|
Post by PingKing on Jan 17, 2007 16:57:20 GMT -5
Hi everyone,
For some reason I always had problem keeping any pinguicula primulifloras alive. The primuliflora I got from Stephen had 3 plantleds so i decided to do some testing with them. All 3 plants were in the same tank and light but diff pots. I heard primuliflora pings like very very! acidic soil. One of the plants I water with distilled water only and for the other 2 I did mixed in a gallon of distilled water, 2 full teaspoons of white vinegar. I did water all 3 at the same time every time. Well after almost 2 months the loner plantled die about a week ago but the other 2 I did water with the mix of vinegar are doing amazing. I am almost thinking vinegar is acting as a fertilizer almost. Very robust fast growing Lil plants. I wish I had a camera handy.
I thought I would be nice to share this with everyone.
Cheers
Xavier
|
|
|
Post by vraev on Jan 17, 2007 17:34:48 GMT -5
hmm...interesting. Do u think that I should do that as well....BTW....what does it mean if the plant's leaves are shrivelling a little and becoming dried out. the tips of some leaves are doing this.
Also what would u say to me using the vinegar + water especially since my media is all connceted to other plants as well. do u think i should still do this? will it not harm my VFT's??
|
|
|
Post by lloyd on Jan 17, 2007 18:24:42 GMT -5
That works out to only .04% acetic acid. I know in TC they advise adding acetic acid in small amounts to adjust the final pH to ~5.7. So it's hard to imagine that concentration would hurt anything.
|
|
|
Post by PingKing on Jan 17, 2007 18:28:50 GMT -5
Lloyd the Ph on the water was between 2 and 3 quite acidic that is what my Ph measured at. The Ph of the distilled water with out vinegar measured at 5.
|
|
|
Post by PingKing on Jan 17, 2007 18:30:26 GMT -5
I have never had VFT so i can't answer your question. Vraev you might have to do a bit of research and find out. hmm...interesting. Do u think that I should do that as well....BTW....what does it mean if the plant's leaves are shrivelling a little and becoming dried out. the tips of some leaves are doing this. Also what would u say to me using the vinegar + water especially since my media is all connceted to other plants as well. do u think i should still do this? will it not harm my VFT's??
|
|
|
Post by lloyd on Jan 17, 2007 18:38:38 GMT -5
pH, I think, can be a bit misleading. I think buffering capacity is important too. My dehumidifier water should be "pure" water with a bit of dust and maybe a little bit of aluminum from the radiator fins. Its pH is around 3 but it's buffering capacity should be very low so it wouldn't be able to do much damage despite its low pH. Maybe it's like hot air and hot water. Hot water is more dangerous than hot air of the same temperature because of its higher specific heat.
|
|
|
Post by PingKing on Jan 17, 2007 18:43:30 GMT -5
Agree Lloyd but the Ph I use is accurate I use it for my Shrimp tank and the Ph must be accurate if not I might have lots of cook shimps.
I think the P. primuliflora is reacting amazingly from the mixed water even the mother plant that was a bit down is very robust right now.
Now I am not expert so I might be wrong in all this
|
|
|
Post by sdeering on Jan 17, 2007 19:09:37 GMT -5
Do you calibrate your meter Xavier? They can be a little troublesome if you don’t treat them right. The reason I ask is that distilled water should be a Ph of 7 not 5. You can buy calibration liquid at a hydroponics store or fish stoor in your case. I use a 7 and 4 to cal my Ph meter. I also store it in RO water. Never let the bulb dry out. Interesting though. I may have to give it a try.
If you are adding anything to distilled water to change the PH it wont take much to get a big movement. Although when you pour that water into the plant medium the medium will buffer the ph and move it closer to what the ph of the medium was.
What I do once and a while, is pore a little distilled water Ph 7 in the plant medium then catch the first 20mils or so tat runs out the bottom and measure with your PH meter. This will tell you if the medium is acid or alkaline. Keep up the testing. Stephen
|
|
|
Post by PingKing on Jan 17, 2007 21:41:45 GMT -5
hey stephen,
The Ph tester i use is not electronic or anything like that. it is supposed to be acurated though i will get a diff Ph tester and do another test of that distilled water.
thx for the coments
later Xavier
|
|
|
Post by sdeering on Jan 17, 2007 22:19:05 GMT -5
If yourt using paper strips you may have varied results.
|
|
|
Post by lloyd on Jan 18, 2007 0:15:39 GMT -5
I didn't mean to suggest that the pH measurement was incorrect. Just that it would take very little of an acid or base to change the pH of pure water. Also after this water is added to any media especially organic it would essentially be the same pH as the media itself because of the media buffering ability, as mentioned above. It's hard to imagine that a very dilute acetic acid solution could change the pH of a partly organic medium (peat moss).
|
|
|
Post by PingKing on Jan 18, 2007 18:51:17 GMT -5
agree with that Lloyd. Thanks for the input. Xavier
|
|