Did I fuck up my plants?

So I got a cheap ph pen ($5) from hong kong that actually had good reviews but I was still skeptical. Anyways, long story short, today I found out that the meter is a peice of crap and my ph was way off for my whole veg (ph was around 4.0-4.8 at all times). The plants actually grew ok it seems but there was definitely always something 'off' about them (you can just tell when plants are happy). So today I stopped being cheap and got a good ph pen for $140 and the liquid indicator test for backup so my ph from here on will be right. But will my plants be shitty in the end because of the bad ph or will they slowly start to get better?


Also, are you supposed to soak the ph pen probe in 4.0 calibration solution when not in use?

I never had good luck with the ph pens so I use drops of ph test stuff. It's right all the time and only cost a few bucks and it lasts for a long time I've been using the little bottle for 9 months.

I have been using my meter for almost 5 years, I would say that's even cheaper.

I keep my pen in 7.0 solution all the time. I recalibrate it every other day on average. Your plants will be fine if you give them time to recover.

I recalibrate mine about every other year and keep it in tap water only, as directed by manufacturer

I do the same bro ju8st tap water

tap water, ph buffer solution, used condom full of semen.. what ever is around when its time to cap the thing.

I think it is so comical that people still use the drops to measure PH.

Did you originally have the piece of crap yellow milwaukie meter? those things are garbage. I bought a HG ph pen and ppm pen and calibrate them about once every two weeks. They area about $50 a piece.

But anywho... no you didn't fuck your plants. Just fix the PH issues and they will likely be much happier.

Mithrandir420 said:

I keep my pen in 7.0 solution all the time. I recalibrate it every other day on average. Your plants will be fine if you give them time to recover.

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Every other day? Doesn't that get expensive?

seems a bit excessive but then again I have a full time ph monitor so its not like I use the pen all that much.

if your runnng hydro with a rez, the constant monitors are THE BOMB!!