Just wondering cuz For example. My grow shop owner brought this to my attention. I mentioned that I am anal about the Ph and checking the runoff etc. And he kinda looked at me and pondered...

I told him I have the cheepo Soil tester and a PH Oakton Pen that I use to measure the water before I feed and the water that runOff the plant.

I had told him I kinda stopped using the cheepo soil meter cuz I was using the The Oakton Pen and testing the RunOff and then he said "Is that really giving you a measurement of the soil PH? I said Thats what I thought. "He looked at me kinda funny, and said whats wrong with the cheepo meter?"

he said measuring the runoff really isn't giving me an accurate reading of the soil Ph. He said cuz im using ProMix and It has buffer added it will be in the range of 6.5 and 7 and if its lower or higher at any given time it will always be trying to get back to that range.

He said just cuz my runoff is for sake of example 5.5 and my water is 7Ph before I feed it to the plant. that does not mean that my soil PH is 5.5

He says all that is telling me is that after it goes through my soil thats what its at. He said cuz I know ProMix is usually around 6.5 to 7 Ph I can use the runoff to do an estimate of what my soil Ph would be.

Is he correct in this? I have had my runoff fairly low (5.5Ph) I had adjusted the water up to about 8Ph to try and kick it back up Most times I found my Runoff still sitting at about 5.5 to 6.0 regardless of what the Ph of my water was before it went through the soil.

Am I missing somthing Or is he sorta missleading me?

I still Ph my water up to 7 or a bit above and my runoff is at about 6.0. When I stick the cheepo Ph Soil meter in the soil It reads Just below 6.8Ph
Do I trust the Cheepo meter? Or trust the Runoff? Or use both?

Regardless What I am doing now is working... Thats all; that really maters to me at this point. But If I can improve my skills by better understanding Ph and plants in general it makes me a better gardener. Thats why I figured I would ask some people their thoughts on the Board...

Hydo keeps looking easier and easier eveyday... hahaha
kdspecial Reviewed by kdspecial on . Is the PH of the RunOff An acurate measurment of the soil PH? Just wondering cuz For example. My grow shop owner brought this to my attention. I mentioned that I am anal about the Ph and checking the runoff etc. And he kinda looked at me and pondered... I told him I have the cheepo Soil tester and a PH Oakton Pen that I use to measure the water before I feed and the water that runOff the plant. I had told him I kinda stopped using the cheepo soil meter cuz I was using the The Oakton Pen and testing the RunOff and then he said "Is that really giving Rating: 5