The Best Practices for Hydroponic Nutrient Monitoring

 

There are two tools that you must have if you are growing hydroponically. These are the EC Meter and the pH Meter. Without these meters, you can not control your nutrient solution. You could try to guess, but I guarantee you will either be over - or under feeding your plants. The only time you may be able to get away without the meters is if you are using organic nutrients, but it’s still a good idea to monitor your solutions, just so you have a baseline in case something goes wrong. 

 

Every time you monitor your EC and pH, write it down. Here is a sample chart of a hydroponic

 

 

• The “Reservoir #” box can be eliminated if you only have one reservoir. If you have more than one, give each one a number
• Record the EC after you top off the reservoir with fresh water but before you add more nutrients
• Record the pH after you top off the reservoir and add more nutrients. Stir very well before checking the pH
• Write down exactly how much nutrient you added and how much pH adjuster you added
• Write down any notes such as how the plants look, if anything went wrong like over or underwatering, if you put in any supplements or enhancers etc
• At least once a month dump out and clean the reservoir and start with a fresh nutrient solution
• You can put an extra column in for “temperature” if you are concerned about your nutrient solution being too hot or too cold
• I also like to record the weather or any other factors that could be impacting your plants

 

It’s extremely important to monitor the nutrient solution. In hydroponics, the nutrients are the easiest thing to get wrong. If you have proper notes, you can learn what you are doing right, and why things are going wrong. 

 

Feel free to make charts for harvest or anything else you want to keep track of. Keeping notes gets rid of the guesswork.

 

For more great content check out the Proponics YouTube channel below!

 

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