z. 



NOTES 



A handy tool to have in a 

 greenhouse or nursery is 

 an Agrimeter. These hand-held 

 battery-operated units have 

 helped me out many times. 

 What is an Agrimeter? It tests 

 the pH and soluble salts in 

 any soilless mix. It does this 

 by an electrical charge via a 

 battery from the leachate you 

 collect from the bottom of your 

 pot. How well the solution con- 

 ducts electricity due to the 

 salts in your solution will give 

 you total soluble salts. Unfor- 

 tunately, it does not discrimi- 

 nate between nitrate salts and 

 other salts, but if the readings 

 are high and your plants have 



A Handy Tool 



been wilting for the last few 

 days, you'll know that you're 

 feeding too much and it's time 

 to leach. 



You can also check most 

 injectors by testing your fertil- 

 izer solutions at the end of the 

 hose to see if your injector is 

 working properly and you're re- 

 ally feeding what you think you 

 are. Checking the pH of your 

 media regularly with these 

 meters will reduce the chance 

 of having any serious pH 

 swings. The beauty of these 

 units is that you can do all 

 these tests in as little as five 

 minutes. You do not have to 

 wait days for test results from 



a commercial lab, although a 

 lab will give you a further 

 breakdown if you need one. 



If you're using a controlled 

 release fertilizer (CRF) like 

 Osmocote in your mix, an Agri- 

 meter can be a lifesaver. You 

 can know any time how fast or 

 slow your CRF is working or if 

 it has run out of gas. 



The point here is this little 

 tool takes a lot of the guess- 

 work out of problem solving. 

 For a little over a hundred dol- 

 lars, an Agrimeter is a worth- 

 while investment. 



\\m Zablocki, Terhlory Manager, The 

 ScoUs Company, Northeast, can be 

 reached at 603-224-5583. 



Newton Greenhouse 



32 Amesbury Road, Newton, NH 03858 

 603-382-5289 



Quality Plants 

 green and flowering 



from 3" to 10" pots 



Holiday, bedding plants, & dish gardens 



year round cut snaps, 



cut tulips and iris in season, 



gloxinias and African violets 



Licensed propagator 

 of Mikkelsen New Guinea Impatiens 



Cabpentedc 



"The Qeranium Specialists" 



Wholesale Grotvers 



2 1/2" Geraniums (year round) 



4" Pre-finished Geraniums 



2 1/2" Ivy Geraniums & Fuchsia 



Martha Washington Geraniums 



Spring Hanging Baskets, LiUes/Bulbs 



Azaleas, Cyclamen, Poinsettias, Foliage 



JOHN B. CARPENTER, President 

 ROBERT J. CARPENTER, General Manager 



603/659-3391 



220 SOUTH MAIN STREET 



NEWMARKET, NH 03857 



lune & luly 1995 



19 



