Soil Quality measures the Electrical Conductivity (EC) of soil and growing media.
At a given temperature, the EC of any growing media is relative to the number of nutrients - an increase in nutrients produces an increase in Soil Electrical Conductivity. Temperature is a factor that affects the EC level. The higher the temperature, the higher the EC. Most EC agricultural standards are given at 25°C. As a rule of thumb, the EC of water increases by 2 to 3% for each increase of 1°C.
To capture nutrients in the growing media, a plant needs water so minerals can be dissolved and available as nutrients to the plant. In a dry growing medium, a plant cannot grow and capture any nutrients. EC is also affected by soil moisture: when the soil is dry, the EC greatly drops even if there’s minerals available.
Comparison of Nutrient level in time or between different samples should be done based on the same moisture level and temperature.
The 'SoilQuality' moisture measurement is given in Absolute Volume Ratio (AVR), which is the ratio between the volume of water divided by total volume of Soil + Water after mixing both.
At 70% AVR moisture, the soil becomes extremely close to a liquid and inadequate for growing. SoilQuality provides an AVR Soil Moisture measurement between 0 to 70% (anything above 70% will still show as 70%).
‘Soil Sensing Probe’ should be gently cleaned with disinfectant alcohol if moisture reading doesn’t reach 70% in water.
Although SoilQuality has been designed to measure EC of moist soil, it can also measure the hydroponics nutrient solutions, however the following precautions should be followed:
