Molasses water

Royb91

Member
Hey guys. Starting my first grow and i mixed a gallon of rodi water with 1 tbsp of molasses. I adjusted the ph to 6.8 and started watering my plants. After 3 days i rechecked the molasses water mix and it was at 5.2. Are you suppose to mix, ph and water every time?
 

kingtitan

Well-Known Member
Sugar, Water and Air will create one of the best environments for microbial life, when this happens along with the CO2 reaction from the air, your PH will change.

Also take off the DI on your RO unit, its no good for living things. It has its uses but certainly not in growing anything.

As for molasses everytime, without knowing any details about your setup - Yes, No, Maybe.
 

Royb91

Member
Sugar, Water and Air will create one of the best environments for microbial life, when this happens along with the CO2 reaction from the air, your PH will change.

Also take off the DI on your RO unit, its no good for living things. It has its uses but certainly not in growing anything.

As for molasses everytime, without knowing any details about your setup - Yes, No, Maybe.
Thanks for your reply. My setup is simple. 4×2×5 tent
450w viparspectra led hanging about 30" off my plant.
A small fan. Temperature ranges from 70 to 78 humidity at 50%.

I was referring to if you have to make a new batch everytime you're going to add molasses not the frequency of watering
 

Richard Drysift

Well-Known Member
Molasses does not do anything for your plants except promote bacteria both good and bad. It's not for feeding your plant it's supposed to feed the microbes in your soil that is if in fact there are any present. Either way molasses should not sit diluted in water for several days without any aeration. If you were bubbling up sat a worm tea that would be a different thing.
Ph-ing your water every time is only needed if you are growing in a hydroponic medium. If you are growing in regular soil the ph should be regulated by the mix itself in which case you should not need to ph anything ever.
 

Richard Drysift

Well-Known Member
Thanks for your reply. My setup is simple. 4×2×5 tent
450w viparspectra led hanging about 30" off my plant.
A small fan. Temperature ranges from 70 to 78 humidity at 50%.

I was referring to if you have to make a new batch everytime you're going to add molasses not the frequency of watering
What are you growing in? Soil or something else?
 

Dr. Who

Well-Known Member
Richard is right. Skip the molasses. Your setting yourself up for the soil starting to ferment. Sugars can build up, and fermentation starts.
Then you get anaerobic soil and soon after that, dead plants...
 

Richard Drysift

Well-Known Member
Just water your plants as normal; no need to ph anything. If you are using RO water in FFOF you will probly need to give your plants cal/mag once they get a few nodes on them say maybe 3-4 weeks from seed. I find 25ppm or 6-10 drops of calmag per gal to be the sweet spot. You can give calmag at 25ppm or less almost every watering without salt buildup.
 

Royb91

Member
Molasses does not do anything for your plants except promote bacteria both good and bad. It's not for feeding your plant it's supposed to feed the microbes in your soil that is if in fact there are any present. Either way molasses should not sit diluted in water for several days without any aeration. If you were bubbling up sat a worm tea that would be a different thing.
Ph-ing your water every time is only needed if you are growing in a hydroponic medium. If you are growing in regular soil the ph should be regulated by the mix itself in which case you should not need to ph anything ever.
Just water your plants as normal; no need to ph anything. If you are using RO water in FFOF you will probly need to give your plants cal/mag once they get a few nodes on them say maybe 3-4 weeks from seed. I find 25ppm or 6-10 drops of calmag per gal to be the sweet spot. You can give calmag at 25ppm or less almost every watering without salt buildup.
Thank you so much for your advice i will follow. The reason i have a rodi system is because i use that water for my reef tank and was wondering if i could just add cal mag to the rodi water or is it a must to get rid of the di part.
 

Richard Drysift

Well-Known Member
Your water certainly does not need to be deionized to grow pot. I have no experience using deionized water but it seems other growers are using it. It is basically just purified water so if you add back minerals like calcium & magnesium it should work. Here's a link I found on another forum:
https://www.420magazine.com/forums/frequently-asked-questions/178249-deionized-water-safe-plants.html


I just learned from reading longer down in this link that water with the ions removed does not conduct electricity as reverse osmosis water does. But even triple distilled water should still have some conductivity so it should work with minerals added; guess it's up to you if you want to remove the di filter in your unit or use it as is.
 
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Royb91

Member
Your water certainly does not need to be deionized to grow pot. I have no experience using deionized water but it seems other growers are using it. It is basically just purified water so if you add back minerals like


I just learned from reading longer down in this link that water with the ions removed does not conduct electricity as reverse osmosis water does. But even triple distilled water should still have some conductivity so it should work with minerals added; guess it's up to you if you want to remove the di filter in your unit or use it as is.
Ok so i was able to bypass the di part and now its just RO. Should i just water with plain ro water now or add calmag already? Its a seedling. Thank you so much.
 

kingtitan

Well-Known Member
Thank you so much for your advice i will follow. The reason i have a rodi system is because i use that water for my reef tank and was wondering if i could just add cal mag to the rodi water or is it a must to get rid of the di part.
I have the RODI for the same reason as well (Reef). Over the 15 years I have owned the unit, it has become multi function lol. I have split up the outputs so that RO+DI (0 ppm) goes to my house humidifier and Reef water change/top off container and then just RO (3-4ppm) to the drinking water tank and the storage bin for plants.
 

Royb91

Member
I have the RODI for the same reason as well (Reef). Over the 15 years I have owned the unit, it has become multi function lol. I have split up the outputs so that RO+DI (0 ppm) goes to my house humidifier and Reef water change/top off container and then just RO (3-4ppm) to the drinking water tank and the storage bin for plants.
Way to make good use of the filter
 

Richard Drysift

Well-Known Member
They won't need anything at all until week 3; then calmag at every watering 25ppm or less using RO; 1/4 strength mutes after that if you plan to use them
 

Nutty sKunK

Well-Known Member
Richard is right. Skip the molasses. Your setting yourself up for the soil starting to ferment. Sugars can build up, and fermentation starts.
Then you get anaerobic soil and soon after that, dead plants...
Sounds like what happened to me on my first grow! Plant went mental but it was a host of feeding issues. But fed molasses every watering and the coco smelt like rotten socks lol
 

frizfrazjaz

Well-Known Member
Just water your plants as normal; no need to ph anything. If you are using RO water in FFOF you will probly need to give your plants cal/mag once they get a few nodes on them say maybe 3-4 weeks from seed. I find 25ppm or 6-10 drops of calmag per gal to be the sweet spot. You can give calmag at 25ppm or less almost every watering without salt buildup.
I have 20 ppm tap and read to bring my ppm’s up between 125-150 ppm’s. I did this and my plants completely turned around. They had what looked like a severe p deficiency. Dried up, twisted, curled up growth.
 

Richard Drysift

Well-Known Member
. It's not really about the ppm of the water it's what those particles are made of that is important. Filtered or distilled water contains pretty much nothing besides hydrogen and oxygen so you've got to add back minerals like calcium and magnesium. Macronutrients help convert the other elements like N,P, & K to usable sugars through photosynthesis. Soluble forms of macros are kind of hard to supply using RO water so that's why you need to add them back in to keep plants happy.
Tap water is fine if you are using nutrients and it usually contains macros. My tap comes out about 75ppm but it's laden with chloramine and I grow in living soil so I don't use it for plants. Rain water IMO is the best water there is for soil grows; I collect it in buckets and store it when I can. Rain contains macros and is teeming with microbial life so it's good as is.
150 ppm with nutrients in a soil grow sounds about right...that is about 1/2 strength. Never give plants more than 300 ppm in a soil grow and even that is only for mature plants in full bloom with straight water in between feedings. Nutrients can do way more harm than good if improperly used and the label can steer you wrong if you follow it too closely. More is never better; especially when growing in a decent organic mix like FFOF which should provide most of what they need for 6 weeks with plain old water.
 
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