The SoilQuality sensor is a remote sensor that connects to your phone or smart device by Bluetooth and provides real-time Moisture & EC contents of your growing media (coco, rockwool & soil).
EC Measurement
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.
Measuring Moisture
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.
EC Measurement in nutrient solution
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:
- Protective cap should be removed.
- During measurement, the moisture level will be saturated at 70% - this is normal.
- The ‘Soil Sensing Probe’ should be fully immersed into the solution - half immersed Sensor Probe will result in a half reading.
- The measured EC value should be compared with a reference EC value of a buffer solution given at the same temperature as the sampled liquid. Unlike most sensors in the Holland Forge range, this unit does not have ATC ( automatic temperature compensation).
- The ‘Soil Sensing Probe’ should be gently cleaned with disinfectant alcohol if EC reading doesn’t match with expected value
