Alright, so Ive been using the Technaflora Recipe for Success! In between the feeding stage I am supposed to water twice so I have been using spring water to water my plants. I am also using the same spring water with the feeding as well. I recently checked the ph of the spring water and noticed the ph was a little over 7.6! So, I bought some distilled water and checked the ph of that and the ph of the distilled water measured out at about 6.5 which is right around where you want to be if your growing in soil (which i am). My plants haven't been looking the best lately since i switched to flower. Do you guys think I should try and switch over to the distilled water? I am also using happy frog soil and about 1 week into flower!
HERE'S A GOOD WATER QUESTION!!
- Thread starter BtomBOMBS
- Start date
hotrodharley
Well-Known Member
What is the pH of your prepared feed?
Distilled water has no pH (or not measureable) because it has no buffers (ions) to hold the ph. One drop of ph up or down will send it massively in either direction compared to your tap water.
If you're worried about chlorine/chloramine, add a pinch of sugar to the water the night before. That will stimulate microbial activity and exhaust the sanitizer. The sugar will be good for the soil microbes too. (Tap water isn't sanitized to the extent that it can withstand soil. It's just for a closed and relatively sanitary delivery system. It's really not something to worry about. Especially if you offset it with a little sugar.).
I don't pH my nutrient mix either. Your soil should be sufficiently buffered to hold it's pH, as long as you're not overfeeding.
I would definitely not bother pH'ing water-only feedings. There's not enough buffers in the water to affect the soil. (Soil also swings through a 1-point range between wet and dry. I haven't found fiddling with it to be necessary.).
bird mcbride
Well-Known Member
A little(couple drops) sulfuric acid wouldn't harm anything.
Go blow a ten on a bottle of liquid PH down. Sure, we all know that the soil acts as a PH buffer. Better to be safe than sorry.
Set up a watering res so you can do mixes, control temps and aerate the water. I figure that after a couple hours of the air bubbling through the mix, the solution should be mixed well enough to test and use.
I convert my NPK/PHdown mix ratios to grams/gallon of water so it makes it easier to do a res.
A set of accurate gram/100th scales can be real handy in the grow room.
If you go to distilled or RO water you'll have to supplement micro-nutrients that are natural in ground water. These micro-nutrients are stripped from these purified water sources and the majority of fertilizer companies do not add them to their NPK mixes. As mentioned earlier, some of these minerals help hold the water's PH steady or more stable.
Go blow a ten on a bottle of liquid PH down. Sure, we all know that the soil acts as a PH buffer. Better to be safe than sorry.
Set up a watering res so you can do mixes, control temps and aerate the water. I figure that after a couple hours of the air bubbling through the mix, the solution should be mixed well enough to test and use.
I convert my NPK/PHdown mix ratios to grams/gallon of water so it makes it easier to do a res.
A set of accurate gram/100th scales can be real handy in the grow room.
If you go to distilled or RO water you'll have to supplement micro-nutrients that are natural in ground water. These micro-nutrients are stripped from these purified water sources and the majority of fertilizer companies do not add them to their NPK mixes. As mentioned earlier, some of these minerals help hold the water's PH steady or more stable.
Budzbuddha
Well-Known Member
I fill empty water jugs with TAP and let sit opened until i need them . Then i mix nutes in separate bucket or water with containers that have sat out. I just fill them back up and rotate the stock until needed.
No more RO or distilled crap and its cheaper. But i do check PPM before nutes to get a tighter control on my mix.
No more RO or distilled crap and its cheaper. But i do check PPM before nutes to get a tighter control on my mix.
Medizzinman
Active Member
Yes I always do distilled water. I also use happy frog mixed with added perlite. At the stage you are at, I like to mix nutrients into distilled water first, then ph down to 6.5. I also monitor the PPM of the nutrients as well, to see how strong it is with this and that added to the nutrients. I like to be around 800 PPM at the onset of flower. Then 1000 midway through it. Then 1250PPPM for the final weeks of flower. Some strains could handle even higher PPM's but I just cant see the need to push nutrients past 3/4 strength along with some of the other things I like to mix in the soup.
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There is so little chlorine/choramine in tap water. It's sanitized for delivering within a closed system. It's not strong enough for encountering dirt.
I like to add a pinch of sugar (1/16th tsp/gal) a few hours before watering/feeding. The sugar promotes bacterial activity which exhausts whatever sanitizer remains in the water (I might let it sit in the bucket overnight, but not always). The sugar is also good for the soil microbes. To whatever extent the light sanitizer in the water affects the soil microbes, the sugar makes up for it, helping them bounce back.
heckler73
Well-Known Member
If it works for you, great.
I only use sugar to feed yeast.
I also prefer growing in hydro. However, what is the equation which balances this sugar/chloramine reaction, if you know off-hand?
Alexander Supertramp
Well-Known Member
Really? Where do you come up with this shit?
Yes, I wouldn't use sugar in hydro.
I stated my reasoning, what did you disagree with? If it has no buffering ability to hold it's pH at 0ppm, it's like having no pH, right? It won't contribute anything to the ph resulting from 400ppm of nutrients, or the buffering of the soil. Right?
Alexander Supertramp
Well-Known Member
Ok, whatever you say...