Do I Really Need A Tds Meter?

[zachw]

I'm growing in soil. Do have a decent pH meter (after a soft kick in the butt here) but not a TDS / ppm meter. Do I really need one?

[+Malamute]

Depends...

[Restorium2]

Yup. I always set my nutes using ppm in my soil grows. I have the meter for my hydro and aero mostly. 

 

Here's the deal;

 

Most plants need to be fed twice a week. If they are using more water then you back down on the nutes in the water.  In a perfect world they would need to be watered twice a week and you could use full strength every time you watered. Only works out like that if it's cold and they are not growing fast. 

[medmanmike]

I'm growing in soil. Do have a decent pH meter (after a soft kick in the butt here) but not a TDS / ppm meter. Do I really need one?

 

Are you feeding the plants, or feeding the soil? 

[Restorium2]

Most nutes offer a way to measure them with a cross reference to what the ppm would be. So you don't really need the meter if you want to carefully follow their instructions while you observe the plants for results. 

[t-pain]

if organic, nope.

[Kingdiamond]

Ive never used one only thing I have on  hand is my PH pen thats it and a measuring shot glass .

[zachw]

if organic, nope.

 

Is that true? First month was pretty much only dilute urine water. Now I'm using 5-1-1 Alaska Fish (organic) that supposedly won't burn (it also brings down the pH nicely).

 

In any event, doesn't appear that I have any pressing need for another device.

[matt79]

I would get one, and i would ditch tge PH meter and get one of those chemical test kits where u add 4 drops of solution to your water/nutes. Its cheaper, faster, and requires no calibration.

 

I posted on this forum a few months back about my plants looking like hell. It was suggested i get a tds meter, so i did. My water was over 600ppm from the tap! After getting an RO system my yields are up and im using less than half the nutrients i needed before, and my plants are looking great.

Its 60 bucks for a tds/ppm pen. Do it.

[Restorium2]

The ppm meter works well with Fox Farms Organics.

[Restorium2]

Most of the bottled Fox Farm fertilizers are not 100% organic and contain salts.

Everyone's definition of Organic is not the same. The bottle says it's made from bat and worm crap. Good enough for me. I'm not a strictly organic type person. I still eat regular food.

[Restorium2]

This is an example of an extreme water condition. Most taps in city/suburban areas are < 200 ppm. If you think you might have this problem, borrow one from somebody and check rather than owning it, since the ppm/pH of your water supply shouldn't be changing much (unless you live in Flint?). Save the money for an RO system if you have the problem.

You can take a water sample down to the plant store and they will tell you how to work with it.

[t-pain]

shouldnt be using bottles anyway, it increases prices. can buy bulk ingredients cheaper in powdered form.

 

as long as you dont mind playing with dusty poops. haha

[Restorium2]

The main grow and bloom fertilizers list salts on the bottle. Fox Farm most definitely does have fully organic products like Big Bloom, however Tiger Bloom and Grow Big, the main bottled liquids, are not.

Yup. I was reading right off the Big Bloom bottle. It's the base/main of their feeding schedule. The other additives are salts. 

[Restorium2]

shouldnt be using bottles anyway, it increases prices. can buy bulk ingredients cheaper in powdered form. as long as you dont mind playing with dusty poops. haha

They work great. Shouldn't be using them? You are going too far unless you were kidding. There are so many other things that you should be worried about. Leave the poor bottles alone. ha ha