Hello my friend! Greetings from Chile! Look, technically I shouldn't lose a harvest for not measuring EC... What I recommend is to use purified bottled water (it contains 0.0 EC) and use the fertilizers just as the manufacturer mentions... for example: 3 ml per 1 liter of water once a week, stick to it 100% and you won't have losses, only gains!
Cheers, my friend!
pH is more important in this case, I recommend buying a pH meter before an EC meter... since pH is the gateway to your plant's nutrition, the recommended pH is from 5.8 to about 6.7... It depends on the strain... if your irrigation water exceeds or has a lower pH, your plant won't be nourished optimally. In simple words, you can lose a harvest due to pH, it's harder to lose due to EC because manufacturers always mention the correct dosage of the products!
Cheers, my friend!