Is PH really necessary?

I recently found out about balancing the PH of nutrients for hydro. I have had 5 or so successful batches of plants without doing this. I am wondering if it is essential or more along the lines of an added bonus. The reason for my hesitance is that I tried it shortly after reading an article on the matter and my plants almost immediately fell victim to nutrient burn. I am sure I could experiment to find the right amount of nutrients to make it work properly but did not want to go through the process unless it has a very noticeable difference. Thanks for the help!

can you explain what you did exactly to get the burn?

What's the ph difference between adjusted/unadjusted nute mixes?

chances are the reason for the nutrient burn when pH adjusting is due to the pH down that is used is a fert. phosphoric acid is a fert. I suspect that people make too much out of pH adjusting. this seems to cause a lot of confusion. If you had successful grows without checking or changing pH, then I'd say you have your answer.

It depends entirely on your water. If ph necessary for you? Probably not by the sounds of it.

If I don't ph down my mix is in the high 8's after adding nutes. Not too keen on feeding that to the ladies (hydro)

If use spring water I need to ph up slightly. Rainwater that has not entered my concrete storage tank is the same. Water I got from my sister (town/tap water) was perfect. Start ph 7.7, end ph 5.8 after adding nutes.

Water ain't just water I'm afraid

In hydro you MUST keep your res at a comfortable pH zone or problems really begin.

5.8 to 6.2 is a fav of mine. Start at 5.8 and adjust it down as needed (it should rise and if it falls - start looking for root problems)

being too low is worse then too high bit neither should be allowed for any length of time.
I adjusted mine daily at lights on.