Slurry Test vs. Runoff Readings... Discuss!

[inreplyavalon]

I've tried straining the slurry mix before testing, and it hasn't made a difference, so I no longer bother with that step.

I have had the same experience with my slurry test. Whether its a strained liquid or a coco filled slurry i am getting the same readings.

So in conclusion i was getting really high runoff ~1000-2000 ppm in my veg plants, yet they were being fed lightly and looked like they were starving. I was a bit trigger shy because of the high runoff numbers. So i took my slurry test and my results were then 250-500 ppm. I upped my food from 500 ppm up to about 700 ppm and they turned around in 2+ days. Everything got a lot happier.

Its time back away from all this science and go with whats been working for many years!

Cheers for all the expression and love in this thread! y'all Rock!

 

[puff adder]

If plants have been fed in coco pots for any length of time, IME the runoff will Always be crazy high.
I stopped trying to read runoff (except for testing NEW unused coco) and just worry about what goes IN.

 

[SeaMaiden]

IRA, this is why I advocate so strongly that before anyone goes chasing numbers they OBSERVE THE PLANT. Why? Because I've killed too many fish chasing numbers, but haven't killed a single one by using my observations as the basis for action.

 

[inreplyavalon]

Puff your insights are always thoughtful and delivered well. Thanks for sharing them. I tend to agree that observing runoff numbers throughout a grow can be misleading at the very least, and potentially harmful at the worst...


SeaMaiden So true, so true. The challenge rests in the fact that an overfed plant, and an underfed plant often exhibit similar symptoms. My first few years i was a chronic over feeder, then i became a more moderate feeder, and now in my goal to provide the absolute minimum amount of food, i have become a bit of an under feeder. Fortunately in coco an underfed plant shows improvement in a matter of a day or two.

Further complicating things is growing with no runoff. I was doing it for a year plus, due to needing to grow large trees to stay within my numbers, and really it is a whole different ballgame as far as i can tell. When growing multiple strains with no runoff, its best to have an open schedule and lots of time to observe and make many a different recipe!

 

[SeaMaiden]

Totally understandable, IRA. I guess I'm fortunate in that my mindset has always been the opposite--not how much can I push things but how little can I get away with? Once you learn to start at the bottom and work your way up, it's a LOT easier to see/tell what's happening.

 

[cyat]

avalon, I tried to feed my coco plants as low as hydro.. and even treated em like dirt... but,

I think coco plants need a much stronger and consistent feed...

shit, i'm watering a coco/hydroton girl 24/7 in a waterfarm...

tried to put bamboo stakes in the top pot and broke every one...

each branch is as big as a regular soil or coco girl!

 

[cyat]

hope im not rambling.. but

was using veg plus bloom nutes and feeding 1/4 tsp per gal as the manufacturer suggested for dirt or coco

plants were dying of starvation, but I thought they were locked out from bein overfed...

described how they looked to the owner of v+b nutes, and said sounds like I should bump up the feed... got up to almost a tbl per gal and they grew like mad again..

tried to feed coco like dirt every other feed and it suffers too...

 

[inreplyavalon]

cyat thanks for sharing those stories, your rambling will make others gardens greener!

I just got a 3.1 EC runoff reading on two plants in 5 gallons of coco that look perfect. I then did a slurry(extraction) test and the EC of the slurry was all of .7

Disregard the runoff folks!

 

[Harry Gypsna]

I wonder if these are any good
http://www.progrow.co.uk/acatalog/info_4125.html

 

[icough2getoff]

^^^ I want to hear more about that meter! I'm having a hard time understanding how you all extract coco from the middle of your pots to test. I have small 7" pots and to extract a substantial amount of coco from the middle of the pot without disturbing the rootzone sounds like a pain in the ass once it's a big root ball, especially if I had to do it regularly. That meter looks like the perfect solution.

 

[SeaMaiden]

When I grow indoors, it's coir, and it's SoG, so I use 1-2gal pots. That makes flipping the girls out of the pots for a sample of coir pretty easy. I'll also just take a small spoon and dig out several samples. But a proper soil meter would make the whole thing a whole lot easier, I agree.

 

[SMOKE-ONE]

Good info!!

 

[icough2getoff]

For what it's worth, I bought one of those Hanna soil EC meters and have been testing it out the last week on my coco. I'm using 50% perlite and 50% coco and overall the meter gives me a good idea of how hot the nutes are in the coco. It reads a low number compared to what I feed them but it definitely shows higher EC if they are in need of a flush.

Thanks for the idea Harry Gypsna

 

[inreplyavalon]

Very interesting COugh! Would you be willing to take a few samples, drip-through, slurry, and with your meter, and compare them? That would be fun data to discuss no doubt!

 

[stoned40yrs]

Bump

 

[GreeeeN GRassss]

some good info here, pity to loose it bump

is an ideal slurry test coming in at 5.9 PH, EC 1.2 ?

 

[KennebecHealing]

There is still no meter to measure this?

 

[Baloni]

some good info here, pity to loose it bump

is an ideal slurry test coming in at 5.9 PH, EC 1.2 ?

yes, look at canna slurry test...
EC 1.2 at veg.... or If you feed them multiple times at bloom.

 

[Baloni]

Interesting thing .... Snow Crash dont show here... and quess why??
He just talk about runoff low runoff allthetime...

I do things wrong whole grow couse him.

I multifeeding 5x day ... and I have burns ... Similar symptoms for both over/under feeding.
So I do slurry test .... Its first time when I saw whole rootball! WoW I suprised myself! Roots are healthy but leaves are very sick!!
Slurry test from many sources and EC is 0.8 and pH 5.6 ...
I have potassium/cal/mag def with 1.4 EC runoff .... with canna coco.
I must feed 2.0EC runoff to improve my girls... so... Low runoff EC isnt work all time!

 

[Sativan]

Runoff values are going to be different from the core of your medium. That makes sense. But how do I get a sample from the core w/o destroying my potting medium?

IDK