My opinion of watering with room temp water.

Hey everyone I just wanted to start a discussion about how certain people believe your water has to be room temperature to be delivered safely to plants and plant roots. Here is my argument. If you were hanging around out in the 90 degree sun for 12 hours would you rather have room temperature water or cold water(cold as in from the tap). Obviously you wouldn't want to give them ice water haha. Plants are a lot more like us than some people think. They both hold and give off heat same as we do. Now if we need cold liquids to keep us cool and hydrated wouldn't one think that a plant should too? Another point is for seedlings I would recommend either distilled or reverse osmosis,at room temperature just because of simple shock factor reasons. Once I hit my 3rd or 4th week in veg,be it seed or clone, I switch to cold tap water and have always had great results. Pay attention to PH levels though because some tap water can be either extremely acidic or alkaline. In my case I use crushed dolomite lime(added with soil at the beginning of grow and lasts usually the whole grow without worry of leaving the neutral area). I would like to hear other peoples experiences and thoughts on this as well. Feel free to leave a comment and also stop by my main page to veiw my grow journal.

https://www.rollitup.org/members/bishjid-394005.html

3rd day of week 4 flower

sounds good! im afraid to try it..... about to be in third week flower and would hate to shock my plants....my water is usually about 78 degrees same as my box, but what you say makes sense to me i LOVE high quality COLD h2o!!! lol

yeah I wouldn't change it now if you've already got a good thing going. Just something I wanted to throw out there for everyone to read. It is a lot cheaper just using plain ol cold H2o! lol. Good call man.
I edited this message too I was looking at your profile to see if you had any pics of your grow? You should deffinately start a blog brotha! Added you as friend too btw.

Your plants in the dark period dont like to drop below 15*c , i think if you make sure fluids are not below this temp you are good to go,
when you see it that way , it's kind of obvious, Peace..

Hey, glad to hear everythings working for you.

I remember last grow I was using RO water from a local machine. Summer temps were 110-115 average and giving that to my girls who were at around 75 degrees, they would get real droopy and stay that way. Although you're using colder water and I was using much hotter water. Although, I haven't tried giving them summer temp waters since then, so I'm not sure if I could replicate it. If you know what i mean

question for ya though, what are the levels of sodium in your tap? My tap seems to be unsuitable even after being ph adjusted, just curious as to whats in yours.

buds look great

Psychedelic Breakfast said:

Hey, glad to hear everythings working for you.

I remember last grow I was using RO water from a local machine. Summer temps were 110-115 average and giving that to my girls who were at around 75 degrees, they would get real droopy and stay that way. Although you're using colder water and I was using much hotter water. Although, I haven't tried giving them summer temp waters since then, so I'm not sure if I could replicate it. If you know what i mean

question for ya though, what are the levels of sodium in your tap? My tap seems to be unsuitable even after being ph adjusted, just curious as to whats in yours.

buds look great

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Boil your tap water first,
then Ph adjust,
peace.

that is correct Clonex, a complete moisture temperature of soil should not dip below 52 degrees I believe it is. Something like that so don't quote me! lol

Hey P-Breakfast when I get to my summer temps of unbelievable proportions I reverse my grow period. Example: If I'm starting seedlings in June I would have an 18-6 schedule from 5pm-11am(coolest hours of the night) and the dark cycle would follow suit(11am-5pm). In my case when temps get too high I have a box built onto an ac unit attached with air ducting to my intake fan(thus circulating air conditioned temps into room). And obviously you need a good exhaust system. As for the sodium I'm not too sure. I live in the mountains and my well is tapped artisian into a spring so my tap water is, luckily for me, damn near perfect. If there is an abundance of sodium that would leave me to believe that it could lead to salt build up and eventually block nutes. Usually if it's high in sodium it's acidic. I would use the dolomite lime like I do in that case. Sorry for the novel but I love to learn what I don't know and teach what I do. Thank you for the comment on the buds. Lord knows I've worked hard for what I get. Added you too btw

Intresting thread. I use tap water myself. I usually just twist the hot water along with the cold, to get the temp I and my plants enjoy.

haha that's funny you mention that as I've done the same. It is a very nifty trick to get the correct temp water for that particular growth stage(usually seedlings@room temperature). The only bad thing I've found through this and I'm not certain it is bad so someone please correct me but the last test I had done on just my hot water alone shows slightly high on the rust factor. That's when I excluded the hot water tap out of the equation. It may work for you because different locations have different levels but in my case my hot water rust levels were slightly high, too much for me to want to risk putting into my plants. Just my personal experience. How did everything work out for you? Good I hope,I'll be checking your page here in a minute. added you as well.

First of all, no matter what the temperature of the water you deliver, its going to be at least partially buffered by the mass of the soil and water already in the pot towards room temperature. In other words, the temperature "shock" to the roots (if any) won't be as bad as you think just based on the water temperature as it comes off the tap.

Next, no matter what the temperature of the water you add, it will adjust to ambient relatively quickly. Unless you're growing in a thermos, you'd expect the water to achieve room temp (whatever that is) within at MOST an hour or two. And the greater the temperature differential, the faster the rate of change towards ambient, at least at first. If you're watering every other day, what's 1-2 hours of water that's a little too hot or cold?

Lastly, plants do well at a relatively broad range of temperature. I think as long as you're not consistently adding water that isn't freezing cold or super hot, the plant will be fine. If the water temp is such that you could comfortably put your hand in it, I think the plant will be comfortable too.

a touch under luke to luke warm. obviously if 90 degrees is your room temp, dont give them hot water.

I use spring water that is stored at room temperature. Although the room it is in is a bit chilly, so by the time it hits my reservoir. It has warmed up just a bit, but I have just started growing and I have seedlings and sprouts still. So when they are bigger. I plan to use colder water.

Keep the root ball cool. Cooler roots will allow warmer heads.
Why do hydro growers want their rez to be in the low 60's?
Feed water temps in the mid 50's, in soil, under HID is not a problem. I believe its even better.

Would tend to agree with original post, so long as the temp swing from room to water isn't major.....15 or more degrees from a room of 80. My 2cents

I started a post pretty similar to this one and I agree with everyones response. Good luck all.

https://www.rollitup.org/general-marijuana-growing/497294-my-opinion-watering-room-temp.html

WattSaver said:

Keep the root ball cool. Cooler roots will allow warmer heads.
Why do hydro growers want their rez to be in the low 60's?
Feed water temps in the mid 50's, in soil, under HID is not a problem. I believe its even better.

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Honestly, while I doubt it will hurt, I don't think watering with water in the mid 50's is going to add much. Its because the second your 55F water mixes with the 75-85F soil and water it will instantly go up to 65F
(if not higher) and it will probably be at 75F within an hour.

Anyway, the answer to your question is that cooler water holds more dissolved oxygen.

If most of your plants root system is going to be continuously immersed in a water bath (as it is in hydroponic deep water culture) then cooler temperatures will ensure that the water holds more O2.

This doesn't necessarily apply to a well-draining soil or soilless mix where air can permeate the growing medium relatively well.