to each there own i hate fucking with ph its the worste.... i use a buffering soil... but ph is the main reason i left dwc
I have lived and worked all over the Rocky Mountain west. Born on the Mexican border and moved north. Colorado for years, then Montana and Washington. Back to Texas to work in the Permian Basin area and finally to Alaska. The water shifts have been incredible. Everything from great to cow piss. pH of 8 all the way to pH of 7.2 from the tap. Soft soft water all the way to the hardest shit you can imagine.
NOW - all you folks who were born where you live need to think a bit. Not everybody has the water you have. Either good or bad.
As a RN in ER for years - ABC = Airway, Breathing and Circulation and IN THAT ORDER. It don't mean shit if the heart is beating if the patient isn't breathing you know? They can't breathe with an occluded airway. If it's open and they aren't breathing it doesn't matter if the heart beats another hour. They are dead meat or dead in the head. So we immediately immediately immediately assess those 3 things on entry to ER.
FUCK a bleeding gunshot wound or 10 of them if their airway is blocked or they aren't breathing. Now with that said why is it so hard to think about initially testing your water for pH and for PPM? Eh?
The plant MUST have water and air. It can live with shit light even if not for long. So what does everybody immediately focus on?
How much light can I throw on them? When can I start nutes? Usually without ever thinking to test the pH and the EC/PPM of their water!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Not every damned time. But occasionally check. Our water in the desert used to be great - until it wasn't. As the Hueco and Mesilla bolsons emptied from irrigation they are being refilled ever so slowly by water seeping down. Through tons of limestone!!!! Now what was once great water MUST be treated. This occurred over years so who was looking at that? Nobody until their pot started growing like shit.