Struggle to get my PPM numbers correct

[GreenBean28]

I am using a high quality meter and the best organic nutrients (it's a 5 part system plus CalMag) that I can find here in Germany. I'm in week 6 of veg and per the recommended manufacturer dosage per liter, I'm mixing 2ml "grow", .5ml CalMag and another couple of ml of their other products. This is giving me a PPM of less than 400. I'm not sure if my pen uses the 500 or 700 scale, but either way I think that my PPM is too low when compared to other growers online. For example, my favorite grower online is getting around 1500PPM in his mix. Regardless of which scale he uses, I would have to use enormous amounts of nutrient to get this number. My runoff however was around 1500PPM which is too high, but that's because I didn't realize how much nutrient was already in the soil - I'm working on getting that number lower now. Is it normal for my nutrient mix to be less than 400PPM? I have two meters and they both verify this number.

 

[ArtfulCodger]

A ppm/EC pen measures the electrical conductivity of the nutrient solution, which is driven by how much salt is dissolved in the water. Organic nutrients, by definition, are not fully dissolved. In order for the nutrient molecules to become plant-available (and also ppm-meter-available), they have to undergo some amount of processing by the roots and the organisms in the media. A ppm/EC pen can tell you exactly how much synthetic nutrient is in a feeding solution. It can't tell you how much organic nutrient there is.

 

[Week4Bytch]

A ppm/EC pen measures the electrical conductivity of the nutrient solution, which is driven by how much salt is dissolved in the water. Organic nutrients, by definition, are not fully dissolved. In order for the nutrient molecules to become plant-available (and also ppm-meter-available), they have to undergo some amount of processing by the roots and the organisms in the media. A ppm/EC pen can tell you exactly how much synthetic nutrient is in a feeding solution. It can't tell you how much organic nutrient there is.

This ^

 

[GreenBean28]

A ppm/EC pen measures the electrical conductivity of the nutrient solution, which is driven by how much salt is dissolved in the water. Organic nutrients, by definition, are not fully dissolved. In order for the nutrient molecules to become plant-available (and also ppm-meter-available), they have to undergo some amount of processing by the roots and the organisms in the media. A ppm/EC pen can tell you exactly how much synthetic nutrient is in a feeding solution. It can't tell you how much organic nutrient there is.

Damn! That's exactly what I needed to hear/learn. Thank you very much sir that was a fine answer!