Getting a stable PH

[Cuddles]

@Cuddles I’m not really a compost guy but I wouldn’t tinker unless the pH was drastic. The soil does the work for you. One of my best plants was a Discobiscuit in tropic mix using blumat carrots. Never checked EC or pH once. Just start yer feed low n notch it up as you go. That’s pretty much it.

*I beg your pardon… compost not soil. Schoolboy error*

people only do adjust the ph because pot likes a little acidity and regular water/tap water is neutral. If you using coco you won´t have to bother with this

 

[Lumpy-Gravy]

Whatever works for folk I suppose

 

[Creeperpark]

Always check the ppm and if it is over 120 ppm it's considered hard water. The problem with hard water is it has a cumulative effect over time and if using small containers the alkalinity can rise causing a bronzing on the leaves (crunchy leaves). It can take up to 8 weeks before you start to have problems, the extra 120 ppm multiplies with every watering in the substrate. If you are not getting any bronzing using your water then nothing to worry about, however, if you are getting leaf bronzing in flowering thats the reason.

 

[Lumpy-Gravy]

120ppm is only about 0.3ec right?

120 x 2 / 1000 = 0.24ec … apologies if I’m wrong.

There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. I don’t understand why you’d tell someone that not suitable. With all respect like. If you you think your water is out of whack get a water test done at Growers Ark for the cal:mag composition. You want a 3:1 ratio of cal:mag and they’ll advise once tests are done to correct any irregularities. It’s very very very very rare water from a tap in Great Britain isn’t suitable for weed plants. Usually just observe the ‘3:1 rule’ ….. Other people might go to extra lengths with their water but I don’t understand why when I’ve seen piles of evidence of fantastic plants being fed good ol fashioned ‘corporation pop’. Some systems run direct from a water source i.e A tap …

 

[Greenfingers420UK]

Well, Yesterday I filled two 1-gallon buckets with tap water which i left to stand overnight.
The ph was 7.6, Today when I tested the ph it was 8.2.

 

[Lumpy-Gravy]

Aye the pH will rise naturally. 7.6 is almost the same as mine. Once I’ve added 2.5ml of intense nutrients (or 3ml growers ark) I’m down to 6.6/6.5 so needs mild adjustment but I’m in coco so as to be a necessity. Compost doesnt matter. Just use yer water right away and just forget pH even exists. Seriously mate all this weird kooky shit some folk do growing. Heard the one about planting seeds on a full moon? lol
I can’t believe we’ve had two pages about altering the pH of a perfectly good water source. Do yer sen a favour mate put the water in the res, mix yer feed, check it daily and watch yer plants for any alterations in feed strength be it up or down. Also look after the beneficials n keep that compo ‘alive’

 

[Greenfingers420UK]

I'm starting to think I've been getting too hooked up on my waters ph

 

[RockinRobot]

First off you should always mix nutrients before Ph your water, Otherwise the solution will not have enough buffering to maintain the Ph.

 

[Lumpy-Gravy]

Seriously @Greenfingers420UK i wouldn’t be so confident otherwise. I’m sure hundreds of thousands of people have thousands of hours more experience than me. But genuinely. It’s not necessary. Generally if you’re having trouble you can’t pin down get a £30 water analysis done at growers ark and they’ll advise any changes required be it a bespoke feed ( which is cheaper than it sounds) or just a slight adjustment using Epsom’s or summat else. Keep yer compost buzzin and it’ll do all the pH buffering for you.

E2a - I’ve neglected to mention … if you look at the pH each nutrient is best available at then some res drift upward is absolutely fine. But you’re in compost so ignore that but check the charts and it’ll become immediately obvious to yer. Anyroad I’ve gone on too long. Just don’t stress it bud and keep it simple

 

[Creeperpark]

120ppm is only about 0.3ec right?

120 x 2 / 1000 = 0.24ec … apologies if I’m wrong.

There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. I don’t understand why you’d tell someone that not suitable. With all respect like. If you you think your water is out of whack get a water test done at Growers Ark for the cal:mag composition. You want a 3:1 ratio of cal:mag and they’ll advise once tests are done to correct any irregularities. It’s very very very very rare water from a tap in Great Britain isn’t suitable for weed plants. Usually just observe the ‘3:1 rule’ ….. Other people might go to extra lengths with their water but I don’t understand why when I’ve seen piles of evidence of fantastic plants being fed good ol fashioned ‘corporation pop’. Some systems run direct from a water source i.e A tap …

It's not about being suitable it's about knowing "what's" in the water and what's best for cannabis plants. In greenhouse work, I used acid injectors and tap water. However, the water was less stable than pure water which had been fortified with calcium and magnesium. Using small containers the salts would build up in the substrate causing the nutrients to be less effective. After a while the impurities got so bad we had to dump them in the compost. Not with RO water.

The difference between 120 ppm of cal-mag and 120 ppm of something else, you don't know what the something else is. You know that the calmag is 2:1 ratio and with nothing else. Now mix the unknown tap ppm and treatment chemicals from water treatment systems you get a buffered pH that's very hard and accumulative over time. It can take a lot of acids to work with it leaving by product in the soil. That's why people use RO water systems friend.

That why I would say that.

 

[Lumpy-Gravy]

If that works for you creeperpark then that’s fine. He’s in the uk he can go on his local water board website and check the analysis. As I said this ain’t Detroit or Lagos. It’s Britain. You won’t get lead n all that shit in the water. A bit of chlorine to keep it clean. The chlorine WILL NOT harm your microherd at all.

The ratio is 3:1 mate I’m not budging on that. As I said I can point to a million grows in compo where plain water a nutes are used.

People use RO because their water is so far out of whack or prefer to start from a neutral base. If this fella goes n buys a RO kit that’s easy over 100 notes then buy calmag as well and introduce it in every feed. Basically your spending his money for him when he doesn’t need to.

Where are you based? Your water must be minging …

 

[Lumpy-Gravy]

On the left is what comes out. On the right are the EU/UK limits. Tell me what’s wrong with that water? Considering I use it all the time? I do believe you’re arguing the bro science stuff or in a location where you can’t even drink the tap water unless you have a household filter.

 

[Douglas.Curtis]

Remove it all, and only put back what cannabis wants and can appropriately use. Vegetables and other non-dynamic accumulator plants the "use tap" advice is spot on.

Cannabis is not a common vegetable (it is a dynamic accumulator), and I can pick out, in a blind taste test, the flowers grown with tap. Of course, if regs are just fine for you then tap is just fine for your cannabis.

 

[Lumpy-Gravy]

You can taste the difference lol give over pal. Look tell the bloke to rush 150+ in on a RO system, fitting and a lifetime of cal:mag bottles that’s fine. People used to say they could taste the difference between flushed and unflushed. Now the consensus isn’t to flush and starve the bugger. Taste the difference indeed This is bordering on farcical. If YOU do it it doest mean it’s necessary or mandatory. Weed tastes fine grown with tap water.
Dude seriously seek opinion elsewhere too. I dunno why folk here pH their water for compo and spend time and money beautifying their water. Totally and utterly unnecessary. If yer got money burning a hole and you want to feel like it’ll make a difference then fine. I just think it nowt but egotism to appear more professional …

 

[Douglas.Curtis]

Edit: lol I figures that would get panties in a twist and posted this right after. lol Almost made it. lol

Anything above 25ppm is almost guaranteed to mess with pH and end quality. Below that I'm unable to notice quality differences without a lab.

 

[Creeperpark]

View attachment 18769863
View attachment 18769865

On the left is what comes out. On the right are the EU/UK limits. Tell me what’s wrong with that water? Considering I use it all the time? I do believe you’re arguing the bro science stuff or in a location where you can’t even drink the tap water unless you have a household filter.

.Its nice to learn you have clean water and no disrespect to you. My intention is not to give misinformation. My intention is to help people grow the best cleanest weed they can for medicine. I only know about my water and not yours so I can't speak about your water. If you are spokes person for your water and I'm giving misinformation I will easily yield and adapt to new information. However, the water analysis above is incomplete and doesn't show the complete analysis. IF you don't mind would you show me your tap water plants for research purposes? My intention is not to give misinformation. No offense to you because we are on the same side friend. .

 

[Lumpy-Gravy]

25ppm x 2 = 50 /1000 = 0.05EC …. Have I come to the right place. 0.05 is practically RO water. No one in the world gets that from the tap lol Im tapping out. This is farcical ….

 

[Lumpy-Gravy]

@Creeperpark people might feel the benefit and this is fine. I’ve no axe to grind with you at all The thing I find is people blast unnecessary money on stuff they don’t need. Learn to grow first. Then invest if yer fancy it. I’m not a compo grower but I’m another forum I’m on I see stunning plants grown with tap water, even the no till guys as far as I’m aware. Unlike me they seem to have friends to test their wares and vouch for potency, taste, specific effect.
I’m full on poor. I have to grow on a tight budget. I’d hate to see the dude rush in money at this point in time. The money would be better used on his mortgage or filling the kids bellies wi’ food. If it turns out his water is shit and needs filtering I’ll take it back. His initial post was about pH drift in a res. That’s what you want generally and will occur unless your rectifying it constantly. If I was the OP and I had a EC and pH pen I’d invest £16 in a bag of coco and yield a shit ton more than a pot of muck will.

 

[Douglas.Curtis]

25ppm x 2 = 50 /1000 = 0.05EC …. Have I come to the right place. 0.05 is practically RO water. No one in the world gets that from the tap lol Im tapping out. This is farcical ….

Side by side, same grow room, same strains, The difference was enough to tell by blind taste test. At least I was able to accurately choose where others could not.

Interestingly, the same experiment was done with around 200tds tap. Everyone could tell the difference between tap and r/o, while I was able to distinguish between tap grown tap flushed and tap grown r/o flushed.

 

[Lumpy-Gravy]

And by what scientific means was this measured? Or was it just a few bro’s getting stoned in the garden?