Is there a way to calibrate a soil ph tester?

[beanz240]

I was wondering if someone knows how to calibrate(if possible) a soil ph tester.
I am having some issues with my leaves which i was thinking might be a cal/mag problem but one of my seedlings is showing the signs.
I went and got some other soil ph testers and they are comming up the same, 6.7.
I'm growing in soil its my mix of potting soil with perlite, verm, bone and blood meal. But i'm not using that for the seedlings that is just some Jiffy seed starter stuff.
Does anyone have any ideas to check a soil ph tester?

 

[beanz240]

Also i was just thinking this to, what kind of effects could hard water have.
I haven't had a problem with this before, but lately i've seen that the animals water dish has a film in there and it's the same water i'm using for the plants.

 

[hererisssh]

I'd check runoff with a digital PH tester designed for liquids instead of those soil testers. The ones I've used were not accurate. I don't think you can calibrate the standard, cheap ones and I haven't bothered with a higher priced version of the same thing.

If the water is real hard your starting EC/PPM will be too high and will cut into the nutrients you can give the the plant. Plants can only uptake nutes up to a certain EC/PPM. Once that number is exceeded there's no benefit and a high potential for overfeeding.

If water hardness becomes a problem, or your results are repeatedly not what you expect, get a Reverse Osmosis filter or use a different water source (rain/snow/spring/distilled) and make sure to supplement with Cal/Mag.

 

[Slick]

The same solutions are used to calibrate both soil and liquid ph testers to my knowledge, though take that with a grain of salt as my knowledge is minimal in comparison to most of the excellent growers here.

 

[hererisssh]

Is there a recessed screw on the body or in the battery compartment if there is one beanz ?

 

[beanz240]

Thanks Hererisssh, great reply guys much thanks

 

[beanz240]

Not on these ones Hererisssh, i was just wanting to make sure they were working right.
I now have 3 different ones and used them all on different plants, tropical trees, my baby girls, even the veggies i have inside. They were all the same.
So i put some soil in a cup and dumped some lemon juice in there and checked and it was quite lower, so they work just not on the money.
I'm going to invest in a digital one for liquid. Thank you

 

[hererisssh]

:yes

 

[SSHZ]

The soil testers are proven NOT to work......... you need a water pH tester to test your fertilizer water and then the run-off water for an accurate reading. Soil testers are cheap and there is a reason for that- they suck!

 

[nuttso]

Plants can only uptake nutes up to a certain EC/PPM. Once that number is exceeded there's no benefit and a high potential for overfeeding.

What does that mean in EC numbers? I was told not higher than 1,6 EC dunno how much ppm this is.