Ninjadogma said:

Yikes, 4.9 was that new soil coming in that low?

I'd like to ask you other folks using the FF stuff are the buffers that hard out the gate or could we be looking at a pen calibration issue?

You got the right idea, applying some "Kentucky Windage" to get that soil pH fixed. Your 7.6 going in shouldn't be an issue but it's a little trickier to set a particular input value and expect a specific output value back.Whether you need to go up or down, I would suggest you just decide on a safe input number and work longer with more water than use an unsafe input value to correct. Hopefully that makes sense.

The concern is if your pen was off... if that 4.9 was really a 5.8, then that 7.6 water you put in would have really been 8.5. I've had bad pen experiences so I have trust issues. independently test some water with a pH test solution and then see what the pen says.

On a separate note, I appreciate the compliments but I'm no expert at this shit and if I come across that way, mea culpa. Most of what I have to share is rather simple gardening advice, and if that helps anybody else, that puts a smile on my face.

You don't want to put me on a pedestal. What's the lyrics from that Tool song? I will elevate you.. Just enough to bring you down

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JIMKSI64 said:

I got a fresh bag of HF downstairs.
If poster will lay out his slurry test method I will test my bag.
If the way he tests is not the same as mine I will also slurry the way I do it and post test results as well as described test method.

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WallyWhite said:

View attachment 2573461View attachment 2573462View attachment 2573463

I like that, that would be awesome JIMKSI64! I’ve attached two pictures showing me calibrating my 7.0 pH as well as my 4.0 pH that I just did right now. I’m going in the garage to grab my bag of happy frog soil and I’m going to do a one part soil, and one part distilled water, and mix and let set for 30 minutes. Then I will strain out the runoff water from the soil and test with my pH pin. I will perform this right now and I will keep you posted. Thank you so much. Talk to you soon

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WallyWhite said:

View attachment 2573461View attachment 2573462View attachment 2573463

I like that, that would be awesome JIMKSI64! I’ve attached two pictures showing me calibrating my 7.0 pH as well as my 4.0 pH that I just did right now. I’m going in the garage to grab my bag of happy frog soil and I’m going to do a one part soil, and one part distilled water, and mix and let set for 30 minutes. Then I will strain out the runoff water from the soil and test with my pH pin. I will perform this right now and I will keep you posted. Thank you so much. Talk to you soon.

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WallyWhite said:

View attachment 2573461View attachment 2573462View attachment 2573463

I like that, that would be awesome JIMKSI64! I’ve attached two pictures showing me calibrating my 7.0 pH as well as my 4.0 pH that I just did right now. I’m going in the garage to grab my bag of happy frog soil and I’m going to do a one part soil, and one part distilled water, and mix and let set for 30 minutes. Then I will strain out the runoff water from the soil and test with my pH pin. I will perform this right now and I will keep you posted. Thank you so much. Talk to you soon.

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WallyWhite said:

View attachment 2573461View attachment 2573462View attachment 2573463

I like that, that would be awesome JIMKSI64! I’ve attached two pictures showing me calibrating my 7.0 pH as well as my 4.0 pH that I just did right now. I’m going in the garage to grab my bag of happy frog soil and I’m going to do a one part soil, and one part distilled water, and mix and let set for 30 minutes. Then I will strain out the runoff water from the soil and test with my pH pin. I will perform this right now and I will keep you posted. Thank you so much. Talk to you soon.

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Ninjadogma said:

Folks always saying don't slurry, don't pH, don't bother with EC you are in soil you'll be fine.

Screw that! If you're new to the game, then yeah, stick a pen in it! Collect data! Lots of it. You will learn a lot from just watching that data. What you DON'T want to do is make any moves if you don't know how to interpret that data. And that comes with time and experience.

The first 30 days with soil is a honeymoon. You shouldn't see any issues. After some time, the roots have spread out, minerals have been depleted and replenished a few times by the microbes and mycos, water has been passing through the soil and gravity taking everything soluble (like your pH buffers) with it, and if you decide not to watch it you have no idea what's going on when things start to drift and the plant starts showing symptoms of it. And if you do nothing but just WATCH the data you are collecting, you are going to begin to see trends, like when your soil is ready for a recharge or an amendment. After a little bit of time you won't need the pens, you will have collected data that gave you a ballpark idea of when stuff just has to be done, like clockwork.

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cannafarmer420 said:

That can really over complicate things for new people, just throw some gaia green and worm castings in the happy frog then top dress before flower. Do an initial ph and ppm on your water, if its off just filter it with a brita or whatever a couple passes and it will.fix it. Dont add use ph up and ph down, its a waste of limited resources (phosphorus) Have a good day and have fun growing dont make it work

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JIMKSI64 said:

Will run test later today.
To be as correct as I can I need to go get a gallon of distilled water. I left my RO filter on for a day and a half and wore out my filter. Still using for my grow as it is only at 60 ppm but it had been 4 ppm.

The only difference in our methodologies is that I measure the soil and water in weight. Using volume as a ratio like a cup is dependant on compaction of the soil and moisture content.
I also do not strain the mix as the results are the same but my first nutes were a liquid organic and I found out how carefully I needed to clean the probe after use or accuracy suffered.
In fact every calibration was due to tip goo.

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WallyWhite said:

View attachment 2573470
Came back with 5.0ph..

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Ninjadogma said:

Try taking another reading with two parts water and one part soil, let it sit for half an hour and then take a reading and see what you get. There's some potential nuances with slurry testing where the salts and ions in a more concentrated mix can mess with the readings. The expected value with Fox Farm based on what I looked up should be roughly around 6.5 (ranges from 6.3-6.8). @JIMKSI64 is doing a separate test, will be interesting what that grower gets as a reading.

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JIMKSI64 said:

Ok slurry test open bag of fox farms soil. Opened oct1 for my current grow. 3 cf about 1/2 used.
Ph tool apera 60
Water measurement graduated cylinder.
Soil mesurment digital scale accurate to .1 g
Both tests done with distilled water
First test.
View attachment 2573666View attachment 2573667View attachment 2573668
This is the first bag of HF that has tested under 6 pH.
2nd test
View attachment 2573669View attachment 2573670View attachment 2573671
The last test setup of 40 grams and 30 ml of water have a mud patty that would not separate vrs the first test which would separate enough by tilting the cup and spooning it up the side. The pH was of the mud pie.
Did let stuff sit another 20 minutes and no change.
From the original op post he used a volume of soil not the weight of soil. I suggest he run a test based on weight of all components.
And anyone suggesting I used a volume of water and not weight review the metric system.

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JIMKSI64 said:

Ok slurry test open bag of fox farms soil. Opened oct1 for my current grow. 3 cf about 1/2 used.
Ph tool apera 60
Water measurement graduated cylinder.
Soil mesurment digital scale accurate to .1 g
Both tests done with distilled water
First test.
View attachment 2573666View attachment 2573667View attachment 2573668
This is the first bag of HF that has tested under 6 pH.
2nd test
View attachment 2573669View attachment 2573670View attachment 2573671
The last test setup of 40 grams and 30 ml of water have a mud patty that would not separate vrs the first test which would separate enough by tilting the cup and spooning it up the side. The pH was of the mud pie.
Did let stuff sit another 20 minutes and no change.
From the original op post he used a volume of soil not the weight of soil. I suggest he run a test based on weight of all components.
And anyone suggesting I used a volume of water and not weight review the metric system.

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Putthataway said:

Any reason for the bottle of weed killer? Left rear.

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Putthataway said:

Any reason for the bottle of weed killer? Left rear.

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JIMKSI64 said:

Rofl.
Waaaaaay ahead of ya.
Doin 50/50 and 1/3 more same water.
I can not just do one test for something like this. I need data!
Sitting now 30 minutes.

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JIMKSI64 said:

Ok slurry test open bag of fox farms soil. Opened oct1 for my current grow. 3 cf about 1/2 used.
Ph tool apera 60
Water measurement graduated cylinder.
Soil mesurment digital scale accurate to .1 g
Both tests done with distilled water
First test.
View attachment 2573666View attachment 2573667View attachment 2573668
This is the first bag of HF that has tested under 6 pH.
2nd test
View attachment 2573669View attachment 2573670View attachment 2573671
The last test setup of 40 grams and 30 ml of water have a mud patty that would not separate vrs the first test which would separate enough by tilting the cup and spooning it up the side. The pH was of the mud pie.
Did let stuff sit another 20 minutes and no change.
From the original op post he used a volume of soil not the weight of soil. I suggest he run a test based on weight of all components.
And anyone suggesting I used a volume of water and not weight review the metric system.

Click to expand...

Ninjadogma said:

Try taking another reading with two parts water and one part soil, let it sit for half an hour and then take a reading and see what you get. There's some potential nuances with slurry testing where the salts and ions in a more concentrated mix can mess with the readings. The expected value with Fox Farm based on what I looked up should be roughly around 6.5 (ranges from 6.3-6.8). @JIMKSI64 is doing a separate test, will be interesting what that grower gets as a reading.

Click to expand...