distilled water ph & paper towell= highly alkaline

[potdistiller]

Hi all, I have found that trying to germinate beans with distilled water (which has the ideal ph) together with the chemicals in a white paper towell turn the water highly alkaline 7.6+ (thats as high as my test kit goes it could actually be much higher in alkaline.) I did get the ph back to 6.5-6.7 by adding a few drops of white vinegar. hopefully it will stay at this ph without creeping back up. Anyway I dident bother checking the water with the paper towell before. I guess next time Ill try some unbleached brown paper towells. Darn it's raining here and I dident buy a huge bucket to catch some rain water with, oh well Ill just put some vinegar in my tap and let it sit for a few days,bottled water here is very spendy. Does anybody have any idea if the vinegar will harm the plants or not? Im going on the cheap and dont want to buy ph up and down if I dont hafe to : so Im using baking soda and vinegar instead. I wouldent think it would harm anything as long as the ph is where it should be, I have tried growing before but it always ended badly (because I dident know what I was doing.) I feel confident in my abilities now after reading over at overgrow and cannabis forums theres alot of stuff there, I never knew even though I had read a book on it once before.

 

[zeppelindood]

Hi Pot... you seem to know what you're talking about... just go light (like a teaspoon per gal max) but overall you just good info for others to use as well. Nice post and 'welcome to the IC' mang ~

 

[potdistiller]

thanks zeppelin, nice to be here.

I did another ph test and the water has gone alkaline once again, I did do a ph test on some soil I planted earlier in the day which is still fine so im convinced the paper towell continually leaches chemicals into the water, (yeah im a bit bored). Usually when your germinating the seeds are in the paper towell for such a relatively short period of time it probly doesent have much effect one way or the other. It would be pretty rediculous to hafe to sit there and adjust the ph every half an hour or so.

If anybody is interested you can pick up ph testing kits at pet shops like petsmart for only 4 or 5 bucks, that have enough solution for 250 uses, Im guessing the ph tests are done with red cabbage juice the testing solution is precisely that color, I had read up that people do homemade tests this way. I know most of the ones at lowes and walmart are pretty expensive when you concider there just merely paper strips at 10 plus dollers and usually not that many strips are included.

Yawn, bed time for me night all.

 

[Harry Gypsna]

those kits are not vry accurate really,,they are only a very wide indication. also,this is probably a stupid question, but howdo u know the distilled wtae has ideal PH?? are you testing it before hand?? as i say probabl;y a stupid question but u never know eh lol.
Be lucky

 

[potdistiller]

Hi harry,
yeah I did test it along with my tap water, the rain water today ect. and it came out as a perfect ph for pot, same for rain water, but my tap water is way alkaline. Even distilled water will change ph though unless tightly capped.(so I had read).

 

[Guest]

I dont know why are you bothering so much.

I germed about 100 seeds this year. I just put a seed in a glass of water and wait from 24-48 hours so they crack. Regular water, no ph checks no nothing... and i have about 98% germ rate

Agnes

 

[potdistiller]

Hi Agnes,

thats a very good germ rate, so you just throw the seeds in some water then when they crack plant them? wouldent they drown?

 

[Guest]

Soma recomends skiping the paper towel method & plants right after a 24 hr soak / I aslo swiched to this method & have much better germ rates /

Soma says the paper towel tears the micro-roots & causes early stunting

 

[potdistiller]

ok thanks, I think I"ll try the soaking method.

 

[Dan42nepa]

It depends on the seeds and conditions I believe.. I have only been able to germinate one with bag seed but 5 for 5 with NL seeds thru the mail. I use paper towels and distilled water but i soak them in a shot glass with distilled water for 24 hours first.. they usually germinate within 24 hours.. They key i believe is warmth.. I wrap the towels in plastic and put them on top of my dsl router or modem. All 5 are doing well now but its very easy to kill them with kindness.

 

[Guest]

Keeping the soil ph steady is important for the intake of nutes,it doesnt do anything when it comes to germing seeds.Water ph doesnt mean a thing,do you think all rainwater has a ph between 6 and 7?I doubt it.I dont ph my water germing seeds in a paper towel and never have,you can soak them I imagine in any ph water also

 

[Guest]

I just got 10 of 10 blueberry fem and 10 of 10 skywalker fem with my tapwater which is around 8,nice and blue on the GH Ph test kit color scheme,didnt seem to affect my germ rates one bit.But,if you say"bad ph reduces germination" without your normal lengthy thesis on the subject,I dont know whether to believe you lol

 

[sproutco]

I deleted bad ph affects germination. Here I will say it again for you. Acid ph will affect germination rates. This happens with bedding plant growers. 100's of seeds might not make it.

From the time you sow the seed to the time you ship the plants, you need the optimum pH for those plants.

This is what David Koranski fomerly of Iowa state university said.

http://72.14.209.104/search?q=cache...germination+too+acid&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=4

I am not sure what basic conditions like over 7 ph does to germination.

 

[Guest]

David Koranski!Isnt he a former cult leader?

 

[Guest]

since when is germing beans such a complicated process?