New Grower pH meter question

[wrongturn13]

I have been doing a lot of reading over the last two days about pH and meters. It seems that I need to buy a stick meter and I need to spend about $100.

I hardy found any posts that use the liquid test so can you use that for testing your water before adding and on runoff from watering instead of a pen or should I just suck it up and buy one?

I am going to use wg's easy dirt guide for my soil mix and feed schedule.

I already spent more than I wanted (leds) and I'm tapped out.

Please give me some guidance.

Thanks

 

[autobliterate]

Hey wrongturn,

I am in a very similar position to you and hadn't been pH'ing until i started to run into problems. My Journal is linked in my sig if you want to see how it has been going. My first plant made it through without pH troubles but i also stunted it by switching to flowering nutes too early. I adjusted the schedule for a longer time with veg feeds for the second plant and it sent the soil too acidic after a while. Because I wasn't pH'ing i couldn't do much as she yellowed right up. I ended up getting the drop test and it told me enough to try to correct the problem. My soil was likely around 5.0.

If you are using wg's guide. I think you should be fine with just the drops although if you plan to keep growing it might not be a bad investment to get a pen. Im certainly gonna save up for a nice one now.

Did you use the exact soil he recommended with dolomite lime included? I did not so i added extra to my mix but it seems to have not been quite enough for this plant. Thankfully for the later ones i switched soils to something that should be more balanced. Best luck bro. Let us know how it goes.


P.S. I would recommend continuing veg feed longer than the guide recommends. All of my plants have still been growing up vigorously when it told me to make the switch. They are definitely getting a lot bigger than the first one that i switched over when recommended.

 

[faded187]

im tellin ya guys. when I spent $56 on my accurate 8 and just bought ph perfect nutes, it changed my whole game. went from grams to ounces.

 

[Gonzo]

I have been doing a lot of reading over the last two days about pH and meters. It seems that I need to buy a stick meter and I need to spend about $100.

I hardy found any posts that use the liquid test so can you use that for testing your water before adding and on runoff from watering instead of a pen or should I just suck it up and buy one?

I am going to use wg's easy dirt guide for my soil mix and feed schedule.

Liquid and paper ph testers work with colours, not numbers. You get the result with estimating ph from similarity of colours that you see. Since you compare colour from real life to colour printed on tester, there is a lot of room for inaccuracy.

Good Luck!

 

[wrongturn13]

im tellin ya guys. when I spent $56 on my accurate 8 and just bought ph perfect nutes, it changed my whole game. went from grams to ounces.

Dude my shopping list is done and I'm sticking with what I got. Over the last few months of reading just about every post on here my head is going to explode so no offense but I'm not changing now LOL. but I will take your advice into consideration after my first grow is done and under my belt.

Thanks.

 

[wrongturn13]

Hey wrongturn,

I am in a very similar position to you and hadn't been pH'ing until i started to run into problems. My Journal is linked in my sig if you want to see how it has been going. My first plant made it through without pH troubles but i also stunted it by switching to flowering nutes too early. I adjusted the schedule for a longer time with veg feeds for the second plant and it sent the soil too acidic after a while. Because I wasn't pH'ing i couldn't do much as she yellowed right up. I ended up getting the drop test and it told me enough to try to correct the problem. My soil was likely around 5.0.

If you are using wg's guide. I think you should be fine with just the drops although if you plan to keep growing it might not be a bad investment to get a pen. Im certainly gonna save up for a nice one now.

Did you use the exact soil he recommended with dolomite lime included? I did not so i added extra to my mix but it seems to have not been quite enough for this plant. Thankfully for the later ones i switched soils to something that should be more balanced. Best luck bro. Let us know how it goes.


P.S. I would recommend continuing veg feed longer than the guide recommends. All of my plants have still been growing up vigorously when it told me to make the switch. They are definitely getting a lot bigger than the first one that i switched over when recommended.

Yes I found all of his ingredients at lowes. so what were you unable to get from his list. The one thing that confused me was when he was talking about the lime. I havent read the ingredients on the products but I did get them all.

Thanks for your help dude!

 

[wrongturn13]

Liquid and paper ph testers work with colours, not numbers. You get the result with estimating ph from similarity of colours that you see. Since you compare colour from real life to colour printed on tester, there is a lot of room for inaccuracy.

Good Luck!

Thanks that's what I was guessing. And considering I'm color blind.... I run a reef tank and I'm always having my wife look at the colors for me it drives her nuts. I wonder how she's going to feel when I keep asking "do you think this leaf is turning yellow?" Or are these amber yet?

Thank you

Do you have a recommendation for meter?

 

[wrongturn13]

Hey wrongturn,

I am in a very similar position to you and hadn't been pH'ing until i started to run into problems. My Journal is linked in my sig if you want to see how it has been going. My first plant made it through without pH troubles but i also stunted it by switching to flowering nutes too early. I adjusted the schedule for a longer time with veg feeds for the second plant and it sent the soil too acidic after a while. Because I wasn't pH'ing i couldn't do much as she yellowed right up. I ended up getting the drop test and it told me enough to try to correct the problem. My soil was likely around 5.0.

If you are using wg's guide. I think you should be fine with just the drops although if you plan to keep growing it might not be a bad investment to get a pen. Im certainly gonna save up for a nice one now.

Did you use the exact soil he recommended with dolomite lime included? I did not so i added extra to my mix but it seems to have not been quite enough for this plant. Thankfully for the later ones i switched soils to something that should be more balanced. Best luck bro. Let us know how it goes.


P.S. I would recommend continuing veg feed longer than the guide recommends. All of my plants have still been growing up vigorously when it told me to make the switch. They are definitely getting a lot bigger than the first one that i switched over when recommended.

Also I just went to your journal thanks man I already read your journal twice I'm basically doing your grow I got the mars 96x3 reflector and im only doing two staggered. Thanks again you made me finally just make a decision.

I'm so excited

 

[MisterHarpy]

Dude my shopping list is done and I'm sticking with what I got. Over the last few months of reading just about every post on here my head is going to explode so no offense but I'm not changing now LOL. but I will take your advice into consideration after my first grow is done and under my belt.

Thanks.

I mean you asked for advice, he's giving you great advice the accurate 8 is almost a must specially at the price compared to other meters. Can you grow without one, absolutely. But you run the risk that if there's a defficieny or a problem, you won't be able to properly diagnose it or treat it

 

[autobliterate]

Also I just went to your journal thanks man I already read your journal twice I'm basically doing your grow I got the mars 96x3 reflector and im only doing two staggered. Thanks again you made me finally just make a decision.

I'm so excited

I am excited for you too. Can't wait to see what you do. :karma Cloud:

What strains are you gonna run?