New EC Meter Questions

[DirtMechanic]

I have a new soil stick, a EC meter to help me keep tabs on soil out there in the promised land. But wOw what variations I read! Anybody ever used one of these things for soil? Not hydro, not pots, just soil? I have some method questions, and calibration too if you have some time.

Also interpreter services, and for example the following reference to a existing standard of usage, even if it is amongst the marijuana growers;

"EC can also be expressed in microsiemens, and that is the direct 0.5 conversion, so EC 2.0 = 2000 us = 1000 PPM @ 0.5

I always use the PPM @ 0.5 conversion as it gives me precision and it's the most commonly used PPM conversion among us growers."

So what did this person really say?

 

[Marck]

I found this webpage helpful. It says the same thing as your quote, but more clearly and with additional details.

Simply Hydroponics – TDS-EC

www.simplyhydro.com

I would think an EC reading of actual soil would be more open to interpretation than an EC reading of a hydroponic solution. In soil, how much of the salinity is nutrients and how much is just NaCl and other non-nutrients?
I found a quote that said healthy soil should read between 200 µS/cm and 1200 µS/cm (1.2 MS/cm). Maybe that is too simplistic, but it gave me some idea of the range.

 

[DirtMechanic]

I found this webpage helpful. It says the same thing as your quote, but more clearly and with additional details.

Simply Hydroponics – TDS-EC

www.simplyhydro.com

I would think an EC reading of actual soil would be more open to interpretation than an EC reading of a hydroponic solution. In soil, how much of the salinity is nutrients and how much is just NaCl and other non-nutrients?
I found a quote that said healthy soil should read between 200 µS/cm and 1200 µS/cm (1.2 MS/cm). Maybe that is too simplistic, but it gave me some idea of the range.

The conductivity of water plays havoc with a stick. I found this was true of my pH meter so I am thinking paste model tests are the way. The problem of course is that they are destructive. In ground saturation and let it drain down to something consistently moist may be my only useful method. Naturally I have to have almost the slowest draining clay. Like they say "Thank God for Mississippi". At least its not Yazoo clay.