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- #201
SoilGuy
New Member
It's the EC homie!
It's that metric that reveals what's going on with the nutrient/water solution. Go Giants!...that said, imagine announcing to the world how fast a pitch was without radar... Sure you can easily tell one pitch is faster than another, but you're likely unsure as to by how many specific miles per hour. That's what a decent meter (Hanna Instruments are what I personally use) will tell you. Hydro is my method of growing, however this doesn't completely shatter the science of the WATER the roots receive. By the time the solution gets to the roots in soil it has accumulated things that will boost the EC, on the flip side with hydro the EC of the solution in the reservoir is the same EC that the roots receive. Hmmm...maybe one day it'll be easy for you to have access to one of these meters and you can conduct a test, very similar to what another member suggested you do with PH, and measure the runoff.
It's all in the numbers bro
Here's what I've found (so far) with regards to EC ranges. Keep in mind the fact that I work with hydro and what I've previously stated about the water accumulating other dissolved solids from the soil and the subsequent rise in EC this would cause. I would suggest you take your own readings and discover your own optimum ranges.
Clones that have established roots including those in first week of veg: 0.50-0.75
Vegging: 1.50-1.9
Flowering: 2.00-2.33
<=== you know what it is
EC (or PPM) meters are an important part of keeping a working hydro system. Because a hydro system uses a reservoir it is necessary to monitor how strong your solution is over time.
In a soil system, an EC (or PPM) meter can be helpful for mixing consistent nutrient feedings but is not a necessary tool. This is because in a soil system the plants are not constantly feeding off of a large reservoir that changes over time.
The reasoning behind my under feeding my plants does not come from the lack of an EC meter. Even with an EC meter, I would underfeed my plants, just more accurately. The purpose for underfeeding was based on my research that auto strains are sensitive and do not need much in the line of nutrients.
It's better to underfeed than overfeed in my opinion. Nutrient burn is not pretty. Knowing this I went low for the nutrients this grow and plan on bumping them up the next grow till they reach optimal levels
!
: will do Smokey 
Glad to have you here 
