Soil testing.

Erick31876

Solo cup champion 2019
Yes thank you jesse, i have been looking on a place to get my last batch of soil tested. Im pretty sure it has way too much n in it. I think i put just a little too much worm castings in it, i have been cutting it with peat and coco but im still getting the claw and dark leaves and slow growth. I stopped using it and got a big bail of promix and have been putting extra perlite in it.
 

Erick31876

Solo cup champion 2019
If you just need simple npk results and ph, most garden storez, ace hardware, lowes and depot all sell a cheap soil tester kit that works well. Helps narrow things down in diagnosis in some cases.
I saw one of those, it comes with several tubes that tests n, p, k, ph , etc. Ill grab one in the morning and test it. I have a couple plants in it since i cut it. They seem to be doing good so far with no signs of n toxicity.i had to flush the one plant every day for like 2 weeks to get rid of all of the excess n.
 

Green_256

What's a SIP?
How much of a sample do you have to send them
like a 1/4 to a 1/2 cup, it's a tiny amount!

what you do for any soil test, is collect samples from multiple places, like top bottom middle left right.... then throw them all into a pile, mix it up, and take your sample from that! I also pull out the perlite, and big chunks of compost and what not!
 

Erick31876

Solo cup champion 2019
Thank you. I made a batch of soil and i think i put way too much worm castings in it and think the n is through the roof. All plants i put in it have the claw real bad and extremely stunted growth with nodes stacking right on top of each other. I have cut it to about 3 or 4 times the amount with more peat and coco coir and have been letting it sit, mixing it up every few days. I brought a big bale of promix and have been using that, i just put a couple plants in the old mix to see how it is and so far so good.
 

Green_256

What's a SIP?
Thank you. I made a batch of soil and i think i put way too much worm castings in it and think the n is through the roof. All plants i put in it have the claw real bad and extremely stunted growth with nodes stacking right on top of each other. I have cut it to about 3 or 4 times the amount with more peat and coco coir and have been letting it sit, mixing it up every few days. I brought a big bale of promix and have been using that, i just put a couple plants in the old mix to see how it is and so far so good.
it's very hard to put too much ewc!!! like very hard, unless you go full retarded on it...
 

Erick31876

Solo cup champion 2019
it's very hard to put too much ewc!!! like very hard, unless you go full retarded on it...
Yeah i kind of did. The bag slipped and dumped a lot of it in. I didnt think it would hurt, so i let it go . Now i know better. The batch of compost/ starting soil may have been hot. I used that kind before and never had problems until i made it this time when i put too much worm castings in it.
 

Erick31876

Solo cup champion 2019
Well i think i found my problem. I flushed the couple plants i had in that very hot mix. I flushed it with 1 gallon of ph'ed water with clearex, let that go through and then a gallon of straight ph'ed water... the runoff measued at 8.0 , damn thats fucking high. So i ph'ed another gallon to 4.8 and ran it through. My runoff measured 6.1, im happy with that for now. Im gonna see how they look at lights on. Now im going to keep checking my runoff water. I should have done that frpm the beginning.
 

Green_256

What's a SIP?
Well i think i found my problem. I flushed the couple plants i had in that very hot mix. I flushed it with 1 gallon of ph'ed water with clearex, let that go through and then a gallon of straight ph'ed water... the runoff measued at 8.0 , damn thats fucking high. So i ph'ed another gallon to 4.8 and ran it through. My runoff measured 6.1, im happy with that for now. Im gonna see how they look at lights on. Now im going to keep checking my runoff water. I should have done that frpm the beginning.
if your running true living organics, you shouldn't be pH'ing water, or testing run off! Ever!

if your pH'ing your water, then your killing microbes!
 

Green_256

What's a SIP?
Imho I'd disagree, in nature different natural soil is of varying ph, and can and will change depending on what the bacteria and fungi are being fed/composting.
IE: the blueberry patch my neighbor has is a low ph of 5 ish from his developement of it, but his veggie garden is in the sixes close to seven. Both of which are all natural, nature created soils, outside, and fully organic. Both full of bacteria and various fungal elements found in the outdoors.
They're just fed diff types of compostable ingredients based on ph changes they'd make and or have to them.
The veggies won't grow with his blueberry patch, and vice versa, the blueberries won't grow in the veggie patch.
So imho a soil should be tested after it's composted a good month + to verify it's ability to support said crops nutritional needs and ph liking.
yes test your soil! not your ph!
 

Green_256

What's a SIP?
On that note, I know you'd put it in your thread somewhere but I'm forgetful sometimes.😎 But what does your soils ph like to sit at in the sips once it's been em1 soaking awhile? Also does it change throughout the grow on you, like a diff from beginning of veg to the end of flower?
I ask because a couple times during my grows my soil has done a ph drift from added top dressings changing the ph very slowly over time. At least that's the consensus I and a few other folks came to in a soil discussion awhile back. It was a chat I was having with Schluby, he was having a replicate issue to my description of the ph drift over time with Rols.
here's the thing, Em-1 has a pH of 3.5 - 3.7 so using so much of it over time has to lower the ph! I can't see any way that it wouldn't! when I first started running the sips, I was adding like 3 dam cups of DL. I have cut back on almost all of that, the last few I just made, I added in about a handful of oystershell, and also DL. I haven't noticed any issues since I cut back.

as I said I never check my ph, and I mean never! so I can't say if it drops or raises during the growth. but I'd be willing to bet that it stays right on point! once you have a good soil food Web going on, the life inside pretty much does everything on its own! it doesn't need us for anything really, other than filling the rez, and that's my secret man, do nothing! lmfao
 
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