e.g. Ph, EC, ppm, temp etc…
Sorry if this is the wrong place for this question I’d just like to hear if anybody goes in raw?
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I used to, but once you start paying attention to things your crop improves tremendously.
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I just do PH, Temp and humidity because it’s my first grow, but what would you recommend I start to test in the next grow?
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You have come to the right place my man step inside my house of horrors
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Plenty of growers have sucessful harvests using only a measuring cup for nutrients. Others struggle to keep their plants alive through another night using every gadget known to horticultural science.
If you have an affinity toward gadgets and data and stuff like that, then by all means learn their applications and practice their use. To me, measuring pH and PPM is very important. But that’s not to say it is 100% necessary. A PAR meter can tell you if you are getting enough light, but again not necessary. CO2 monitors, thermohumidigraphs, anemometers, moisture probes, even refractometers to measure brix. All useful measurement devices that perform specific functions that are not VITAL to a successful harvest. You’ll probably never say “Good thing I had that CO2 monitor hooked up, otherwise this grow never would have made it to harvest!”.
It’s the same thing with drying and curing your harvest. You know that if you stay within parameters you will end up with a dried and cured product. You also know that if your buds are too moist for too long that you are susceptible to mold. Using a hygrometer will let you know when you are within or exceeding those parameters, which in turn can help ensure a successful cure. But, you can still fail miserably even with a hygrometer. Nothing is a guarantee.
If you have the budget and the interest then you could use those devices to “enhance” your growing game, and probably come out the other end having earned a greater understanding of the many different aspects of your grow. At the end of the day it’s up to you to go where your interests, curiosity, and search for knowledge takes you.
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The main thing I would do since you already measuring temp/humidity is read about vapor pressure deficit (VPD)and try to dial in the enviroment. But always remember towards the end of flower you likely be out of optimum because you’ll want RH to be low.q
If your organic you may want to test your soil npk, pH and can go even deeper into microlife…
Hydro I would think your next step would be to test the ppm/ec, and get that dialed in for specific strains…
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There is a misconception that measuring PPM is applicable only to hydro. Totally not the case. Keeping an eye on your PPM in soil is a good way to know when your plant needs to be fed more or when there is an over accumulation of salts.
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Good point…
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I’m growing in coco at the moment (on the 5th week) however my next grow will be hydro (DWC) so I think I’ll look into an EC metre (being English and all)
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I’m all organic and in soil (soiless) mediums outdoors I take Ph and adjust for clone watering only , all that ppm, TDS, EC and whatever acronym there is I missed , is Chinese to me and don’t care to go that route to much work I’m a lazy gardener I guess! Lol
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Yeah, I feel you. People have grown good crops without anything, even nutrients so I feel like me and you are doing enough hahaha
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Well nothing out of a bottle that fetches 30$ a quart anyways. I like down to earth products crabmeal, neammeal, bonemeal, alfalfa, compost and worm 
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Triacontanol, look it up, a lot of “nutes” you can receive from other plants that you can grow either just growing them around your plants or composting those certain plants or both
Let your garden work for you as much as you work for it
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I do very little testing of anything. I let the plants tell me what they need. Easy to read them if you know how. I have been growing for several decades both indoors and out. No hydroponics except for cloning in home made bubble cloners that I designed. For clones I test the pH of the water and adjust to 6. I use a thermo pad to keep the temp at 77 deg. Once in soil, there is no need for me to test anything. I have a light meter for comparison only. I blend my own soils. I use a mix of organic and inorganic nutes.
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Most nutrients are ph stable these days. If you follow the mixing instructions on the bottles it will get your ph to the correct levels for you. When it comes to ppm/ec levels your plant will let you know if your feeding it too much so meters are not really needed but they do make your life that little bit easier.
Your correct about different strains feeding at different rates. I had 2 strains using the same rez. Plant A was a massive feeder and I could really push her to the limit but plant B was really choosy about how much I gave her. I ended up having to keep the nutrients at plant Bs level so plant A never grew to her full potential. I’ll never allow plants to share the same rez again.
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In order of importance, you should keep an eye on PH, EC, Humidity, Water temp, Air temp. If you have limited resources, sort them out in that order.
The real world difference from my experience is that checking PH and EC every four days compared to multiple times a day using a doser means an increase in yield of about 60% if you ignore all other factors. Getting your environment sorted for the other values can add another 20-40% depending on how far from ideal numbers your original room was.
It is totally possible to do a grow where you check nothing, but then all you are doing is keeping a plant alive. You will get a result but not a good one. If you want to allow the plant to express fully, you need to take your readings by the balls and make sure they are where you want them.
I have found that for clones I get better results at a little over 6.5 although I am rooting in an aeroponic rooter. I find this gives them more access to calcium and in hydro at least there is another ‘sweet spot’ between 6.5 and 6.9 similar to the one at 5.8.
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I’m using biobizz organic which I believe is made of beetroots. So I fully agree with you. I got it for cheap too, maybe in the future I will try make my own.
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When I was using all bottles to grow, I tested all the time.
Once I gave way to DownToEarth products, various teas, and building a living medium, now I test nothing…but I do try and keep in mind, more exacting portions after they are running, and keep a balance of what I’m tossing in. Not only how long each addiment is active for, long release and short release ingredients, but also, acidic values of each item,and try to balance them with oyster shells and biochar, and plenty of Beneficial Organisms.
Balance is more important to me than strict numbers, now that I changed from bottles.
But I’m learning, so I’m still making some bad decisions on feeding and holding them.
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