wannabeagrower
Member
I wanted to talk about PPM/EC meters and whether they are important for cannabis growers.
So PPM stands for "parts per million" and measures how much "stuff" is in the water. EC stands for Electrical Conductivity and essentially measures the same thing by putting an electric current through the water, and is influenced by dissolved ions including nutrients. They measure the same thing essentially, they give different numbers. PPMs will be like 200 PPM but EC will be like 0.4 EC. A single PPM meter typically actually measures the EC and converts to PPM for you.
So a grower will make nutrient water, then measure the total levels. Higher numbers means there's a lot of minerals and other things, and it's unknown if those are nutrients or something else. Low numbers is closer to "pure" water.
Some growers have tap water that naturally is relatively pure, but some growers have tap water that's very "hard" and has lots of PPMs. But that doesn't tell you much about what's in the water, and whether it's good for plants.
Anyways, I've heard there are different schools of thought when it comes to PPM/EC and weed. On Reddit, it seems like everyone believes that measuring and controlling PPM/EC is key to getting good fast and healthy plant growth. In fact, they even say that you don't need to worry about PH, only PPM/EC! Yet I've noticed, somehow all their plants look unhealthy. And so many Reddit posts are essentially, "I stopped measuring PH and started measuring EC and now my plants look bad."
So I feel pretty confident PH is more important than PPM/EC.
But if the PH is correct, how much does PPM/EC matter?
The other school of thought seems to be to just follow a nutrient schedule, and then adjust the strength based on plant appearance. So if it's pale all over then give more nutrients. If it's dark green and getting burnt tips, pull back. And other than that just pay attention to PH. But other things can affect leaf color like PH, bugs, watering problems, heat, etc.... So maybe PPM/EC is better when you're struggling to figure out why all your leaves are turning yellow.
What's the better approach? What are the pros and cons of measuring PPM/EC vs just looking at the plants and adjusting nutrient levels based on that? Who measures both PH and EC?
So PPM stands for "parts per million" and measures how much "stuff" is in the water. EC stands for Electrical Conductivity and essentially measures the same thing by putting an electric current through the water, and is influenced by dissolved ions including nutrients. They measure the same thing essentially, they give different numbers. PPMs will be like 200 PPM but EC will be like 0.4 EC. A single PPM meter typically actually measures the EC and converts to PPM for you.
So a grower will make nutrient water, then measure the total levels. Higher numbers means there's a lot of minerals and other things, and it's unknown if those are nutrients or something else. Low numbers is closer to "pure" water.
Some growers have tap water that naturally is relatively pure, but some growers have tap water that's very "hard" and has lots of PPMs. But that doesn't tell you much about what's in the water, and whether it's good for plants.
Anyways, I've heard there are different schools of thought when it comes to PPM/EC and weed. On Reddit, it seems like everyone believes that measuring and controlling PPM/EC is key to getting good fast and healthy plant growth. In fact, they even say that you don't need to worry about PH, only PPM/EC! Yet I've noticed, somehow all their plants look unhealthy. And so many Reddit posts are essentially, "I stopped measuring PH and started measuring EC and now my plants look bad."
So I feel pretty confident PH is more important than PPM/EC.
But if the PH is correct, how much does PPM/EC matter?
The other school of thought seems to be to just follow a nutrient schedule, and then adjust the strength based on plant appearance. So if it's pale all over then give more nutrients. If it's dark green and getting burnt tips, pull back. And other than that just pay attention to PH. But other things can affect leaf color like PH, bugs, watering problems, heat, etc.... So maybe PPM/EC is better when you're struggling to figure out why all your leaves are turning yellow.
What's the better approach? What are the pros and cons of measuring PPM/EC vs just looking at the plants and adjusting nutrient levels based on that? Who measures both PH and EC?