How the eacygrow app came about

How the eacygrow App Came to Be

Hello, my name is Dennis. I am the developer of the eacygrow App, and today I want to tell you how eacygrow came into existence.
Since my youth, I’ve been passionate about cannabis, but above all, I love and appreciate the culture and the people.

Years ago, I decided to give it another go and started cultivating again after a break of about 15 years. I quickly realized that a lot had changed over the years.
So, I just started, even though I already knew what it could cost me (cannabis was not yet legal in Germany). Today, I can say that everything worked out well.
Except for the grow itself.

So, let's start from the very beginning.

I got the equipment, the tent, the exhaust fan, and NDL, because it's affordable and includes everything you need. Fertilizer? No idea. So, I googled which fertilizer was best for cannabis.
Somehow, I ended up with Advanced Nutrients pH perfect, because I wouldn't have to adjust the pH myself. I liked that.
I think I also added Big Bud and Overdrive or Bud Candy. I'm not entirely sure anymore.
Only later did I find out what mineral and organic fertilizers are and what the differences are. Beginner, right?

So far, so good, I always mixed the nutrient solution according to the manufacturer's instructions and watered. I NEVER measured the EC value.
My automatics grew huge, almost reaching the tent's ceiling (2 m). There was no talk 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 even bad. Okay, it was my first grow, and I wasn't demotivated. In the meantime, I've read and learned a lot about cultivation and wanted to put that into practice in my next grow.

No sooner said than done.

I got EC and pH meters. I always watered with drain, took notes, and after a while, I noticed that something was wrong.
When I fertilized my plants according to the manufacturer's instructions, they became completely over-fertilized. The EC values of the drain rose sharply. Even when I halved or quartered the amount of fertilizer, I never reached the optimum. Then there were deficiencies and nutrient burns here and there.

How does that add up?

Manufacturers say: Give this and that, and you'll get perfect plants and top-shelf weed.

The grow wasn't great either. It was better, but still far from what I had imagined.
But I learned a lot again, and the problem with the imprecise feeding schedules continued to bother me, so for the first time, I thought about how I could solve it.

The third grow.

They say the third grow is the first grow.
Yes, I agree. Cultivation is simply a matter of experience. In the first two cultivation cycles, you learn the basics, depending on the growing style you use. I don't like to make things difficult for myself, but I voluntarily make them complicated because I always have high expectations for myself and my "work."

The cultivation started well, and I manually calculated my nutrient solution. That was good, but time-consuming. So I developed my first calculator in Sheets (the beginning of what is now the NutS Calc.). With this calculator, I could mix a nutrient solution with the desired EC value. That was very cool. It also saved me a lot of time compared to manual calculation.
However, that led me to the next problem.

For example: If I put a nutrient solution with an EC value of 2 in from above, and an EC value of 2.2 comes out from below, and the next target EC value should be 2.4.
What should be the EC value of the next nutrient solution?

We all know this rule-of-thumb calculation, but in my experience, it doesn't work very well. Especially after repeated use, the actual EC values deviate too much from the expected EC values.
Therefore, this is not a real solution either.

Well, but one night, as I was pondering this again, an idea suddenly struck me. Boom, the next calculator was born.
The EC Calculator.
Now I could precisely calculate the required EC value of my next nutrient solution and then use the NutS Calc to mix the nutrient solution with the desired EC value. Brilliant.

The grow ultimately went much better than the first two times. I was satisfied, but not completely happy. The more I learned and used the calculators, the more questions I had, but that in turn taught me how best to combine the different fertilizers and additives.
I learned which fertilizers were superfluous and could be omitted and what else I needed, e.g., monomagnesium.
My assortment now includes 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 fast are they growing? Incredible what a difference.
For the first time, I just relied on the “app” (back then it wasn't a real app yet) and it worked.
Not only are the EC values correct, but the plants also look great. Healthy, vigorous, potent.

In the meantime, I have expanded the calculators with additional functions, 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. Yes, there were a few nutrient burns, but that's just because I'm pushing the plants' limits. I was fully motivated for the next grow.

The fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, etc.

I can only report continuous improvements. The “app” has changed everything for me.
I have been using and expanding it for about 1 1/2 years now. There are a few more functions, such as grouping plants, individual EC value predictions (the damned thing can see into the future! :-)) and recommended Cal/Mag values in relation to the desired EC value.
New calculators like the Clean Water Calc., since I use osmosis water and this calculates how much normal water I need to add to achieve the desired starting EC value.

The weed keeps getting better.
Through the “app,” I've learned so much about the optimal composition of the nutrient solution in the different growth phases.
When deficiencies occurred, which was only occasionally, I could easily fix them with a simple, quick adjustment in the NutS Calculator.

However, until then, eacygrow was still far from being an app; it was merely a Google Sheets file that, while complex, was also complicated to use.
That wasn't a problem for me, as I had developed it and knew where everything was, but I virtually had to show my friends a PowerPoint presentation to explain where they needed to do what :-)
Once they understood it, everything was fine.

They also quickly saw improvements in their plants and in themselves regarding the learning curve. They were the ones who pushed me to package the whole thing in a clearer, more user-friendly form 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 passed, during which we all used the "app" and were satisfied with the results, but I could understand the growers.
It wasn't very user-friendly, and eventually I had a bit more time to deal with "programming" again, and then I actually managed to develop the app into a real app with "Open as App," a no-code platform. Many thanks again to "Open as App," who host eacygrow and, as a reliable partner, handle the "bureaucracy" behind the app for me.

Sure, the implementation took a while, but today I'm proud to introduce eacygrow to you.
Basically, the app is a must-have for every grower. Personally, I save 63% on fertilizers and additives and thus also the associated costs.

Much love

Dennis