First time growers #1 tip

please buy ph pen immediately, its kindest thing you can do to plants as tapwater can be anywhere on scale, mines 10 ph. So l ph down. 6.4 veg. Same for flower or 5.4 this is where all problems begin. Dont care if spring water, check it everytime. Mine changes almost daily. This will save you many problems. Do your research, dont take my word for it, using regent strips for decades, love pens.

Nothing reverse osmosis can't fix. pH neutral and close to zero ppm.

simple, grow in soil, real soil. i got moles and use the soil they push up in our sheep field, loads of natural worm castings and sheep shit in it.
soil is more forgiving when it comes to ph, not to say you cant fuck it up if not looked after properly,,ie killing off the microbes and benaficial bacteria with inorganic nutes

I have had a couple ph pens over the years. I am always amazed that I can never get the same reading twice. I guess you keep testing until you get the reading you want. The old drops always get me close enough.

Southernontariogrower said:

... please buy ph pen immediately, its kindest thing you can do to plants ...

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And go waterproof ...



... cause we humans accidentally drop shit - lost two of the cheaper pens to butter fingers.

I definitely agree with checking and maintaining ph. The pen part is sorta debatable. I bought a couple expensive but quality blue lab pens when I first started and they work but do require a good owner who cleans and calibrates often,stores in correctly etc. I can see their benefits to somebody on a medium to large scale but I'm small personal grower usually not more than 4 indoors and I ve used very inexpensive drops for awhile and they are cheap simple never out of cal or batteries etc. Looking back I probably went drops from start and put that pen money somewhere else. Just my .02

70's natureboy said:

I have had a couple ph pens over the years. I am always amazed that I can never get the same reading twice. I guess you keep testing until you get the reading you want. The old drops always get me close enough.

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I used the drops for years. They work just fine. But these days I don't trust my eyes to match the color so it's digital readout for me.

bam0813 said:

... they work but do require a good owner who cleans and calibrates often, stores it correctly ...

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A few drops of the KCL storage solution in the cap, keep the pen upright with the cap on when not in use and perform a 60 second auto-calibrate every two weeks ... that's a small price to pay for accurate pH readings.

But that is me ...

Yup I agree just thinking it may be one less thing for new growers to worry about considering the endless " help my seedling still has a half of shell" threads lol an extra hundred may get someone out of blurple

Southernontariogrower said:

please buy ph pen immediately, its kindest thing you can do to plants as tapwater can be anywhere on scale, mines 10 ph. So l ph down. 6.4 veg. Same for flower or 5.4 this is where all problems begin. Dont care if spring water, check it everytime. Mine changes almost daily. This will save you many problems. Do your research, dont take my word for it, using regent strips for decades, love pens.

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I dont use a ph pen and my plants grow very nice.

I'm coming from a small soil grow perspective. Zero experience in other mediums. I'm sure they are indispensable in other methods

bam0813 said:

... I'm coming from a small soil grow perspective. Zero experience in other mediums. I'm sure they are indispensable in other methods ...

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When I do use soil, I can pH between 6.4 and 6.8 with good results. But I usually grow in Pro-Mix HP and Pro-Mix requires a lower pH of 5.9 to 6.1. An accurate pen is a must for that medium.

A good ph probe has def saved me an entire room.. I was chasing my tail trying to figure out why my crop was going south. Turns out the soil ph was crashing into the low to mid 5’s. I use it every day. This one will measure liquid and direct soil. Super fast and accurate readings.

StareCase said:

A few drops of the KCL storage solution in the cap, keep the pen upright with the cap on when not in use and perform a 60 second auto-calibrate every two weeks ... that's a small price to pay for accurate pH readings.

But that is me ...

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Another sales myth. Going on 5 years with this $6 pen. Always Place in a cup of distilled water while using. Seriously rinse in said water. Blow electrodes dry before storing. And Baking soda to calibrate. Always 9.0. No pricey gimmicks required. LOL.

Where is the PPM pen suggestions? PH cannot compensate for crazy PPM.

I have this for my mass mixing in the early dawn and low light. But my cheap pen is tried and true. Just my thoughts as a frugal cheap bastard.

StareCase said:

A few drops of the KCL storage solution in the cap, keep the pen upright with the cap on when not in use and perform a 60 second auto-calibrate every two weeks ... that's a small price to pay for accurate pH readings.

But that is me ...

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No doubt about KCL storage solution but I never heard of auto-calibration of a ph meter, how does that work? What meter do you have?

MICHI-CAN said:

Another sales myth. Going on 5 years with this $6 pen. Always Place in a cup of distilled water while using. Seriously rinse in said water. Blow electrodes dry before storing.

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pH probes should be rinsed in distilled or RO water but never stored in it, that is fact.

1212ham said:

... What meter do you have? ...

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The BlueLab pen - pictured in the 5th post of this thread.

1212ham said:

... I never heard of auto-calibration of a ph meter, how does that work? ...

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Stick the probe in a little of the pH 7.0 solution - press CAL. Wait until it's done flashing ... then chuck the pH 7.0 stuff. Rinse and stick the probe in a little of the pH 4.0 solution - press CAL again. Wait till it's done flashing ... then chuck the pH 4.0 stuff. Calibration complete. Pushing the CAL button twice does add a small manual component to it ... so I suppose it's not totally auto-calibrate.

MICHI-CAN said:

... Going on 5 years with this $6 pen. Always Place in a cup of distilled water while using. Seriously rinse in said water. Blow electrodes dry before storing. And Baking soda to calibrate. Always 9.0 ...

Click to expand...

I had a couple of the yellow pens previously and also calibrated with some Baking Soda. And these pens are OK - until - butter fingers! Pens and tank sprayers get wet and yours truly can get a little case of the fumbles. Once they were submerged, they stopped being reliable. That same sodium bicarbonate that used to always measure 9.0 was all over the proverbial map, as it were.

But when I accidentally fumble the BlueLab, I can just keep calm and pH on.

StareCase said:

The BlueLab pen - pictured in the 5th post of this thread.

Stick the probe in a little of the pH 7.0 solution - press CAL. Wait until it's done flashing ... then chuck the pH 7.0 stuff. Rinse and stick the probe in a little of the pH 4.0 solution - press CAL again. Wait till it's done flashing ... then chuck the pH 4.0 stuff. Calibration complete. Pushing the CAL button twice does add a small manual component to it ... so I suppose it's not totally auto-calibrate.

I had a couple of the yellow pens previously and also calibrated with some Baking Soda. And these pens are OK - until - butter fingers! Pens and tank sprayers get wet and yours truly can get a little case of the fumbles. Once they were submerged, they stopped being reliable. That same sodium bicarbonate that used to always measure 9.0 was all over the proverbial map, as it were.

But when I accidentally fumble the BlueLab, I can just keep calm and pH on.

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Sorry about your luck. I've honestly fished for mine more than once. You know. I opened it and blew dry immediately. And REMOVE the batteries. LOL.

My Clover Valley "cheap" tests 9.0 with my trusty old saltwater analog probes. Don't get your intent. But my experiences.

Peace.

MICHI-CAN said:

... I opened it and blew dry immediately. And REMOVE the batteries. LOL ...

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Did the same to the second one ... but it didn't recover. I am glad that you were able to save yours. Keep growing - and sharing those experiences my friend.

Peace back ...