting mix changes over time and will have a different ph through its lifetime. I have used many different mixes with a wide range of plants, grown for different uses. The only one I have had trouble with was a very gravelly mix that aome rainforest trees seemed to struggle in. I put it down to it drying out too much.

Fertilisers can also change the ph.
Last edited by dansai on April 22nd, 2018, 8:20 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Ph levels

Post by pebble »

Sweet, so sounds like it was a waste of money. I probably should have asked before I bought.
Oh well it was interesting to do anyway. Maybe not $19 interesting.
I could have bought another stick in a pot for that :lol:


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