Sorry for making a lot of assumptions. I'll know better next time. But, he is using fox farm soil, so I kinda do know what the runoff ppm of that should be. Also, he is watering 3-5 times a week. If there is no runoff when he waters, I jumped the gun to assuming a buildup of salts in the soil. The flush I talked about wasn't gallons, it was enough to collect runoff to check. If it comes in at 5000 ppm, its a build up. Quick test.
But apologies for rattling the anti-flush gods. Mea-Culpa.
No problem and I may have come off a bit strong....sorry.
I first learned from and old guy back in the early 70's....I spent just over 3 years with the guy. He used "reading the plant" to tell him what he needed to do. I left and went home, with a fair base of knowledge and the urge to learn more. This time it was schooling and book learning...
I got to the old guys point and had that book knowledge to work with too. i know and understand meters and such....I just don't have much use for them! I find it far easier to simply let the plant tell me what it's doing and I'll know why....
I always pic up rooted clones before transplant and pull them from the containers and smell the roots. I was doing this with out thinking and was totally absorbed in what I was doing. I didn't see one of my employee's watching me. She came over and ask what I was doing.....I didn't even stop. I simply said I was figuring out what one's are the healthiest, and ready to transplant. "With out looking at the plant? she asked. I then realized what I was doing and lined out what the different assortment of plants meant.
"These need more time. These cpl are having a problem and the rest are ready to go! Pick them up and smell closely the roots and soil from the sides and bottom of the root ball. Try it, and tell me what do you smell?" I said.
"These smell like nice dirt. Like from the woods". (ready to go one's) These smell off, a little bit. Kinda sweet maybe a small ammonia odor but, just a little tiny bit. The roots aren't as quite as thick or heavy. (needed more time before trans)... These two smell sour like, kinda cheese like.." (the bad one's - I had her toss those into the incinerator.)
I helped her through College as she studied Agronomy and Horticulture. She now runs the operations on my organic ground grown produce farms.....She's one of the best growers I know....still always experimenting....
The moral.....There's more then one way to skin a deer (I like cats).....Always keep learning and don't rely on any tool to do the work you can do better!
I better shut up or Sparkle will show up and say I'm an old wind bag.....
