Hard or Soft Water?

DesertGrow89 · Aug 28, 2015

Why would you hate reading? The more you know about growing, the better off you are going to be when plants have deficiency, toxicity, etc and your yields will be higher. Learn to enjoy it!
Went into my first grow knowing next to nothing, read the indoor/outdoor growers bible, but that's it. I try to read forty pages a day, currently reading true living organics by rev, and would highly recommend it.

Budley Doright · Aug 28, 2015

^^^^ ah yes keep the herd healthy!

ItsJustMe84 · Aug 28, 2015

DesertGrow89 said:
Why would you hate reading? The more you know about growing, the better off you are going to be when plants have deficiency, toxicity, etc and your yields will be higher. Learn to enjoy it!
Went into my first grow knowing next to nothing, read the indoor/outdoor growers bible, but that's it. I try to read forty pages a day, currently reading true living organics by rev, and would highly recommend it.

You're spot on mate, i do need to take the reading side more seriously, at first i just wanted to grow my own weed and see how it turned out, but as ive gained a little knowledge and seen my plants grow and change, its really got me interested and obviously id love to be able to grow some killer bud but at the same time i want to grow nice healthy looking plants, its just a little overwhelming the amount of stuff there is to learn.

2Hearts · Aug 28, 2015

ItsJustMe84 said:
You're spot on mate, i do need to take the reading side more seriously, at first i just wanted to grow my own weed and see how it turned out, but as ive gained a little knowledge and seen my plants grow and change, its really got me interested and obviously id love to be able to grow some killer bud but at the same time i want to grow nice healthy looking plants, its just a little overwhelming the amount of stuff there is to learn.

Soil should be simple, seedling soil, seed and tap water. If you have problems with this in the first two weeks its your environment i.e. lights too close, temps/humidity overwatering definatly not ph or ferts. Good practice is constantly sprouting tomatos every week in small pots then kill them when root bound. Do this in the spare space of veg room even if its only a couple inches whilst waiting the four months for the weed to grow. This way you can start repeating stages again and again and again learning everytime. Its like £3 for seed soil and seeds.

Budley Doright · Aug 28, 2015

For the first 20 years of growing I didnt do much reading either, there wasn't much to read lol. Now there's to much

. But yes with soil if your not doing a bunch of weird stuff and just keeping it simple it should grow itself lol. I once had a plant grow out of the carpet in my room at college lol.

Cpappa27 · Aug 28, 2015

My well water ppm reads 1200. I used it last time around and this time around only filtering it through an inline hose filter, the kind that RVs use. Plants did awesome, just as good as when I was a moron buying distilled water at 1 dollar a gallon. I give my outdoor garden unfiltered well water all the time and its always a jungle so I'm just gonna use the well water through that cheap filter and call it a day. I never had more problems with micro deficiencies than when I was using distilled water, and a good soil will buffer the pH. Just my two cents

GrowUrOwnDank · Aug 28, 2015

ItsJustMe84 said:
No my PH is 8.1, its ok anyway ive found out anything over 7.8 requires hard water nutes.
The funny thing is my first grow which is all documented on here i used a soft water product, never tested the PH and F'd up a few times and still managed to pull 54oz of good weed off 9 plants under 3x 600w.
Its only now im learning how to do things propely so i can improve more.

I might suggest looking up hempy bucket and Lucas formula. That yield sux. Then get a 5 gallon water bottled and fill it up at the grocery got .30 a gallon. If you think the tap is a problem. I use tap. Keep your PH on 6. You will do well. Maybe not the best, but it's easy and trouble free.

ItsJustMe84 · Aug 29, 2015

2Hearts said:
Soil should be simple, seedling soil, seed and tap water. If you have problems with this in the first two weeks its your environment i.e. lights too close, temps/humidity overwatering definatly not ph or ferts. Good practice is constantly sprouting tomatos every week in small pots then kill them when root bound. Do this in the spare space of veg room even if its only a couple inches whilst waiting the four months for the weed to grow. This way you can start repeating stages again and again and again learning everytime. Its like £3 for seed soil and seeds.

I actually grow in coco coir, never once have i grown in soil, i understand that my problems with ph and getting the right nutes would cause me more problems in coco but i also think theres alot of benefits if i get it right too, i have thought about switching it up to soil, but im going knuckle down with coco again but this time ill be going into it with more knowledge and more time to spend with my plants compared to the last 2... i just need to find the right balance of nutes and ph as you'll probably all know that ill be giving my seedlings nutes from the get go!!!

2Hearts · Aug 29, 2015

ItsJustMe84 said:
I actually grow in coco coir, never once have i grown in soil, i understand that my problems with ph and getting the right nutes would cause me more problems in coco but i also think theres alot of benefits if i get it right too, i have thought about switching it up to soil, but im going knuckle down with coco again but this time ill be going into it with more knowledge and more time to spend with my plants compared to the last 2... i just need to find the right balance of nutes and ph as you'll probably all know that ill be giving my seedlings nutes from the get go!!!

Your ph up should be phosphoric acid. Add 5ml to half a cup of water and use that to ph your solution if just mixing a small batch of ferts.

If my ph is 7 and i added too much ph down and it went to 4 i would throw it away rather than adding ph up to correct it to 6.

Should be a simple affair, add ferts then ph to what you want.

ItsJustMe84 · Aug 29, 2015

2Hearts said:
Your ph up should be phosphoric acid. Add 5ml to half a cup of water and use that to ph your solution if just mixing a small batch of ferts.

If my ph is 7 and i added too much ph down and it went to 4 i would throw it away rather than adding ph up to correct it to 6.

Should be a simple affair, add ferts then ph to what you want.

Yes well funny enough ive been reading and getting upto speed with everything, I appreciate the feedback off all you guys, its all helpful, do you have experience growing with coco? Or vitalink max nutes?

ItsJustMe84 · Aug 29, 2015

GrowUrOwnDank said:
I might suggest looking up hempy bucket and Lucas formula. That yield sux. Then get a 5 gallon water bottled and fill it up at the grocery got .30 a gallon. If you think the tap is a problem. I use tap. Keep your PH on 6. You will do well. Maybe not the best, but it's easy and trouble free.

Appreciate the info pal.

2Hearts · Aug 29, 2015

ItsJustMe84 said:
Yes well funny enough ive been reading and getting upto speed with everything, I appreciate the feedback off all you guys, its all helpful, do you have experience growing with coco? Or vitalink max nutes?

I have vitalink plant start, there is no need to ph it after 0.8ec as it makes water 5.8. Will be buying the veg ferts if they do this as well. In ro water i would not need a ph pen with this fert.

DirtyMcCurdy · Aug 29, 2015

ItsJustMe84 said:
No my PH is 8.1, its ok anyway ive found out anything over 7.8 requires hard water nutes.
The funny thing is my first grow which is all documented on here i used a soft water product, never tested the PH and F'd up a few times and still managed to pull 54oz of good weed off 9 plants under 3x 600w.
Its only now im learning how to do things propely so i can improve more.

I would just use RO water and forget about it.

rnint · Aug 29, 2015

Hey mate I'm also in the UK and have hard water and use coco and all I do is let the tap water sit for a day and then ph it to whatever I want it to be (5.6 for me) and it works fine. I would recommend, despite all the hate they get, canna nutrients but only because that's just whats worked for me and its never really any trouble dealing with the nutes, mixing them can be a bitch cos they like to get cloudy but I picked up a £3 hand mixer at argos and thats made it simple.

ItsJustMe84 · Aug 29, 2015

Cpappa27 said:
My well water ppm reads 1200. I used it last time around and this time around only filtering it through an inline hose filter, the kind that RVs use. Plants did awesome, just as good as when I was a moron buying distilled water at 1 dollar a gallon. I give my outdoor garden unfiltered well water all the time and its always a jungle so I'm just gonna use the well water through that cheap filter and call it a day. I never had more problems with micro deficiencies than when I was using distilled water, and a good soil will buffer the pH. Just my two cents

DirtyMcCurdy said:
I would just use RO water and forget about it.

The thing is in the uk the water is very goof compared to other countrys so a hell of alot of growers use tap water, i understand its a little different in America as ive noticed 99% of American hydroponic stores sell ro filters, i think im going to just stick with tap water but thanks for the advice

ItsJustMe84 · Aug 29, 2015

rnint said:
Hey mate I'm also in the UK and have hard water and use coco and all I do is let the tap water sit for a day and then ph it to whatever I want it to be (5.6 for me) and it works fine. I would recommend, despite all the hate they get, canna nutrients but only because that's just whats worked for me and its never really any trouble dealing with the nutes, mixing them can be a bitch cos they like to get cloudy but I picked up a £3 hand mixer at argos and thats made it simple.

Hey dude, i have considered canna and do belive it would be a good range to use, but im going to stick to vitalink just because i had such a good outcome the first time and even though i neglected my last 2 it still manged to get me through even though i was using soft water nutes in hard water and i think my deficianys could of been to much cal mag.

Have you ever done a perlite mix? And do canna do hard and soft water ranges?

ItsJustMe84 · Aug 29, 2015

2Hearts said:
I have vitalink plant start, there is no need to ph it after 0.8ec as it makes water 5.8. Will be buying the veg ferts if they do this as well. In ro water i would not need a ph pen with this fert.

Ah yes plant start ive never used it, but ive heard good things, do you start from seed or cutting?

ItsJustMe84 · Aug 29, 2015

rnint said:
Hey mate I'm also in the UK and have hard water and use coco and all I do is let the tap water sit for a day and then ph it to whatever I want it to be (5.6 for me) and it works fine. I would recommend, despite all the hate they get, canna nutrients but only because that's just whats worked for me and its never really any trouble dealing with the nutes, mixing them can be a bitch cos they like to get cloudy but I picked up a £3 hand mixer at argos and thats made it simple.

I havnt ordered my vitalink nutes yet so just in case do you mind telling what nute combo you use exactly and just a little info which may help should i go with canna?
I was just thinking if you live in the uk in a hard water area and it works for you then i may actually look into it as i already use the canna coco coir plus, also do you know the difference between coco plus and just the normal coco coir thats a few quid cheaper?

Mr.Head · Aug 29, 2015

Cpappa27 said:
My well water ppm reads 1200. I used it last time around and this time around only filtering it through an inline hose filter, the kind that RVs use. Plants did awesome, just as good as when I was a moron buying distilled water at 1 dollar a gallon. I give my outdoor garden unfiltered well water all the time and its always a jungle so I'm just gonna use the well water through that cheap filter and call it a day. I never had more problems with micro deficiencies than when I was using distilled water, and a good soil will buffer the pH. Just my two cents

Have you had a water analyses done? Because that's crazy. My waters 750-900 and my plants will die if given it for more then a week. Then again my soil mix is intended to be used with RO/distilled and I see no deficiencies all the way threw growth if using RO/distilled. Do you grow in Hydro?

Buying ro/distilled water is easier IMO then trying to deal with all the bullshit hard tap water can bring on.

Water is considered hard at 200ppm. I can't fathom how on earth you're not getting massive lockouts from feeding 1200ppm tap water. Your soil/hydro solution must be devoid of all micronutrients in order for it not to be causing issues. You must be water only feeding, you can't be adding synthetics on top of that 1200ppms right?

1200 ppms is like a late flower hydro feed of synthetic nutrients, in tap water that's going to be most iron/calcium/magnesium. More then enough to cause lockouts of pretty much everything.

Cpappa27 · Aug 29, 2015

Mr.Head said:
Have you had a water analyses done? Because that's crazy. My waters 750-900 and my plants will die if given it for more then a week. Then again my soil mix is intended to be used with RO/distilled and I see no deficiencies all the way threw growth if using RO/distilled. Do you grow in Hydro?

Buying ro/distilled water is easier IMO then trying to deal with all the bullshit hard tap water can bring on.

Water is considered hard at 200ppm. I can't fathom how on earth you're not getting massive lockouts from feeding 1200ppm tap water. Your soil/hydro solution must be devoid of all micronutrients in order for it not to be causing issues. You must be water only feeding, you can't be adding synthetics on top of that 1200ppms right?

1200 ppms is like a late flower hydro feed of synthetic nutrients, in tap water that's going to be most iron/calcium/magnesium. More then enough to cause lockouts of pretty much everything.

I just water and add some organic nutrients like fish meal, kelp, all that organic stuff lol. I don't know why but its not hurting my plants at all and didn't on the last run either. That cheap RV water filter seems to be doing the trick as far as taking out the solids. Im curios to see what the ppms are after that filter if it changes things. I stopped caring about that shit when I saw the last run go awesome.

Hard or Soft Water?

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