Hand watering tips, ph Up and pH down an inexpensive solution

Folks

I am not sure if y'all noticed, the industry is saturated with new nutrient companies getting on the cannabis wagon. While your cannabis plants don't care where their NPK, supplements and minerals come from, but you should, be careful about what you buy.

There are all kinds of pH Up and pH down products out in the market place as well.
To be completely honest, I've never purchased or used any in my grows.

I grow in a mix of coco coir, Pro Mix, perlite, worm castings and diatomaceous earth.
Anyone who grows in soil-less mediums knows the importance pH plays in maintaining a healthy plant.
As well as healthy and diverse bacteria population which your plants have a symbiotic relation ship with.

If you are like me, and hand water your plants, there are inexpensive acids and bases in our food supply that are available to help you adjust your water/nutrient pH. And not surprising that most retail products also use some of the same acids and bases. However, it is the other stuff they add to their products that are not necessary all that great for your plants. Nor are they necessary when you are mixing your feed as you need it and hand watering. These retail market pH up/down products are really designed for DWC and reservoir feeding systems to help you maintain a proper pH as they don't break down rapidly.

The internet is full of information about what you can use as an acid to pH down or a base to pH up and I have tested out allot of them. I finally settled on and have been using citric acid as pH down and baking soda as pH up for the last 3 years. Both these are in powdered form, and I am not sure about you but I like working with liquids I can draw up in a syringe or pipette rather than spooning up powders.

For my pH down solution, I mix 2 tablespoons of citric acid powder to 100 ml distilled water
For my pH up solution, I mix 2 tablespoons of baking soda to 100 ml distilled water

Dosage is to add enough pH up or pH down solution to achieve the desired pH value for your feed or water. Testing the pH with a frequently calibrated pH meter is recommended.

Peace out ?