Test if Your Plants are Over-fertilized by Direct Stick EC 

Hi George - that's true, and I think most instructions are to target a small amount of leachate (like 50ml). Not sure how easy it is to be so consistent.

My estimate on this was only made with observation in soil on *that* particular meter, and I think I may have noted (though it's been a long time) that it's far more accurate to perform measurement using the pour-through method. Yes, the conversion from 240 to 2.4 sounds about right - as there's some inconsistency between meters that report in different units (or even convert over to an estimated ppm).

@@FraserValleyRoseFarm Thanks for the reply, yes the pour through is 1500 so now I’m thinking the irrigation water is way to low which questions if our fertigation system is actually doing much….i was thinking that our base soil for propagation is rather sterile so should have a low ec so our water with fert should hit the target range we need. Our range for dahlias is 100-200ppm N, EC extraction 0.4-0.9mS/cm, SME: 0.9-2.0mS/cm and pour 1.3-3.0mS/cm according to Michigan State paper they released. Do you know how I convert these to us/cm that my read gives me? Thanks so much! I’m not a numbers person the best of times!!

Thanks. Probably a little bit of inexperience showing on my parts (not to demonstrate the conversion) - and frankly, it ended up as a pretty iffy topic for RU-vid, given how difficult it is to explain, and how few viewers take an interest. Live and learn! You're right that the soil moisture makes a big difference, and for that reason I try to be relatively consistent in my timing - usually on the morning after a watering is pretty good, and the soil is evenly moist in the pots. Some "thristy" and rootbound crops are more difficult to gauge.

@@FraserValleyRoseFarm Thanks so much for the reply. I'll do what you do then, in terms of when to take the reading after watering! All the best.

Those rates are okay, even up to 2.2 or so.

It depends on how much your plants are using, how often you apply, whether you alternate with a flush of plain water. Salt can definitely build up in the pot if you fertilize with every watering. It's a good idea to verify the EC in your pot with a pour-through test occasionally to see where you're at.

This test can only let you know the total amount of mineral salts, not any specific nutrients. I try to apply a generally balanced fertilizer, and that usually is okay, but if you need more specific analysis, you'll have to go to a soil lab.

@@FraserValleyRoseFarm thank u sir for your reply

Only by experience - as a comparison between measurement in liquid solution and in moist potting soil. You can do it without the "translation" just fine, you just have to change your own benchmarks of what's an acceptable reading.

Hi Mini - spend your money how you want. For me, it work as a much faster, more convenient alternative to the pour-through method. The meter reads exactly the EC of a water solution - no problem there, but when you use it in soil, the number is lower (because conductivity is lower in soil). You don't have to do the x4 calculation at all - I just know that when it reads .7 and above, I have a high fertilizer release in the crop. Your criticism of accuracy is valid (it depends a lot on soil moisture), but for me it's not a question of perfectly accurate, but whether it's *accurate enough* for my purposes. A quick walk around the nursery and I can test many dozens of crops. On several occasions, it's helped me to identify excess fertilizer release in unexpected crops (which I then confirmed with pour-through) - the point being that it would take me many hours to screen what I can in 15 minutes if I were to use the more accurate method right up front.

Soil and water reading not in the same range . Soil ec metre read salinity in the medium.

😁😆😂😂

The gadgets allow you to detect problems before they cause alterations of the green color.

Gree mean everythings ok. If not green,then you start wondering why.

But I'm not even hungry!