That was extremely helpful, made me realize I needed to convert my float values to strings in order for MQTT to publish them.

Thank you!

Can I hassle you for an example of your MQTT esp32 code. I cannot get the publish function to send calculated values from my sensors.

I am trying to get a Dfrobot PH sensor and EC sensor into HA. Since there are no direct esphome integrations for these what is the best way to bring the values in? Is MQTT the only simple option?