Roots original PPM out of the bag?

Does anyone know what kind of ppm roots original is running right out of the bag?. We can get a base soil "hotness" thread going.

The soils I'm using,

Vermisoil - 550 ppm and 7.4 ph

Roots 707 - 300 ppm and 7.2 ph

Never owned one o' them fancy ppm meters. Don't recon they're needed in organics.

Sorry, I just had to say it.

Carry on.

Umm. How are you testing TDS of soil. TDS refers to total disolved solids. PPM is the unti of measurement (parts per million). The only way I can think of is that you are testing runoff. But when doing this the water collects soil thus increasing tds.

Make a slurry of soil with 0 ppm water and 7.0 ph. Let sit for a few minutes. Then test ppm and ph. I don't currently have a way of testing tds. I know thats the proper way but I'm just trying to get an idea of where all these soils are sitting compared to each other. Ppm will give us an estimated idea of how hot each soil type is compared to each other

I used to grow with synthetics... Which is why I have this bad ass meter. I now use supersoil religiously and love it!! so I don't really need it. But I'm a science and experiment freak..always testing things and drawing conclusions. It's fun for me so I always use it.

That'll give you a #, but it's a rather arbitrary one. Is that ammonium nitrogen or nitrate? Is it calcium, magnesium, or sodium? Who knows???

As far as "hotness" that ammonium vs. nitrate nitrogen is a key piece.

I'm trusting the soil companies to have what I need in the soil so what actually is making up the ppm is not top relavance in THIS thread. It's of maximum importance in the overall view of organic gardening though and I understand that. I just want to know what the ppm of soil mixes are. A seed or clone would obviously do better in a 300 ppm soil rather than a 2000 ppm soil. Just trying to get some reference numbers so I know where other soil mixes stand comparatively.

I see what you're thinking. I also have a habit of turning things into science experiments...

That's why they call us weed nerds lol

the horticulture department of michigan state university offers soil analysis for $25 per sample. i just got my kit yesterday and will be sending some of my super soil just for fun. maybe i should send out some base soil as well. i plan to send 2 samples from the same can of super soil but a month or so apart, to see what sort of measurable changes are generated by the "cooking" process.

http://bookstore.msue.msu.edu/product/soil-test-kit-selfmailer-1116.cfm

kane

CollieMan1 said:

I'm trusting the soil companies to have what I need in the soil so what actually is making up the ppm is not top relavance in THIS thread. It's of maximum importance in the overall view of organic gardening though and I understand that. I just want to know what the ppm of soil mixes are. A seed or clone would obviously do better in a 300 ppm soil rather than a 2000 ppm soil. Just trying to get some reference numbers so I know where other soil mixes stand comparatively.

Click to expand...

hey bro, i always do a slurry test with all my mixes with neutral h2o R/O with a ppm of 010.......Roots is very inconsistant in my opinion with my testing....PH will range from 6.1-6.7, and the PPM will be between 400-700.....i will always test base soils, mostly because i will know if it needs to mellow if the PH is low/PPM is high.....but as far as roots goes, if i innoculate it, and let it sit in cans for a month or so, the PH will come up to 6.5, and it will be very gentle on my clones, and seedlings....that being said...i prefer my "base" to be around 800, and my SS to be around 1200-1300......and i try to shoot for a PH of 6.5 all around....hope this helps.