So I watered the other day until runoff to see my runoff PPM and ph. The PPM was 1800ppm and 5.4 ph. I have never watered with higher than 1300ppm and my ph is always 6-7ph.
What could be the reason for this? Using soil. Sunshine Mix #4.
I use SS#4. It's not soil. It's peat. Commonly known as soil-less media. Like coco, but different.
The runoff PPM is higher than input PPM because your plants aren't consuming the nutes efficiently. A simple solution is to flush with low ppm water until the runoff is 600ppm or so.
The 5.4pH runoff could be due to different things or a combo. Bacterial acidification. Too much ammonium and not enough nitrate in the nutes. What are you using for nutes?
Peat doesn't have nutes like soil. Nutes get added to every watering.