Hi,
My name is Dennis. I am the developer of eacygrow and today I would like to tell you how eacygrow came about.
I have been a cannabis lover and connoisseur since my youth, but above all I love and appreciate the culture and the people.
A few years ago, I wanted to give it another go and started growing again after a break of about 15 years. I quickly realized that a lot had changed over the years.
So I just started, but already knowing what it could cost me (cannabis was not yet legal in Germany). Today I can say that everything went well.
Except for the grow.
So, let's start from the beginning.
I got the equipment, tent, exhaust fan, and NDL for now because it's cheap and everything else you need. Fertilizer? No plan. So I googled which is the best fertilizer for cannabis?
Somehow I ended up with Advanced Nutrients ph perfect because I don't have to adjust the pH value myself. I liked that.
I think I added Big Bud and Overdrive or Bud Candy as well. I'm not entirely sure anymore.
I only found out afterwards what mineral and organic fertilizers are and what the differences are. Beginners, eh?
So far so good, always mixed and poured nutrient solution according to the manufacturer's instructions. NEVER measured the EC value.
My automatics grew huge and almost reached the ceiling of the tent (2m). There was no question of controlled cultivation.
Unfortunately, I can't find any photos anymore. I'll add them if they turn up.
The weed wasn't good. Period. No, it was actually bad. Okay, it was my first grow and I wasn't demotivated. In the meantime, I read and learned a lot about growing and wanted to put that into practice in my next grow.
No sooner said than done.
I got myself some EC and pH meters. I always watered with Drain, kept records, and after a while I noticed that something wasn't right.
When I fertilized my plants according to the manufacturer's instructions, they became completely overfertilized. The EC values of the drain rose sharply.
Even when I halved or quartered the amount of fertilizer, I never achieved the optimum. Then there were deficiencies here and there, nutrient burn.
How does that fit together?
The manufacturers say: give this and that and you'll get mega plants and mega weed.
The grow wasn't that great either. It was better, but still far from where I wanted it to be.
But I learned a lot again, and the issue with the inaccurate fertilization schedules kept bothering me, so I started thinking for the first time
about how to solve it.
The third grow.
They say that the third grow is the first grow.
Yes, I would agree. Growing is simply a matter of experience. In the first two grows, you learn the basics, depending on which growing style you use. I don't like to do it, but I voluntarily make it complicated for myself because I always have high expectations of myself and what I do.
The grow started well and I calculated my nutrient solution manually. Which was good, but time-consuming. So I developed my first calculator in Sheets (the beginnings of what is now NutS Calc.). With this calculator, I was able to mix a nutrient solution with a desired EC. Which was very cool. It also saved a lot of time compared to manual calculation.
However, this brought me back to the next problem.
Namely, if I pour in a nutrient solution with an EC value of 2 at the top and the drain comes out at 2.2 at the bottom and the next target EC value should be at 2.4.
How high does the EC value of the next nutrient solution need to be?
We all know this rule of thumb calculation, which in my experience works rather poorly. Especially after repeated use, the actual EC values deviate too far from the expected EC values. So it's not really a solution either.
Well, but one night, as I was letting my thoughts wander in that direction again, it popped into my head.
Bam, the next calculator was born. The EC Calculator.
Now I could precisely calculate the necessary EC of my next nutrient solution and then use the NutS Calc. to mix the nutrient solution with the desired EC. Ingenious.
The grow ended up going much better than the first two. I was satisfied, but not completely happy. The more I learned and used the calculators, the more questions I had, but this in turn taught me how to best combine the different fertilizers and additives.
I learned which fertilizers were superfluous and could be discarded, and what I still needed, e.g. mono magnesium.
My range has now expanded to a total of 13 fertilizers and additives, and without these calculators it would be impossible for me to mix the optimal nutrient solution.
The fourth grow.
Wow, WTF!? How do they work? Unbelievable what a difference.
The first time, I just relied on the “app” (it wasn't a real app at the time) and it worked.
Not only are the EC values correct, but the plants also look great. Healthy, strong, potent.
In the meantime, I've added more to the calculators, such as N-P-K ratios and Cal/Mag amounts and ratios. Because the question arose: Am I actually giving the right proportions of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium? And what about calcium and magnesium?
And what can I say, at the end of the grow, I was happy.
Firstly, the weed met my requirements, although there is still room for improvement, and secondly, the “app” works. Yeah a little nutrient burn, but thats only because i test the limits of the plants. I was fully motivated for the next grow.
The fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, etc.
I can only report steady improvement. The “app” is a game changer for me.
I have been using and expanding it for about 1 1/2 years now. There are a few more features such as grouping plants, individual EC value prognoses (the damn thing looks into the future! :-)) and recommended Cal/Mag values in relation to the desired EC value.
New calculators such as the Clean Water Calc., since I use osmosis water and it calculates how much normal water I need to mix it with to achieve the desired starting EC.
The weed is getting better and better.
I learned so much about the optimal composition of the nutrient solution in the different growth phases through the “app.”
When deficiencies arose, which only happened occasionally, I was able to easily remedy this with a simple, quick adjustment in the NutS Calculator.
But until then, eacygrow was far from being an app; it was just a spreadsheet, albeit a complex one that was also complicated to use.
It was okay for me because I developed it and knew where everything was, but I had to give my friends a PowerPoint presentation to explain where they had to do what.-)
Once they got it, everything was fine.
They also quickly saw improvements in their plants and in themselves in terms of the learning curve. They were the ones who pushed me to package the whole thing in a clearer, more user-friendly way as an app.
"Guys, how do you imagine that? I'm not a programmer and I don't have the money for it."
So, almost a year went by in which we all used the “app” and were happy with the results, but I could understand the growers.
It wasn't very user-friendly and at some point I had a little more time to look into “programming” again and then actually managed to develop the app into a real app using “Open as App,” a no-code platform. Thanks again to “Open as App,” who host eacygrow and as a reliable partner, take care of the “bureaucracy” behind the app for me.
Sure, it took a while to implement, but today I am proud to present eacygrow and highly recommend it to you.
Basically, the app is a no-brainer for every grower. Personally, I save 63% on fertilizer and additives, and thus also on the associated costs.
For you, this means that eacygrow pays for itself and helps you grow healthy, strong and potent plants while becoming a better grower.
Sending lots of love
Dennis