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Adjusting your pH after Dosing (Part 4 of 5)

Part 4 of 5: How to dose pH Up or pH Down in your Flex Acre once the one hour nutrient wait is over

After mixing nutrients into your Flex Acre, you can begin adjusting your pH once your Primary Pump has cycled for a full hour. That hour starts in Mixing Nutrients for your Flex Acre (Part 3 of 5), and checking the current pH before it is over gives you a number that is not accurate. Follow the instructions in this article to bring your Tank into the range your crop needs, and to record what you used getting there. Follow the steps in Keeping your Flex Acre Clean before you begin.

Gather Tools:

  • pH Meter
  • pH Up
  • pH Down
  • Mixing Tool

Step 1: Read the Current pH

  1. Confirm your pump has cycled for 1 hour at minimum since your last nutrient addition.
  2. Take your reading with your pH Meter.

Compare your reading to the range for your crop before you reach for a bottle. A reading already inside that range needs no correction, and your weekly pH task is finished at this point. pH is what sets how available your nutrients are to the plants, so a Tank that reads in range is doing the job the mix was meant to do.

Step 2: Add pH Up or pH Down

  1. Add pH Down in a small increment of 1 to 3 tablespoons when your reading sits above the range.
  2. Add pH Up in a small increment of 1 to 3 tablespoons when your reading sits below the range.
  3. Stir thoroughly with the mixing tool.

For lettuce and herbs, the pH range is 5.7 to 6.2. If you are at 6.3, add 1 tablespoon of pH Down. Small increments are what keep you from overshooting the range and having to correct back the other way.

Use only the pH Up and pH Down supplied by Fork Farms, as pH solutions from any other source void your warranty.

Step 3: Wait Out the Buffer Zone

  1. Allow your Flex Acre to cycle for 60 minutes at minimum after adding your adjusters.
  2. Spend that hour on Wiping Light Bars & Pruning your Plants (Part 5 of 5), as both of those jobs are done with your pump running.

A reading taken before the hour is up has not passed the chemical buffer zone, so it will not match the number your Tank settles at. Treat the 60 minutes as part of the dose rather than as a delay, and it costs you nothing on a week you have plants to prune anyway.

NOTE: THIS WAIT TIME IS MANDATORY TO PASS THE CHEMICAL BUFFER ZONE AND RECEIVE AN ACCURATE READING.

Step 4: Re-Test & Record

  1. Re-test your pH once the 60 minutes have passed.
  2. Add another increment of 1 to 3 tablespoons when your reading is still outside the range.
  3. Stir thoroughly with the mixing tool.
  4. Wait 60 minutes after every addition before you read again.
  5. Repeat the increments until the desired level is met.
  6. Record the final amounts of pH Up and pH Down you used.

Your totals belong in the same weekly entry as your PPM, so the next partner who doses your Flex Acre knows what the water already took. Logging your Flex Acre Tasks & Readings covers what each task needs recorded.

Your Flex Acre is now in range for your crop—well done! Continue to Wiping Light Bars & Pruning your Plants (Part 5 of 5) for next steps.