Most people know someone who is very “in tune” with their plants and base their green thumb growing style off intuition and feeling. While that may work for a select group of individuals, it doesn’t for everyone, and it is not recommended when optimizing large scale operations. When you are responsible for the health of plants, it is very risky to base results off feelings and intuition alone. By gathering and analyzing data using Hanna’s analytical instrumentation, you will be able to increase yields, promote plant health, manage genetic drift, and prevent pathogens.
Prior years data can help with decision making!
Having gathered data from previous harvests will give insight on what to replicate or avoid in optimization going forward. Initial water quality, bacteria, metals, alkalinity, pH, EC, dissolved oxygen, and several other data points that influence your cultivation can be pre-logged to get a head start in your cultivation. With this testing, you can also avoid failing state mandated tests, save crops from being extracted and thrown away, supersede start-up operation expectations, and maintain an honorable reputation.
Get to know your environment!
Knowing your environment, nutrients and their concentration is key. Some genetics will consume far more nutrients than others. A specific concentration reading through precise data, rather than a blanket EC reading, can help you identify nutrient specific needs and save you overhead costs while maintaining optimal plant health.
By using our nutrient analysis photometer (HI83325) you can have data available for every input you have for your facility as long as the nutrients do not contain any dyes or interferences.
Keeping it consistent!
Another overlooked factor when it comes to record keeping, is the consistency in the grow room throughout the day. If you are visiting your facility at the same time every day, you're reading results from a finite point of view.
If you use our wall mount monitors (HI981420) you will have pH, EC, and Temperature data points every 15 minutes for your tanks and irrigation lines. This will show you the pH and EC fluctuations throughout the day and give you a better understanding of what is happening in those batch tanks before, during, and after irrigation events thus, allowing you to keep a close eye on your grow room and make necessary adjustments.
Take the testing outside!
For our outdoor farmers and no-till gardeners, you can use our lysimeter (HI83900) to know what is happening above and below ground. The three different length options make extraction and collection effortless. Your rhizosphere is the encyclopedia to the entire season and lifecycle. Pulling samples and getting readings from the rhizosphere directly will provide far more accurate information than guessing topsoil readings.
Knowing nutrient concentrations, moisture levels, dissolved oxygen levels (HI9147), as well as daytime and nighttime temperatures, can lead to a very successful season!
Keep gathering data!
All-in-all, data is crucial to be able to make informed decisions that are tailored to your specific needs to maintain proper plant health and increase yields. By having accurate and reliable information from data, you can consistently gather “backbone” harvests to keep the facility running optimally while simultaneously seeking new genetics to stay ahead of competitors. You will, over time, develop a library of information that is cultivar specific to run on “auto pilot” and scale up without encountering the numerous issues that larger facilities, who don’t properly use data, face daily. When everything is running efficiently, and less concern is focused on day-to-day operations, you will allow your company to stand out amongst competitors!
