multi-meter

Prehensile · Mar 22, 2012

Best penny(7.99 shipping) I ever spent, already adjusted the PH on 3 plants. Tested our well water, its 4.5, peat soup came in at 7.0 - 7.5

bricke · Mar 23, 2012

how accurate is it i seen one at harbor freight was just wondering

S.S.Tupperware · Mar 23, 2012

Sure it works, peat is acidic, and here in Fl. well water will be alkaline, we live on a coral sand bar. I would think about gettin your money back.

armac · Mar 23, 2012

Should he ask for the whole penny back?

PIC 1 · Mar 23, 2012

It looks like he's testing container soil, which could be a mix of anything, plus when it rains, rains and keeps on, the soil can also become acidic. It would be nice to catch it before the leaves start to yellow. If the meters accurate then its an investment. Some calibrate others don't

synclinorium · Mar 23, 2012

Those electronic soil test kits are terrible. Their precision is atrocious, and they often aren't even accurate to within high or low pH. I think even a red cabbage test would be more accurate than those...

darkb16a1 · Mar 23, 2012

I have exactly the same meter, and the pH measure is unusable, comparing to the digital pH meter I have it's useless. the other two sensors -moisture and light, are quite good though !

Prehensile · Mar 23, 2012

darkb16a1 said:
I have exactly the same meter, and the pH measure is unusable, comparing to the digital pH meter I have it's useless. the other two sensors -moisture and light, are quite good though !

Is off by several digits or like .5 when you tested it against your digital?

S.S.Tupperware said:
Sure it works, peat is acidic, and here in Fl. well water will be alkaline, we live on a coral sand bar. I would think about gettin your money back.

that was my point it showed peat soup(peat and water mixed together) 7.0-7.5 and well water at 4.5, I was testing the stuff tah see if the meter worked, I had a some pots come in at 2.5(most where in the 5.5 range) so I added some peat soup to em the numbers literally came up tah about 5.5-6 as the water soaked in.

The moister meter works better than my finger....

darkb16a1 · Mar 23, 2012

By several digits, and the weaker the nutrient mix is, the worse the measures are. If you have a strong mix it differed by 1-1,5 digits, but for tap water the meter showed 6 , reality was 8,4 .

Prehensile · Mar 28, 2012

darkb16a1 said:
By several digits, and the weaker the nutrient mix is, the worse the measures are. If you have a strong mix it differed by 1-1,5 digits, but for tap water the meter showed 6 , reality was 8,4 .

I totally messed up I was reading the moisture level, I just tested it on apple cider vinegar which says 5% acidity on the label the meter came in at about 5, retested well water came in at 6.75, I'm thinking if the moisture in the pots is high the ph would be more accurate. just did the liquid test and it came back about 7 PH the color was between 7.2-6.8 PH pool kits not the best for precision either.

POTAWIE · Mar 28, 2012

In my opinion those are terrible, cheap metres which give people a false sense of security, and I think the pH probe is for soil not liquid.

Prehensile · Mar 28, 2012

POTAWIE said:
In my opinion those are terrible, cheap metres which give people a false sense of security, and I think the pH probe is for soil not liquid.

Our soil in this area is Alkaline the well water ph varies according to depth of the well, peat raises the acidity of the soil so I can use more peat if I water the plants with a 7.0 well water, looks like I'm gonna be spending more time on UFs Site.

Avon Barksdale · Mar 28, 2012

A good ph meter ain't cheap and a cheap ph meter ain't good! How did you test the water? Those can't be used for liquid. Unless you made some kind of slurry or something then the water results won't be accurate. Unadjusted peat should be somewhere around 4. Probably better off just using the test strips to get an idea of your water's ph if you're worried about it.

Ph is a lot less important for container media than soil too.

S.S.Tupperware · Mar 28, 2012

Well if it helps I have a well, 50 ft or so, 7 or so on the strip. i wouldn't be worried about PH unless ya did something drastic to the native soil. This place is a coral sand bar, that means no Cal mag needed same goes for the well water. If anything maybe a nice load of coffee grounds would be in order. Good luck. The Extension office test is just a few bucks and reliable.

Prehensile · Mar 31, 2012

Avon Barksdale said:
A good ph meter ain't cheap and a cheap ph meter ain't good! How did you test the water? Those can't be used for liquid. Unless you made some kind of slurry or something then the water results won't be accurate. Unadjusted peat should be somewhere around 4. Probably better off just using the test strips to get an idea of your water's ph if you're worried about it.

Ph is a lot less important for container media than soil too.

I tested water using liquid test, had pool at last home. water came in at about 7.0 I know peat is 4.0, since I was mixing my own potting soil PH became a question atm I doubled the peat, was adding 1/2 a 5 gallon to every 10 gallons of base, knowing water is Alkaline acid will not be an issue, so far plants show nice growth.

S.S.Tupperware said:
Well if it helps I have a well, 50 ft or so, 7 or so on the strip. i wouldn't be worried about PH unless ya did something drastic to the native soil. This place is a coral sand bar, that means no Cal mag needed same goes for the well water. If anything maybe a nice load of coffee grounds would be in order. Good luck. The Extension office test is just a few bucks and reliable.

native soil? lol! sand, pine cones/needles,palmetto leaves and palm fronds! Thanks for the input