Water, the big elephant in the room..

[foreverflyhi]

So true!

Another great option to help is using water crystals in your soil when you mix it. This might not appeal to the organic growers, but I don't really know if they would hurt the organic environment. When I was growing soil I followed the suggestion to do this by a seasoned grower, and I only had to water my 7 gallon grow bags once a week with about 1.5 gallons of water. I got a tiny bit of run off that landed in a catch pan and got re-absorbed. The water crystals will hold extra water until the soil dries some, and then release it back into the root mass.

Crystals?
Like real crystals? Lol
Never heard that one.
I would think pumice or rice hulls absorb better water retention. Perlite isnt the best imo, floats to the top. Last couple batches ive been laying off perlite and doing a 50/40/10 of pumice/rice/ and perlite

 

[Thundercat]

They aren't hard crystals like your thinking. Heres a link to a brand on amazon, you can buy them in the garden section at the store usually. They work great http://www.amazon.com/Soil-Moist-JCD-030SM-3-Pound-Granules/dp/B00061T03G/ref=pd_sim_sbs_lg_2?ie=UTF8&refRID=17CYFZ7KNN3WG1D2XJ31

 

[foreverflyhi]

They aren't hard crystals like your thinking. Heres a link to a brand on amazon, you can buy them in the garden section at the store usually. They work great http://www.amazon.com/Soil-Moist-JCD-030SM-3-Pound-Granules/dp/B00061T03G/ref=pd_sim_sbs_lg_2?ie=UTF8&refRID=17CYFZ7KNN3WG1D2XJ31

Will look into that, any organic terrorist know of this product?

 

[Silky Shagsalot]

i've never done an organic grow, at least not 100%. i started out in dirt, and settled on coco as my medium of choice. i see a lot of threads on organic vs. everyone, lol. does it really matter which way we decide to go, what method? i don't care what anyone else does, or their results. i'm interested in my results. if i see someone do something that might benefit me, i'll try it. if it fits in well with what i'm doing, i copy it and make it mine. i don't try and make/convince people that this is what they should do, and everyone else is wrong. if it works for you, and you like it, use it. i don't get why there's this dick swinging contest, about grow methods. you're not gonna change anyone's mind by coming up with zingers that make the other guy look like he doesn't know what he's doing....

 

[st0wandgrow]

i've never done an organic grow, at least not 100%. i started out in dirt, and settled on coco as my medium of choice. i see a lot of threads on organic vs. everyone, lol. does it really matter which way we decide to go, what method? i don't care what anyone else does, or their results. i'm interested in my results. if i see someone do something that might benefit me, i'll try it. if it fits in well with what i'm doing, i copy it and make it mine. i don't try and make/convince people that this is what they should do, and everyone else is wrong. if it works for you, and you like it, use it. i don't get why there's this dick swinging contest, about grow methods. you're not gonna change anyone's mind by coming up with zingers that make the other guy look like he doesn't know what he's doing....

Sometimes these discussions turn in to dick measuring contests, and other times there's more to it than that. I feel that growing organically is the most environmentally friendly way of doing it. I also feel that it produces the best smoke, but I understand that is a subjective opinion that others might disagree with. Whether or not your method of growing produces great bud for you to smoke does not concern me, nor impact me in the slightest. But, if your method of growing is contributing to the fucking over of our environment, then that does impact me and I might chime in on that.

 

[foreverflyhi]

i've never done an organic grow, at least not 100%. i started out in dirt, and settled on coco as my medium of choice. i see a lot of threads on organic vs. everyone, lol. does it really matter which way we decide to go, what method? i don't care what anyone else does, or their results. i'm interested in my results. if i see someone do something that might benefit me, i'll try it. if it fits in well with what i'm doing, i copy it and make it mine. i don't try and make/convince people that this is what they should do, and everyone else is wrong. if it works for you, and you like it, use it. i don't get why there's this dick swinging contest, about grow methods. you're not gonna change anyone's mind by coming up with zingers that make the other guy look like he doesn't know what he's doing....

Stow awnsered that perfectly!

However, i know its subjective and all, but ive yet to come around good hydro cannabis, or good hydro food for that matter.

So when i say organics produces the best cannabis, its because ive yet to be proven wrong.

12 yrs of smoking California's top strains, ive yet to be impressed by a hydro chem weed. Dont get me wrong, theres lots of coco "organics" that is dank, and sure some dwc nugs that look amazing, but nothing can compare to true organics.

It strikes me odd that people are scared of organics, theres nothing to lose, not yield, nor taste, but to gain over all quality and yield.
and too top it off its much much cheaper!
And at the same time, it helps us reduce our foot print, and teaches us how to grow any type of food to help feed our families/communities and preserve what little nature we have left.

Do i have to post pics of dead zones created by Chem ferts in the water? Or how about scientific study of why bees are missing? Or why amphibians are becoming extinct, or for that matter why we are entering a 6th mass extinction caused by our human foot print.

 

[dbkick]

Did you both miss the part where I said we all need to do what we can, and that I personally do reuse my hydro water whenever possible. I also recycle all my glass, plastics, and paper, I have a compost pile where I compost organic waste, and reuse it for planting.

By the end of summer I'll also have rain water collection barrels on all the gutters of my house. If we are gonna talk about water conservation then that's a hugely missed opportunity. I only know one other person that collects rain water in real life, and have only seen a few growers on here that use it. Once this is set up, it will provide me with all the water I should need for my gardens since I live in a reasonably wet part of the country.

In some places it's illegal to collect rainwater . So basically it's not conservation in any way, it's theft.

 

[foreverflyhi]

In some places it's illegal to collect rainwater . So basically it's not conservation in any way, it's theft.

And thats a violation to human rights.

But there are some cases of why it should be illegal to collect rain water. Colordo river for example is obviously drying up, the main reason is distribution, the other is global warming.
Because of this, its illegal for residents in certain districts to collect rain water because that water is supose to go back into the river.

But for most cases, its corporations like coco cola where they bottle water in Foriegn lands and sells it back to them at high price. Other cases is governments like in Peru, privatizing the peoples water so they can tax them more, and to control them.

Fiji water is another example of natives not being able to collect their own water.

This isnt capitalism, its neo liberalism.

 

[Thundercat]

In some places it's illegal to collect rainwater . So basically it's not conservation in any way, it's theft.

It being illegal in some places may be true, however that does not constitute theft . I refuse to acknowledge the governments laws which make growing marijuana illegal as they have no right to control what I grow. The same thing applies to government claiming ownership of water falling from the sky.

 

[Cannabidude]

@Thundercat you're awesome. keep it up, love that you spread knowledge rather than anger.

as far as conserving water goes we can do a lot obviously. i say re utilizing all water possible is the key. if you use an RO system don't run the waste down the drain run it into a bucket. as mentioned earlier. this can be a big one. Also people talk about how much they water their plants, but not HOW they do it. if you have a 6" plant in a 5g container you don't need to water all of the soil. look at how big your root mass is in relation to how much you water. Water retention is under rated as well i see plenty of soil growers use an absolute crapton of perlite which is just making you water more often after a certain point. Cooking can also waste a lot of water. What do your do with your water from boiling noodles/potatoes etc.? i throw it in my garden or in my mulch pile (cooled of course!) have your tub drain into a reservoir and use the tub water to water your lawn! heres another one: compostable toilette. bam. sounds crazy, but they don't even stink if you keep up on it. pee in one corner of your lawn, poop in the compostable toilette. shit if you eat all your own food that's like free nutes. you can even get it test for NPK at many colleges for a small fee. For hydro growers take your left over water and let it settle for 2-3 days and most of the nutes should settle at the bottom. now you can use that water for pretty much anything other than drinking.

 

[Thundercat]

Thanks Canna I try. Keep it green and spread some love!!

 

[Red1966]

Any water you pour down the drain ends up in a body of water somewhere. It then evaporates and falls as rain water again. It all gets recycled no matter what you do with it. Unless you're launching it into outerspace.

 

[skunkd0c]

PS: its been a pleasure skunkdoc, feel free to swing by my thread your always welcome to shoot the shit there.

Thanks mate ill check it out
nice to speak with polite folk like yourself

peace

 

[J.Mike]

I live in the desert CA. Use my hydro H2o on any living plant in my yard, Recycle rain water (when it happens), and grow on a hill so excess runs on lower plants, wash sink and laundry drainage divert into a capture ditch(use environment friendly, not antibacterial, soap) if you are into organics already should not be a problem. anyway this is some of what I do..

 

[ttystikk]

I took watering out of consideration by using RDWC. This way, the plants always- ALWAYS- have all the water they can use. It's trivially simple to add the appropriate amount of nutrient, pH balance and oxygenate that water to outproduce any other system I've seen. It's much more stable than the other contenders, as well. Finally, water pumps do the work of changing nutrients and water, not a shovel.

I don't filter my water as I am blessed with city water that comes out of the tap at 68f and .05 EC all summer. In the winter it gets cooler...

I don't want the above to mislead folks into thinking I have anything against organic gardening- far from it; I'm even now designing an aquaponics system to raise fish and ducks while growing vegetables and flowers... of all sorts.

 

[cannakis]

It's what happens to those hydroponic nutes after the growers are done with them (passive and active hydro). They get washed down the drain. There is going to be back lash about the chemicals home growers are using and dumping into our environment. Our water treatment facilities are already overloaded with sludge. I was just looking at the dead zone that is created in the gulf every year from the pollutant that flow out of the Mississippi river. Disgusting.

Water is extremely precious and I think this is topic we really need to spend more time discussing.

P-

Yeah but what about all the Real Chemical Companies whose industrial plants are Right Next to rivers. You know the Highest Cancer Rate in the World is Up and Down the Ohio & Mississippi Rivers!.? It is because all these Sick Chemical Companies not just home growers and some random people pouring chemicals down the drain, it is because of the Chemical Industries being Allowed to Pollute the Rivers--though it is very "minute" amount, so it is "safe"--which is Causing all the Real Pollution!

And yet i caN't Grow Cannabis or Drink Raw Milk, Collect Rain Water or Produce Ethanol, because it is "dangerous & illegal", Get out of here!

And also the Water Treatment Facilities across the Nation today Add chemicals to the Water! Specifically Sodium and Hydrosilica Flouride!!! Two substances which are So Toxic they Literally eat through almost Everything, even Steel.! But Hey,! We "need" flouride in our water, its for our teeth. San Diego faught for Decades to have No Flouride in their water supply, but a few years ago the Pressure came down "so hard" from the State and Feds that they were going to lose funding, so they began Disposing of Chemical Companies BioHazardous Waste for them in their water supply, and making their Tax Payers Pay for it! Because they doN't give Flouride out for Free, they Sell their Waste.!.

Sodium Flouride comes from the Aluminum industries' Waste, and Hydrosilica Flouride comes the Phosphorous Fertilizer industries' Waste.!. Man, using chemical ferts makes me even more sick after writing this, i never really thought of it that way until now.!. DIVINE PROVIDENCE!

 

[cannakis]

Today, i watered my indoor and outdoor cannabis garden, watered my veggie garden, took a shower, took a shit, made rice for dinner, with plenty of water to stay hydrated in sunny Southern California.

I thought to my self, what a privledge I have to be able to use all this water.
My mind then started to think about how much water we as cannabis growers use.
Is it a elephant in the cannabis community that no one talks about?
Hydroponics! Dont get me started..
Keep reading about horror stories of oil or fertilizer spills in outdoor springs/rivers.

Ok enough rambling, lets start a thread on how we can save water, conserve it, and use as little as possible, but at the same time, enough to keep our soil alive.

California is running out of fresh water, shit the world is running out of fresh water. Other then political/human rights solving the issue, we can help reduce the problem.

Well not really, Have you ever heard of Solar Distillation. You can make a Solar Distiller really easy and cheap, and it is basically just for salt water--you could increase the intensity of the solar energy by using certain conductors, but mainly currently (well about 30+ years ago) it is used for water distillation. And basically you just set a bunch of Salt Water in the basin and it will just naturally distill itself into Beautiful Fresh Water and you even get the benefit of your own Salt. i Need to make one of these, just been too busy with everything else. But to say water is running out is quite a leap, and even the guy who created the two wheeled gyros whatever they are he created a device that will extract clean water out of ANYTHING!

 

[greasemonkeymann]

Crystals?
Like real crystals? Lol
Never heard that one.
I would think pumice or rice hulls absorb better water retention. Perlite isnt the best imo, floats to the top. Last couple batches ive been laying off perlite and doing a 50/40/10 of pumice/rice/ and perlite

technically they are cross linked polymers, so they hold I think up to 25x their weight in water (last I heard) the issue I had with them, is when the polymer contracts/dries, the roots that grow inside/near them seem to be damaged, I used them for two years back in the late 90s/early 2000s when I was guerilla growing in the tops of trees, using the polymers and a wick system I got some alright herb, with little maintenance. But you can SEE the root damage when they grow through the polymers, and then are dried out.
The polymers work pretty well as a cloning media though.... just keep em wet.
I don't use them, but I did, and for what they were supposed to do, they did ok. But if you can actually maintain your plants, I suggest a different approach. Using a regular water retainer may be a better idea, like vermiculite or aforementioned rice hulls.

 

[Vaped out]

Today, i watered my indoor and outdoor cannabis garden, watered my veggie garden, took a shower, took a shit, made rice for dinner, with plenty of water to stay hydrated in sunny Southern California.

I thought to my self, what a privledge I have to be able to use all this water.
My mind then started to think about how much water we as cannabis growers use.
Is it a elephant in the cannabis community that no one talks about?
Hydroponics! Dont get me started..
Keep reading about horror stories of oil or fertilizer spills in outdoor springs/rivers.

Ok enough rambling, lets start a thread on how we can save water, conserve it, and use as little as possible, but at the same time, enough to keep our soil alive.

California is running out of fresh water, shit the world is running out of fresh water. Other then political/human rights solving the issue, we can help reduce the problem.

I have to run a dehumidifier all the time were I am. i save the water it pulls from the air. I average about 18-20 gallons a week witch is 2 gallons more then i need with my two tents. the water reads 23ppm and around 5 ph!!!! I keep it in a 30 gallon container with 3 air stones running all the time. the girls love it!!!!! and hell free water from the air clean and natural how can you beat that.

 

[SpicySativa]

It's all a balance.

Are we using more water growing cannabis than the pharmaceutical companies would use to produce the medicines we're replacing? I don't know the answer to that question.

My little 1200 watt garden only drinks about a gallon or two of water a day, while my outdoor veggie garden uses quite a bit more than that (it's on a drip system and is well mulched to minimize water usage).

Growing in soil with mulch is actually a pretty efficient use of water. Drain-to-waste hydroponics is not only a waste of water, but also creates quite a bit of contamination for the treatment facilities to deal with, assuming it finds it's way into a municipal sewer...