Trust crappy ph meter?

P

poutineeh

Well-Known Member
I bought a ph meters similar to this
Rapitest Soil pH Meter Model 1840 - 716750

it only cost like $20. when i stick it in pure vinegar, it maybe only drops to about a ph of 6. It doesnt seem like it is suppose to test liquids, though.

im not interested in being accurate to the tenths place etc., but i dont want to keep adding pH down to try and lower the pH when its just the meter isnt showing the correct pH, for example.

my question is does anyone use these cheaper meters? are they decent for soil? should i just buy a kit to test the pH of my liquids? i'm on a budget for my first grow and i dont want to spend any more money unless it will help my results a lot, at this point.

THANKS!:spew:
 
S

SIRPUFFALOT

Active Member
I am not too sure about this meter thing but since u are so concerned maybe you know the answer to this : On a scale of 1-10 how important is it to have the right ph? because I' ve started the germination process with no meter at all --> I'am a complete noobie Am I doomed befor i start? thanx
 
panhead

panhead

Well-Known Member
poutineeh said:
anyone have experience with one of these?
Click to expand...
Yes,i do,take the biggest hammer you can find & smash that peice of garbage,they are useless & never show the proper ph.

When you water your plants save & measure the ph from the run off comming out of the bottom of the pots,this is as accurate way to test soil ph as you'll ever get,the meters suck & will fuk you up bad.
 
proheto8008

proheto8008

Well-Known Member
ph dosnt matter so much for clones and seedlings, they arent really pulling nutes out of the soil yet, only water. When they get about two weeks old and you start to feed them PH is of THE UTMOST IMPORTANCE. IF the ph is to high or low, it will lock out the nutes and your plants will do very poorly or die. So i would trash that soil meter you have that says vinegar is a ph of 6. And get a true hydro meter or some test kits.

If you get a hydro meter, remember its for testing water ph not soil ph. So you have to test runoff water not soil. Ph your water to 6.5 then feed your plants. test the runoff to make sure it is still in the 6-6.5 range. 7 is ok but a bit too high for most plants. If the runoff is too high then lower the ph of your water and try again. I.E. If runnoff has a ph of 5, then you should ph your water a little higher to help bring the runnoff number to 6.5. On the other hand if runoff is ph of 8 then lower the ph of your feed water enough to make the runoff 6.5.

I cant stess the importance of ph. I have become a sort of ph expert over the past year cuz i almost lost my very first crop to shitty ph advice on forums. When i hear a ph question i jump on it.

Try what i said and remember my user name. PM me if you run into any probs. ill try to be here for the both of you.

Hanna ph meters i hear are awesome. I use a color match test kit. (kinda tricky but i have mastered it.) I wanna get a hanna meter when i go to true hydro.

General Hydroponics makes a ph up down kit that comes with some ph up, some ph down, and a test kit. I suggest you check into it and get it or something very similar.

Also if your using soiless i suggest a medium called promix bx w/mychoryzae. It has lime in it. Lime is a ph buffer. It has a neutral ph of 7. So whatever your water is it will tend to bring the ph to within .5 points of 7. If you use this stuff then when you feed if you ph your water to 6-6.5 you runoff will always be between 6.3-6.8. which is fuckin awsome. I dont even check my runoff anymore cuz i know its good to go. I ALWAYS ph my feed water.

When you do water you want to give it enough so that about 20% of it ends up as runoff. This helps flush all the salts that buildup from using chemical nutes.

Get at me if you need some more advice.
 
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