Adjusting PH

[bazinga]

So I am going to be making my homemade media today.

Can I use lemon juice or vinegar to lower the PH and baking soda to raise the PH levels or is PH up or down bought at stores a better solution?

[WhiteRabbit]

[PaphMadMan]

A good media recipe should be close to pH balanced so only minimal adjustment should be necessary. You should be able to get there with white vinegar and baking soda, and anything meant for human consumption should be safe enough to use in small amounts. Commercial pH Down would need to be diluted to avoid over-adjustment. pH Up wouldn't be much different than baking soda.

[ALToronto]

I use citric acid to drop pH in my water - the water is alkaline to begin with. I think vinegar is toxic to orchids, is it not?

If the pH of your medium is too low, crushed limestone or oyster shell is a much better amendment than sodium bicarbonate.

[imationkarl]

You can use organics to change ph. I sell a few different ph Up and Down products on my site i'll link to you.

organic:
Earth Juice Natural Up | Planet Natural

inorganic:
pH-Down | Planet Natural