Measuring Up! With Bluelab

If only they could talk. Well, they can’t. So there.

But you can READ your plants. There’s language aplenty written in their development and the progress of their fruits. It just needs translating. And once you can understand the signs your plants are putting out you can respond correctly.

The easiest way to correctly interpret your plants is by measuring their inputs. Feeds, levels, and temperatures are like Google translate if you don’t speak Plantish. 

And to measure your inputs you’re going to want a decent monitor.

Anyone got a pen?

In our R&D room there’s a lot to monitor. We’ve got at least a dozen reservoirs on the go at any one time. Each reservoir will be running a different nutrient regime. There’s an extensive menu of combinations and concentrations in play, every ‘dish’ to the taste of the plant it is feeding. Add to that, the reservoirs are often repositioned in order to create new layouts.

Fixed point monitors are great for constant tracking in static, mono-variety rooms. But that’s not going to work for us, nor any grower who has a wide range of nutrient regimes and regularly rearranged reservoirs. 

So, when we want to check the solutions in our reservoirs we need a monitor we can really get around with. We need to go mobile.

Getting around the room is a long old slog at the best of times. Using a handheld monitor with wired probe attachments gives you full functionality in EC/ppm and pH monitoring. But such devices can be a bit of a fiddle. So a pen is better. Only, pens typically monitor either temps and pH or temps and EC/ppm. 

That means you potentially have to do the rounds twice or carry two pens. And what kind of maniac carries two pens?! 

Anyway, enough with the problems! What’s the solution? Could it be the first pen monitor capable of measuring EC/ppm, pH, AND temperature? We rather think it could be.

Penpals

‘James Goodwin, how DO you DO?’ Roughly thus, AutoPot MD Jason Ralph-Smith greeted Bluelab’s Regional Manager for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa on a recent visit to our HQ. James was here to take in the splendours of our roof garden and (in a handy coincidence where the subject of this blog is concerned) to introduce us to the OnePen.

Bluelab’s OnePen, as the name suggests, allows you to measure all your key solution variables on a single device. Strike one to the OnePen! 

Though Jason’s Combo Meter has long been a rock where monitoring has been concerned, he clearly sees certain advantages to the OnePen. Not only is it more compact and self contained, it also boasts an IP68 waterproof rating, reassuring in case of a ‘slip of the pen’.

As usual the R&D room is busy with incoming, developing, peaking, and outgoing projects. James was treated to a tour of our Red and Blue Banana plants, papaya, dahlias, a multitude of herbs, sprawling tomato vines, chillies, melons, and recently replanted AQUAbox beds to name but a few. 

Trying to keep track of how and when all of these plants excel or falter is a big task and requires some serious data storage. Fortunately the OnePen features a nifty function for such situations.

The OnePen is mightier than the pen

Now, say you want to monitor observed changes in plant, fruit, or flower development against fluctuations in pH, EC/ppm, or solution temperature. And say you want to do it over an extended period of time. How are you going to store your data? Ink pen and pad? Okay, but you’ll need a couple of extra hands free, and notes are easily lost or confused.

Better yet, why not Bluetooth your data off the OnePen to Bluelab’s Edenic app – free to set up on your device of choice. Hey presto, you’ve got all your data for each plant neatly stored. Verily, ’tis the pen to put pay to putting pen to paper!

Pen pusher

The Edenic app, to which the OnePen pushes your data, allows you to easily chart and review plant progress. You can also add notes to each data set. For a pen bandit on the go it’s a really great way of quickly filing and analysing the numbers.

If you’re of the fixed-point-monitor-persuasion then Edenic still has plenty to offer. You can set a compatible meter to send live readings to the app. Because of this you can be really confident in what’s occurring even when you’re not in the room. Measure at your leisure!

Can we borrow your pen?

It’ll come as no surprise that Jason may have ‘forgotten’ to return the OnePen when James left the R&D. No matter. Both James and we are very much looking forward to our dipping their pen in the company ink (water) and exploring the possibilities of this excellent innovation. 

Want to monitor our progress? You can find out more about Bluelab’s constant evolution at @bluelab_official and experience Jason’s measuring mania @autopot_global.