How Investing In Tools Can Enhance Your Grow
Let’s be honest - growing cannabis can be an art form. You can grow four plants in exactly the same way, and one ends up being a little trickier to please! That’s because there are a number of things that can affect the growth of your cannabis plants beyond just light and temperature. Taking your garden indoors means that you have to recreate all of the elements of how a plant would naturally grow outside.
Being in tune with your grow means that you can diagnose and adapt any of the elements in your setup when things aren’t going right. The more aware you are of the specifics of your plants such as water & medium pH, and the amount of nutrients they are receiving the closer you can get them to being perfectly able to take in all of the elements they require. Intake of water,nutrients, and other elements are significant factors that can affect the taste, look, and potency of the final product.
Keeping track of your plant’s crucial measurements is not difficult, if you have the right meters & calibration tools . We’ve outlined a few of the important tools to have on hand as an expert grower, and how they can help you improve your plants.
pH Pen
A pH pen is one of the most useful tools a grower can have in their back pocket. It’s function is to measure how acidic your water/nutrient solution is before feeding to your plants. The pH of the water changes the pH of your medium, which can affect the amount of nutrients your plants take in if it’s not within the optimal range. By making sure your nutrient solution is the right pH you ensure that your plant is taking in enough to improve their size and your yield.
Digital pH meters range in function and capabilities from simple and basic to advanced with multi-capabilities. Even the use of a basic meter to start, to measure the pH of your water can make a huge difference.
EC Meters
Another important measurement all growers should be conscious of is the EC (electrical
conductivity) of their nutrient solution. An EC meter or conductivity pen measures the presence of nutrients in your nutrient solutions so you know exactly how much you’re feeding your plants. Measuring the EC is the best way to avoid overfeeding, which can cause nutrient burn, or underfeeding, which can result in weak plants. Pure water has an EC reading of zero, and the higher the EC reading the more nutrients are in the solution.
Media Meters
As mentioned earlier, the pH of your nutrient solution directly affects your growing media, which can disturb your plant’s root health, and how it takes in nutrients. Using a soil pH pen or multimedia meter allows you to directly measure the pH and nutrient levels within your plant’s medium. Some allow you to measure down to the roots, so you can ensure true readings, and not just from the top of the surface. One of the benefits of using a multimedia meter, is that they are effective with multiple types of growing mediums - including soil, coco coir, and many others.
Some of the more advanced meters, such as Bluelab Pulse Multimedia EC/MC meter also read and monitor temperature, which can affect roots and nutrient uptake as well.
Probe Cleaning and Care
A probe can only report accurate information if it is clean and able to function. Any outside build up or elements on your probes, pens, and meters can affect its reading, both pH and EC. Build up can occur over time and with continued use, even if it’s not visible to the naked eye. Keeping your probes clean not only ensure the accuracy of their readings, but it also helps to extend their life of use. Probe care kits are often inexpensive and require minimal effort to clean, but make a great difference in the accuracy and lifespan of your instrument. Most brands usually retail an instrument maintenance kit that also contains a cleansing and purifying storage solution
to help keep it clean when not in use.
Calibration Equipment
Lastly, the calibration of your equipment is imperative to ensuring the complete accuracy of your plant’s meter readings. Over time the electrode of your meter can change slightly, which will affect it’s reading. It’s important to calibrate your instrument regularly so that it stays precise with its measurements. Calibration solutions usually come in pH levels 4.0 and 7.0. Inserting the device into this solution will help to calibrate the tool back to its truest settings. EC calibration solutions are also important to have in order to keep your EC meters reporting at complete accuracy. If you’ve ever used a pH or EC meter before, you know calibration is your best friend!
It is important to have good equipment in order to grow good quality cannabis. Most people think of powerful lights, and dynamic fans when referring to the backbone of a good grow setup, however some of the most important tools are used for measurements! Keeping track of the important data, such as pH levels of your media and nutrient solutions can make a big difference in a mediocre grow and an exceptional one. The more details you know about your plants, the more you can do to help them grow!
All of the meter and calibration products mentioned in this article are available on our website.
We also carry all of them in stock at our store at 376 Kingston Road, where one of our
associates will be happy to help you with any questions you have about enhancing your grow.