Primo water from Walmart

Is this a pH in balance or something else

  • Definitely pH problems

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Something else

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    2

Xljoshlx

Member
My poor clone!!!! After my first watering at home this is what happened to my cheese strain. I’m thinking it Has to do with the filtered tapwater that I got from my home. my question also is does this look like a pH in balance to you as well or is it something else because Oklahoma has really crappy tapwater even when I filter it with a $50 carbon filtration device that I bought at Walmart and let it sit out for 24 hours. So I bought a couple 5 gallons of primo water from Walmart I do plan on adding nutrients to the water and making sure the pH is correct before giving it to my plants. So my question is did I make the right choice??

I just want to fix the problem the first time

I’m plan on buying a reverse osmosis machine later on down the line.
 

Attachments

PhatNuggz

Well-Known Member
First you need to know what your municipal water TDS/PPM is

A normal RO (even with a modest booster pump) will only reduce TDS by ~ 90%

If you tds 400 (and often much higher) that means you will be starting with ~ 40ppm water, which is not too bad

BUT, this does not significantly alter pH, so you need 2 separate meters

I used a 5 stage iSpring RO, with post mineral filter removed

hth
 

JohnDee

Well-Known Member
Hi xl...the brown spots are typically Ca++ related which totally fits into your scenario. But if you switch to bottled water (not spring water) it will be RO and you'll then be needing to add in some Ca++. So once you start with the RO water...might be best to switch to calmag rather then ES. Just a thought.
JD
 

rkymtnman

Well-Known Member
So I bought a couple 5 gallons of primo water from Walmart I do plan on adding nutrients to the water and making sure the pH is correct before giving it to my plants
i bought walmart water for a couple of years. like @JohnDee said above, with RO water you have to add everything the plant needs to the water. it's a blank slate. so a bottle of cal mag would be something to use along with your nutes.

what nutes are you using?
 

JohnDee

Well-Known Member
xl...one little thing I wanted to add. To me, the leaf color was too dark...meaning excessive N. Can cause other issues as well. So maybe feed a little less...
JD
 

Xljoshlx

Member
Hi xl...the brown spots are typically Ca++ related which totally fits into your scenario. But if you switch to bottled water (not spring water) it will be RO and you'll then be needing to add in some Ca++. So once you start with the RO water...might be best to switch to calmag rather then ES. Just a thought.
JD
Thank you I do have CalMag on the way
 

Logan Burke

Well-Known Member
I would try to avoid the carbon filters for cannabis. I can't remember exactly why, but I've read in a lot of places that those cheap carbon filters that snap onto the end of your faucet are bad to use. Definitely invest in an RO system and some calmag. I use GH's calimagic because it has less N than Botanicare's Calmag Pro, and it still has the iron that Calmag Pro does.
 

JohnDee

Well-Known Member
I would try to avoid the carbon filters for cannabis. I can't remember exactly why, but I've read in a lot of places that those cheap carbon filters that snap onto the end of your faucet are bad to use. Definitely invest in an RO system and some calmag. I use GH's calimagic because it has less N than Botanicare's Calmag Pro, and it still has the iron that Calmag Pro does.
Hey Logan, curious about this. All RO units have activated charcoal filters because chlorine and chloramines will damage the ro membrane. So they have to filter that out.

And activated charcoal is actually a desirable additive to soil. Perhaps stray charcoal messes with hydro ph or something like that. Wrack your brain and get back to me if you remember any details. lol
JD
 

Logan Burke

Well-Known Member
I was thinking of water softeners, I think I got mixed up there lol. Definitely if RO systems use charcoal, as they're basically the golden standard for hydro.
 

JohnDee

Well-Known Member
I was thinking of water softeners, I think I got mixed up there lol. Definitely if RO systems use charcoal, as they're basically the golden standard for hydro.
Hi Logan...that makes more sense. lol Water softeners use salt as an exchange ion...and we all know salt (nacl) is super bad for plants.
JD
 

TintEastwood

Well-Known Member
Be sure your tds and ph meters are accurate. I got burned by bad unit once.

This works well for my coco grow.
My tap water is about 140ppm, and good quality.
I mix 80% RO + 20% tap water....only 40 ppm-ish.
(If my tap were 300, i would cut it to 10%-ish tap)

Then add calimagic until I'm at around 180ppm.

........thats my base........

Then add nutrients to bring the ppm up to desired feed level for growth stage.

Set PH.

May not work for everyone.
 

Logan Burke

Well-Known Member
Hi Logan...that makes more sense. lol Water softeners use salt as an exchange ion...and we all know salt (nacl) is super bad for plants.
JD
Yes that makes so much more sense haha, thank you for correcting that!
Be sure your tds and ph meters are accurate. I got burned by bad unit once.

This works well for my coco grow.
My tap water is about 140ppm, and good quality.
I mix 80% RO + 20% tap water....only 40 ppm-ish.
(If my tap were 300, i would cut it to 10%-ish tap)

Then add calimagic until I'm at around 180ppm.

........thats my base........

Then add nutrients to bring the ppm up to desired feed level for growth stage.

Set PH.

May not work for everyone.
Yeah I do my nutrients much the same way, do my calimagic to raise my baseline ppm then fill the rest of the ppm's up with my base nute. I went through hell to find my current PH/EC combo meter, but I finally came across this 200$ Bluelab PH/EC/Temperature monitor and have been using it for years, and if something goes wrong with either of the meters you can simply buy a new probe versus buying an entirely new meter. Even at that, I've not had to replace my PH probe yet. Just do monthly cleaning/calibrations and good to go!
 

Xljoshlx

Member
Got the CalMag and will add it to them on Monday for there watering. My plants are getting some really nice vines going like I wanna them to be cuz I’m going to close them. But my one strain Cheese he does grow vines very well compared to the others . Could that be to it’s strain? Because all the others are Bushey
 

Md53

Member
Hi xl...the brown spots are typically Ca++ related which totally fits into your scenario. But if you switch to bottled water (not spring water) it will be RO and you'll then be needing to add in some Ca++. So once you start with the RO water...might be best to switch to calmag rather then ES. Just a thought.
JD
Got a question for you. Have a clone that leaves are a little brown. Using grow tent and sohum soil. What am I doing wrong
 
Top