New Grower Totally confused about ph testing

[turtle360]

We are going to do our first grow and have most of the stuff on hand, but I am just overwhelmed by the different comments and info on how to test for pH. I feel like Robbie The Robot in Forbidden Planet when he's in meltdown mode, LOL.

We are trying to keep this cheap until we know whether we want to really do this on a regular basis. Okay, there are test strips you can get, there are pH meters (cheap to spendy), and then there's the whole issue of testing the pH of your soil.

Can someone point me to a cheap way to test the solutions AND the soil? Or is there even such a thing out there? I need two meters, right? Sorry if this is an uninformed question but I figure you've all been there. :dunno:

Oh yeah, we're going to grow in dirt, if that helps; not hydro.

Thanks!

You should be confused. Join the club. You asking in this forum is not going to give you THE answer. Namvet likes a tester like the Hanna. Mandala Seeds says:

For either soil or hydro you need a pH tester.
The best choice is a liquid tester. The liquid tester is cheap, always accurate, easy to read, and lasts for many tests. Fill the plastic vial only 1/4 and add only 1-2 drops to see the colour change…this is how you can make the test liquid last even longer. Read our WATER & PH Guide for more details.
- See more at: http://www.mandalaseeds.com/Guides/Quick-Start#sthash.60jos35i.dpuf

I own the Oakton. But in the back of my pea brain I always harbor doubt about the reliability of the testing instruments. It's pretty obvious there are soil ph probes that are absolutely worthless. The strips' results on the other hand are not prone to system malfunction and don't need calibration. I have the strips, too. They're cheap. try them. If you end up looking at the colors on the test strip crosseyed and yearn for a hard number on a digital display hit up amazon.

As a practical matter you have to try it to see so pop a seed or two and see what happens. And select an "easy-to-grow" strain. I can recommend Buddha Seeds White Dwarf which may not yield the most exotic produce (straight Indica of regular potency) but is as forgiving as you possibly want and believe, I know.

 

[organic]

Wow, that's interesting. But how does a clueless person do that? (LOL) I mean, if the soil's pH isn't what you want then it's going to affect everything. I see you are in the UK so any specific products you use are probably not available to me. I had picked the Dyna Gro nutes (I just noticed that for some reason in my earlier posts I wrote "Hydro Grow" - don't know where that came from!) because the GrowWeedEasy site said they were some of the simplest for beginners to work with.

I am awfully tempted to just throw some sprouted seeds in the dirt and go; I saw one post from a guy who did just that and got great results but I also know that maybe he was just lucky.

Personally for me its all about testing, Start with something but iron out the issues one by one. So a good start would be not to think about soil ph, ph this or that. Why confuse yourself before starting. Grow one plant note any issues, get help here to solve them, complete grow and then look up how to resolve the issue before planting next time so your next grow should be better then the first and so on the more you grow.

Nutrient range? What's that? Someone makes nutes that automatically adjusts your ph to a sweet spot? Awesome. Wish I knew about that! Pray tell, what would be an example of that?

Advanced Nutrients pH Perfect line.

There is this ^^^ as Trapper said or I am using the Hesi line of nutrients unsure how many others make Ph adjusted nutrients.

Think I am sold on the hesi line of nutrients, so far they have blown biobizz and plant magic away for me compared to my last grows. The only problem i have had is slight overfeeding but this was intentional to see how far i could push the feeding. (again testing stuff)

Good luck what every you choose to do, Sometime I found reading to much can make things worse and that relates to so much more then just growing.

 

[Chanvremec]

Start with something but iron out the issues one by one. So a good start would be not to think about soil ph, ph this or that. Why confuse yourself before starting. Grow one plant note any issues, get help here to solve them, complete grow and then look up how to resolve the issue before planting next time so your next grow should be better then the first and so on the more you grow.

I think you are right. It's so easy to get "locked in a sub-electronic dilemma" just like Robbie the Robot because there are so many different options and opinions. I think it would make things a lot easier if I just started out and then learned from my mistakes; I'm sure to make enough of them, LOL. I hope to avoid the truly bad ones, but we'll just have to see.

Thanks!

 

[Jraven]

I've had these test strips around for other hobbies, and they seem to be working ok for soil. They're a lot easier to read than the single pad ones

http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&id=331785642465&alt=web

I'd love to have a good meter but I'm going organic and these things should good enough for now.