It has been helpful in getting my grow tent dialed in many ways. I highly recommend them for growers looking to improve the quality of the cannabis they grow.
The Pulse One Grow Room Monitor is a great way to monitor, temperature, humidity, light, dew point, and Vapor Pressure Differential (VPD). It would be impossible to try and optimize VPD without a grow room monitor like this.
The app has the ability to monitor historical data from your current grow, or for past grows. You can easily see highs/lows, averages, and recommendations to optimize conditions. You can set different groupings (such as Vegetation, Flowering, Drying, etc.) with alerts so you can be notified when things go outside a certain range. Super helpful.
The app comes with it for free, there’s not monthly charge. You can hook multiple Pulse units up and view summary data within the same app screen. That’s helpful to isolate environmental differences within different parts of larger grow rooms, or to monitor multiple small spaces.
There’s a battery you can charge that gives it a 4-month batter life. I use the power cord, so I can’t speak to how well the battery’s longevity performs over time. In theory the battery could back me up if power went out, but then I’d lose the internet either way so it wouldn’t matter.
Drawbacks:
If you have a shitty internet connection then this product won’t work well. When the wireless connection goes down, you lose access to the app data. Not a problem for some, but in rural areas without internet access this product won’t work.
The price tag may seem a bit expensive for many casual growers. At first I was hesitant to spend the money. But I’m very glad I did. It have provided a window to observe and optimize around environmental factors that can result in better plant development throughout the grow. The result is more consistent growing conditions that have yielded some high quality buds.
Issues I’ve had with it:
Setting it up wasn’t as straightforward as the video made it seem. I ended up having to try it a few times and then contacting the Pulse customer support team to get it working. They were able to help and soon I was on my way.
I did have a strong bug one day that came when setting the date range for the reporting. It caused an error that essentially crashed my app. But I contact support and outlined exactly what caused it and the next day they pushed a fix that resolved the issue. Very responsive.
Avoiding high temperatures on hot summer days can be a problem for many growers. Using Pulse One to monitor historical heat trends helps me adjust air conditioning to adequately cool the grow tent in the room where it sits.
By placing my tent’s air intake duct right in front of the AC I was able to find a sweet spot in the tent on really hot days where the ambient room temperature rose above where it should be.
On two occasions the AC tripped the circuit’s arc-fault breaker, and the Pulse app lets me know when this happens with an alert of high temperatures so I was able to respond before heat damage ensued.
Pulse One’s app has allowed me to dial in my tent’s exhaust fan rate, so I can keep it down on normal days but dial it up on warmer days to pull in more cooler air from the surrounding room.
Before I used to just keep a 4-inch inline ventilation fan blasting nearly full speed, along with a separate 6-inch inline fan for the air-cooled HPS lights. Dialing both down saves on energy costs, and reduces noise from each of the fans.
Alerted to problem with light timer
The single most valuable moment I have gotten from the Pulse One monitor was when I had an unexpected issue with my light timer. Instead of initiating flowering with a 12-on 12-off cycle it was instead blasting light 24 hours nonstop.
It was easy to tell this on the Pulse Grow app, and I was able to replace the broken timer without issue. Who knows how long I would have kept vegging the plants without it. What if the issue had happened mid-flower? Could have been disastrous.
Maintaining a proper VPD range is critical to creating the proper grow environment. Keeping your grow area within the correct VPD ranges for the vegetative and flowering stages will allow your weed plants to grow to their maximum potential.
Vapor Pressure Differentials affect the transpiration rates in cannabis plants. Why is this important?
Transpiration is a process in which water and essential nutrients move through the plant from cell to cell. Understanding of VPD at different temperatures and relative humidities, and its effect on this process, is important to gain maximum plant growth.
– Cannabis Science and Technology
The Pulse Grow app will let you monitor VPD and provide suggestions of how to raise or lower your temperature or humidity to bring it within range. It isn’t possible to do this manually, but it can help identify problem areas within your grow.
Nothing sucks worse than going away for a week and wondering how your plants are doing.
Did the temperatures get too hot because the AC set off the breaker again ? Did the exhaust fan stop working? Is the light timer working? Did the lights come on?
The Pulse One Grow Room Monitor lets you keep tabs on your plants while you’re away, giving you peace of mind.
Pulse Grow Room Monitor Review Summary
This product has been very helpful to monitor and optimize my grow tents. The app is easy-to-use and provides the historical data you need to understand your grow environment conditions. You’ll be able to grow better weed, more consistently. Highly recommended.
Nothing sucks worse than going away for a week and wondering how your plants are doing.
