Ph, ppm & all that other madness!!!

ok......,
so since i have been more willing to learn about the hobby, ive been talking to folks about methods and everything else.

as far as "technicals" go, i feel ive been led in circles. now ive seen folks come out with some "CA TOP SHELF" quality buds grown outdoors. now my harvest last year (prop 215 patient btw) came out "decent b grade" to my surprise ( i was expectin some bammer). but when talkin to folks how they went about it im gettin all kinds of different advice. the hippies from the grow shops are tellin me "yea brother just put it in the dirt N watch it grow"!!!, then i talk to folks at the club that are tellin me i need to PH my water while checking PPM's.



what the hell is all this about? first off im illiterate with math n science!! failed the shit straight up!!! LOL

so whats the deal? all i want to do is grow some top shelf fire,!

am i doing the right thing by just adding tap water with nutes,teas n flushing every week?

or do i need to become a rocket scientist overnight????


and if thats not confusing enough i got folks tellin me to check PH n PPM for outdoor everytime i water and feed.

then i got folks that when i mention that, they laugh at the idea of doing all that shit for outdoor grows.


im so damn confused..........lol


so what do you guys say? and this isnt meant to start a warzone about everyones opinion and difference in beliefs. i realize there aint no "RIGHT" way to win a race just thought i could get some feedback from folks that have been through the woods n back.

how bout it guys?

PS, if i DO need to worry bout all that........what is it i should be checking for (ppm wise?)
nitrates?
nitrites?
nutes?
hardness?
soil? (runoff?)

and what should they read out to?


like i said< last year i bought some expensive ass dirt watered with tap, fed weekly with tap, and brewed teas with tap and hit em once a week and came out with some "decent".

thanks guys

oh yeah (sorry lol) if i invest in the PPM tester (without payin an arm,leg & fist born) will this be good enough?

http://cgi.ebay.com/Hanna-Primo-TDS-Tester-/270637057488?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3f0339c5d0


or will aquarium test strips (or drops) do the trick?
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bump anyone?

Sounds like you are suffering from search engine overload like in those commercials. l

There's a million and one ways to grow a plant so it's hard for anyone to tell you how to do it without having all kinds of advice thrown at you that's all different...

I personally wouldn't bother with either pH or EC/ppm when growing in soil outdoors. The fact that you can't measure what's already in the ground and available to the plant kind of makes exact measuring of nutrient strength pointless. Soil also naturally buffers pH - you'd have to be doing something horribly wrong to alter ground pH to any extent by just giving nutrients and watering...

I would bother with a pH meter/drops/strips when growing in small containers (pots) indoors though - the volume of soil used for indoor growing is small enough that it is entirely possible to alter the natural pH away from where it should be just from giving nutrients or watering with high or low pH tap water...

You need to monitor both pH and EC/ppm's in hydroponic growing. This is really the only type of grower that should be splitting hairs about pH and EC/ppm's and both should be monitored routinely here...

Books are written about how to grow so I'm not going to try to go there - hope that clears up the pH/EC/ppm thing a bit for you though.

I guess I'm one of those "old hippies"! lol!

I have never ph'd of ppm'd or done any other test on my water, they get tap water. I believe I grow A++ meds.

All my extra meds go to delivery services & they get "top dollar" for it. They have a standing order with me for any of my extra meds.

Maybe I'm just very lucky to have perfect tap water here in Sacramento, but I don't think so.

Good luck bro, but I wouldn't bother.

peace
doublejj
P.S. TaoWolf, you SF man? I'm 9th infantry VN vet, salute!

yea jj, im also in sac. so chances are our water could be comin from the same source. thx guys for clearin that up, that just cleared half my stress.

but on the flipside it looks like i may still need to invest in the meter because i do have my ebb & flow thing goin on. will the meter i posted be sufficiant?

gotta love the net!

and honestly, does this site really get enough hits to make it worth posting a grow journal?