itchynutts
Active Member
I'm growin in soil and I was wondering if I need one, I'm reading a couple books on growing but Its not telling me what PPM really is? It just keeps saying to measue the PPM
Do i need a ppm meter ?
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Florida Girl
Well-Known Member
PPM (Parts Per Million) measures the salts in water/nutrient. Not usually necessary for soil grows IF you know what the PPM of your tap water is.
These meters are more commonly used by hydro growers, however if you are growing in soil containers inside and are mixing the nutes/water appropriately and start seeing problems then you may want to get a meter in there to see what the hell is going on.
I grow hydro.... and didn't have a meter at first. I had problems from the get-go. I got my meter and was shocked to find my tap water PPM was 550+ out of the faucet. So my feeding at the appropriate measures was still WAY too high for the plants. I dug out my water report and found that because I live on the coast the sodium content of my tap water is 130 PPM
.... as a comparison, the neighboring county (about 30 miles inland) has a sodium of 8 PPM. You can see how my water was lethal to my plants.Even if I had been growing in soil containers I would have had a problem and without a meter it would have been hard as a new grower to identify what it was.
I love my meter... it takes all the guess work out of it. Of course I am growing hydro. Since you are growing in soil, see if you can get a water report for your area before you drop the money on a PPM meter.
Also remember.... for young plants in early veg.... start off slowly and only at about 1/4 strength what the feeding instructions say. Work your way up slowly.
Hope that helps
itchynutts
Active Member
I'm using spring water to water my plants, will that be ok?
tasteskindasalty
Well-Known Member
I'd only suggest a PPM meter if you're growing in hydro or are having problems with nute burn and such. Most small scale grows shouldn't require a PPM meter.