Looking for recommendations on what to use for testing. Preferably something I can pick up locally at a garden center or Home Depot or something to start...
i picked up two soil ph meters at ace and neither one of them worked so i'm just tesing my runoff and the water i put in. If you find one that works post it please cause i'm tired of wasting my money. =)
Anything found at either a garden center or home depot will be cheap junk and a waste of money.. A good meter will set you back a few hundred dollars.. But your growing in soil so you don't need a meter at all anyhow.. If you must have one and I stress you don't, buy a general hydroponics dropper kit.. Under 10 dollars it's fool proof and will do what you need for cheap.. Local hydro store will have them.. http://www.amazon.com/General-Hydroponics-Test-Kit-1-Ounce/dp/B000BT32UA The only time I EVER use it is to PH the water I use in my rock wool cubes for cloning and not even that now as my city tap water PH never changes from 8.5 and I know how much acid I need to correct with.. Half an eyedropper to 1 quart.. http://forum.grasscity.com/organic-growing/1116550-easy-organic-soil-mix-beginners.html/page-1 Here is the organic soil mix thread for a water only blend.. No meters, no chemical nutes, No bullshit.. A good organic soil is self PH correcting and it won't matter if your water is high or low.. BNW
Cool thanks. I've been composting for years for my veggie garden. I know my soil can be a little heavy on the nitrogen some years... Don't want to burn my clones out.
The best cheap ph meter I have found is a Milwaukee ph600. You can get them for about $25 shipped. That being said, I don't use a ph meter in soil. Like brass stated, good soil will correct itself unless the water going in is extremely acidic or alkaline.
It's weird my soil is like ph7 my water is ph6.5 and my runoff is ph6. is that the weak nutes i gave them that i shouldn't have as seedlings? thinking i should go ahead and give them a does of un ph'd water next watering see if i can get teh runoff to 6.5.
sunleaves digital soil ph meter works well but it only goes by .5 which kinda sucks..does work though had low ph in roots soil a couple times and it read 5.0..ive checked organic soil after cooking and it reads 7 and certain good soils have read 6.5 to 7 so seems good to me