white vinegar

what are your long term (eg. entire grow or longer) sentiments about using white (aka distilled) vinegar in organic soil?

it seems to have the following applications:
+ organic ph down
+ reduces odor
+ stratifies seeds at 1 to 4 dilution

- used as herbicide
- used as germicide

so one presumes that the amount of vinegar is crucial to its effect. there are lots of reports of people using it as a ph down, i'm wondering if anyone who uses it routinely for this has made an A/B observation about how it affects the soil, vegetative and bud growth, and potency. how does it not affect potency if it reduces odor?

never used it or researched it. but my initial opinion is that i wouldnt do it.. i imagine it would be easy to overapply and have too low of a ph. not to mention vinegar stinks and i think it may adversely affect the smell and possibly flavor or your herb. using dolomite lime will balance ph.. as will alaska humus. i think its better to have things that will balance your ph instead of having something that its sole purpose is to lower ph. direct ph'ing of your soil is not something that needs to be done in organic gardening.. u arent directly feeding your plants such as with synthetic nutrients.. but u are feeding the micro life in your soil.. and all of this life in your soil is breaking down matter into a usable form for the plants. so ph is not directly as important as it is in a hydro setup or a synthetic nutrient setup.. i do not ph my organic grow and my tap water is somewhere between 8 and 9 depending on the time of the year.

i was relatively successful ignoring ph growing in soil (with organic intentions.. except for the FF nutes). i think it's still worth keeping an eye on until you've developed a relationship with a soil mix, in retrospect i can see i had a ph lockout i thought was nute burn.

i've seen several people mention that they use it but only mentions, no description of how it affects taste. the reports do seem to indicate that it reduces plant odor, so of coruse it's going to have an effect on terpenes and taste. i've never had "bland, potent" bud i've seen mentioned, but i don't want to find out about it firsthand either. could vary a lot on strain and soil mix.

I've used it for years as "pH Down". Works great. I have a gallon jar that I decant a little from, add about 50% water, and use that as my pH Down solution. Never a hitch with this method, and its way cheaper than buying the stuff. I do buy pH Up though

I'll add that in the levels I am using it, I cannot imagine it affects taste or smell of the plants in any way. I use like a tablespoon of the 50/50 mix w/ water for 5 gallons of nutrient solution.

...and guano doesn't stink?!