Is This a Good Soil Tester? Looking for Any Advice for a Soil Noob

http://www.ebay.com/itm/350354353085?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649

Ok guys, as my name implies I am a hydro grower but I am looking to grow a few mother plants in soil so I can save some money on ordering seeds. The last time I tried a soil grow I overwatered causing stem rot and killed my plant. I never even checked ph because I didn't know what I was doing at all. I have since done a little research and I realize a soil tester is pretty necessary. Will this one work? What about the fertilizer tester capability, does this really work or is it even useful? I bought a large bag of Fox Farm Ocean Forest potting mix and a grow tent for my mothers. Is there any advice anyone can give me to make my soil endeavor less painful? Thanks alot RIU!

the easiest way to make soil endeavors easy and painless is to make sure you have plenty of drainage(lots of perlite) and make sure its prelimed to buffer the PH. Since you are growing mothers they will be around for a while, just pick up a small bag of dolomite lime from a garden store/hardware store and topdress with a few tablespoons every month or so and that will keep your PH in check and you'll have no need to test

I don't have any experience with PH testers, just my experience growing in soil not worrying about PH at all due to having good prelimed soil to begin with

I am planning on using 5 gallon buckets, will this be big enough and do you have any suggestions on how to drain? I was thinking about drilling multiple holes in the bottoms and elevating the buckets on bricks above a drain tray. So I should add a bag of perlite to my FFOF and a little lime on top and I'm good?

I have a digital version of that one
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003JEJEYM/ref=oh_o01_s00_i00_details

Turned out to be junk. I just add lime now, and don't really worry that much about PH.

massah said:

the easiest way to make soil endeavors easy and painless is to make sure you have plenty of drainage(lots of perlite) and make sure its prelimed to buffer the PH. Since you are growing mothers they will be around for a while, just pick up a small bag of dolomite lime from a garden store/hardware store and topdress with a few tablespoons every month or so and that will keep your PH in check and you'll have no need to test

I don't have any experience with PH testers, just my experience growing in soil not worrying about PH at all due to having good prelimed soil to begin with

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mass , knows his dirt. all you have to do is start with good dirt and maybe a lil lime every once in a while and you never worry about ph.

I dont care how many folks disagree , but soil can not be tested accurately with any regular tester. (cheap or digital)

ph and tds meters measure by way of metals and in a good organic dirt the metals get bound up in the organic goodness. thats the very good thing about good dirt, if the biology is right , then all the harmful bacteria and pathogens cant survive.

you can test ten different parts of your soil and all ten will give you a different reading.
sometimes a meter or tester is good to have around just to mess with, but you wont need one for dirt.

another misconception folks get is that dirt is easier then water , an that is far from true. they are both an art. For me dirt is much more difficult to get dialed in to your species.






soil

ATL HYDRO said:

I am planning on using 5 gallon buckets, will this be big enough and do you have any suggestions on how to drain? I was thinking about drilling multiple holes in the bottoms and elevating the buckets on bricks above a drain tray. So I should add a bag of perlite to my FFOF and a little lime on top and I'm good?

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yes add perlite to loosen the mix up. the number one prob with growers and soil is not getting enough aeration in the mix. the looser the mix the more "forgiving" it is, an also if its loose enough you wont have to worry bout over watering.

plenty of aeration an biology = a soil that works itself.

there is lime already in that mix , so i would wait an top dress it once every month or two.







soil

Thanks guys, I will pass on the tester and grab some lime!

ATL HYDRO said:

I am planning on using 5 gallon buckets, will this be big enough and do you have any suggestions on how to drain? I was thinking about drilling multiple holes in the bottoms and elevating the buckets on bricks above a drain tray. So I should add a bag of perlite to my FFOF and a little lime on top and I'm good?

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I use 5 gallon buckets now and I just drilled a shitton of 7/16ths holes in the bottom of it and used the side of the drill bit to cut holes around the bottom "lip" of the bucket so the water comes out from underneath the bucket so I don't have to lift them up off the floor.

Yeah just mix about 4:1 soil to perlite and yer good to transplant your plants into them and wait about 2-3 months to topdress with lime, and just retopdress it every month or two afterwards.

also using that amount of soil to perlite ratio you'll be watering just about every 1-2 days. I was trying to water every 3 days and I ended up having underwatering issues, but it fixed itself after 2 days of watering daily and the leaves perked back up

if you have never messed with dirt before then , a smaller pot is easier to maintain. if your gonna use 5 gallons then make sure there is plenty of perlite , and remember that 5 gallons is a lot of room for roots , so they may not need water for a long time.




soil

Thanks guys.

You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to wyteboi again.
You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to massah again.

One more thing, how long until I start adding nutes to the water? And would I mix my nutes the same as I would for hydro? i.e. Would I mix nutes until I get 700ppm starting out, or how does that work. In DWC it is easy to just add until you reach the proper ppm, but can I use about the same ppm for soil?

ATL HYDRO said:

One more thing, how long until I start adding nutes to the water? And would I mix my nutes the same as I would for hydro? i.e. Would I mix nutes until I get 700ppm starting out, or how does that work. In DWC it is easy to just add until you reach the proper ppm, but can I use about the same ppm for soil?

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In DWC the PPM of your nutrients correlates to the amount of nutrients the plants root system can absorb. In a soil system all you are doing is adding more nutrients into the soil for the nutrients to absorb, so its in essence harder to regulate how much nutrients are in soil because you don't have a clue whats in it still. Since you are working with good soil to begin with you probably won't need to add any nutrients for at LEAST a good month if not two. Personally after about 1.5 months I start adding back in some 10-10-10 at about 300-400ppm and work my way up over 2-3 weeks to about 900ppm, every other watering...its the type of thing you just need to test out whats going on and adapt as needed. Once you have your routine down its just maintaining that routine of adding in some nutes to keep the plant feeding. The topdressing of dolomite lime every month or two should suffice in giving the plant the calcium and magnesium it needs, and if you use some Shultz liquid cactus food that contains 2-7-7NPK+micronutrients you don't have to worry about the micronutes either as they will get replenished slowly.

You basically just need to balance out your nutes as to what the plant needs...since its a mom grow you will focus on the "veg" type nutrient quantities, so higher N, lesser P/K...if you notice the plant getting a little lime colored you need more N and just topdress a tablespoon of bloodmeal and it should be fine...you'll get your routine down after a little while

like mass said it all depends on what your species can eat. you can use your hydro numbers to start with , but they will need changed to meet the plants needs.

what foods are you gonna use ?






soil

hey guys sorry to hi jack dudes thread but i just learned alot from wyteboi and messah so i wanted to ask any advice you guys have for using the earth juice line. and also ive been having problems with my ph but wasnt sure if i cud topdress with lime, i thought it had to be mixed in. so can i still add lime when im in fifth week of flowering??? thank u guys gotta smash my ladies to work . late

thousanaire said:

hey guys sorry to hi jack dudes thread but i just learned alot from wyteboi and messah so i wanted to ask any advice you guys have for using the earth juice line. and also ive been having problems with my ph but wasnt sure if i cud topdress with lime, i thought it had to be mixed in. so can i still add lime when im in fifth week of flowering??? thank u guys gotta smash my ladies to work . late

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i used an still use EJ , the whole line. the food when its first mixed has a ph of around 4 , then after bubbling for a day or two the ph goes back to the sweet range.

mixing EJ and a peat based mix is a recipe for trash. you can top dress with lime anytime. just add a tbs or two and cover with fresh dirt.
that will help to keep your ph in the sweet range. also if your using a peat based mix then it will help to bubble the EJ for a day or two so the lime dont have to work so hard to raise the ph.

your not really gonna overdo it with EJ if you go by the label.

use a good soil instead of peat moss and the EJ is top of the line food. (bubbling an ph stabilizer not needed) just dump in your pot.

the food is kinda weak , so you can use with every watering at regular strength or less. once you get your soil dialed in you can use way less. until then you can use way more.

be careful with the meta-k an microblast , you dont need much of them at all. use as directed with micro's. an the meta-k is just a high dose of K , so use that only when needed.

what mix are you usin now ? you should just open a new thread for your issues, no one will mind. i ll help all i can.






soil

ATL HYDRO said:

Thanks guys, I will pass on the tester and grab some lime!

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Probably the smartest move you ever made AFA growing. In dirt anyway.

Wet

wyteboi said:

if you have never messed with dirt before then , a smaller pot is easier to maintain. if your gonna use 5 gallons then make sure there is plenty of perlite , and remember that 5 gallons is a lot of room for roots , so they may not need water for a long time.





soil

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I keep my host plants in 1 gal containers. Lots of bonsai/LST and regular haircuts/trimming keeps them well under 2' tall. I toss 4-5x as much as I actually need for clones. They have been in the gallon pots a bit over a year.

After a year or so when they start getting gnarly, I'll start new moms, transplant the old ones into 5gal buckets and flower them out. Works well for me.

Been running the same strain going on 3 years now.

Wet

wyteboi said:

i used an still use EJ , the whole line. the food when its first mixed has a ph of around 4 , then after bubbling for a day or two the ph goes back to the sweet range.

mixing EJ and a peat based mix is a recipe for trash. you can top dress with lime anytime. just add a tbs or two and cover with fresh dirt.
that will help to keep your ph in the sweet range. also if your using a peat based mix then it will help to bubble the EJ for a day or two so the lime dont have to work so hard to raise the ph.
P
your not really gonna overdo it with EJ if you go by the label.

use a good soil instead of peat moss and the EJ is top of the line food. (bubbling an ph stabilizer not needed) just dump in your pot.

the food is kinda weak , so you can use with every watering at regular strength or less. once you get your soil dialed in you can use way less. until then you can use way more.

be careful with the meta-k an microblast , you dont need much of them at all. use as directed with micro's. an the meta-k is just a high dose of K , so use that only when needed.

what mix are you usin now ? you should just open a new thread for your issues, no one will mind. i ll help all i can.






soil

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Hey for sure man I have a grow journal that u guys could check out a have a few pictures up on there too I'm not sure if my signature link is working or not. Anyways yea I've been bubbling my nutes I jus got a better airstone and have started using r.o. water so the food has been lookin better and I top dressed with some dolmite lime. So would fox farm ocean forest be a peat based soil or not and I'm going to be replanting all of my new couple clones that I got at the end of January when my current six should be done. I was thinking of doing a soil mix with 30 % perlite and lime. What soil brand is a good choice to use as a base? Thanks guys u all r teaching me hella.
And ill be putting up some new picutres soon on my journal

thousanaire said:

Hey for sure man I have a grow journal that u guys could check out a have a few pictures up on there too I'm not sure if my signature link is working or not. Anyways yea I've been bubbling my nutes I jus got a better airstone and have started using r.o. water so the food has been lookin better and I top dressed with some dolmite lime. So would fox farm ocean forest be a peat based soil or not and I'm going to be replanting all of my new couple clones that I got at the end of January when my current six should be done. I was thinking of doing a soil mix with 30 % perlite and lime. What soil brand is a good choice to use as a base? Thanks guys u all r teaching me hella.
And ill be putting up some new picutres soon on my journal

Click to expand...

well i like roots organic for a base , but since it cost more then i wanna spend , i use fox farms happy frog an been reusing for a couple three years now.

moisture and aeration is the key.





soil