Need help in preparation for first grow starting soon

[billymac]

Thanks for the help, I probably should have given a bit more context about my house before asking questions about humidity & temperature

I live in an extremely old house with very poor insulation. There is no central heating or HVAC at all, the only heating in the house is a log burner which is quite a way from the grow room. Grow room itself will be really cold in winter and in summer will be hot as I can't open the external window for obvious reasons. Anticipating having to spend a bit of cash to get the ideal grow environment in the tent as I struggle to maintain the ideal environment for me to in live in the house most of the time

You will def. need some ac, I grew for yrs. in a mobile home in Florida, never had a tent so grew in my bedroom closet, had to leave my window a/c in bedroom on 24-7 with 2 fans blowing and still had fairly high temps. Now 7 yrs/ later getting ready to start a grow in my basement in Va., its cold but now have a tent and lites should provide all the heat needed. I suggest get what you have up and running to see what your temps and rh are then go from there.

 

[billymac]

Welcome to the forum! Very helpful place indeed. I would suggest two things before getting started. I didn't think they would be as necessary as they are: A ph pen/meter and a ppm/EC meter. Either separately or combo. They will save you from mistakes and help you correct when things go wrong.

1) pH pen/meter - test your water and your nutrient/water mix before giving it to your plants.
- With this you will need

A) Storage solution
B) Calibration Fluid

It runs about $40-50 total off amazon.

pH pen: There are some extremely cheap pH pens on amazon. I don't know if they are any good or not. I bought the Milwaukee ph600aq. It's around $22 on amazon and it's made in Romania instead of China. Is it better? Maybe. Works great and is accurate with calibration fluid. It did have a break in period so you will need to calibrate it at least once a week until it settles in.

Amazon product

Calibration fluid: I like to set the pen in a small shotglass and then fill until the glass sensor bulb is submerged. You stick a small screwdriver in the back and turn until the meter reads the same as the cal fluid.

Amazon product

Storage solution: Just rinse the probe after use and add a few drops to the cap. If you put too much it will just squirt out the sides and you will see the white salt crust climb up the sides. It rinses off really easy so don't worry about it too much.

Amazon product

2) PPM/EC meter - so you can know the amount of feed you are giving your plants and also how much "stuff" is already in your water.

There are tons to choose from. I was recommended the HM Digital Com-80
No storage solution needed. I did buy the cal fluid but I haven't needed it yet.

~$30-ish on amazon.

Amazon product


There are loads of expensive ones out there and several combo ph/ec meters also. Just depends on what you want or can afford. I went middle of the road cost wise. I think the cheap China made stuff probably works but needs to be calibrated every use. BlueLabs and Apera are popular brands as well with good reputations and products.

Happy shopping, and growing!

ordered a meter but didnt know about cal fluid or storage shit, so thanks for post, just ordered from amazon,