New Guinea Impatiens
By Janet: How do I physically obtain the correct pH levels for plants such as New Guinea Impatiens? I have no idea Answer By The Flower Expert: Dear Janet,The soil is tested to measure pH (acidity), soluble salts, and specific major and minor elements. A soil test is designed to extract plant available nutrients for analysis.This accomplished by using an extracting solution which mimics the root systems in terms extracting nutrients from the soil.Nowadays, for greenhouse soilless media, the most common extracting solution is distilled water and the standard test is the saturated media extract (SME) method.In this procedure a paste is formed by mixing the sample with distilled water and, following an equilibration period, the liquid portion is analyzed for its nutrient content. Two other methods are used by some labs – 1:2 dilution and 1:5 dilution. These involve mixing the sample with larger volumes of water then equilibrating, filtering and analyzing the extract. All three are accepted methods, but SME is used by most commercial and many state labs.
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