Just got my water test results, and my PPM is 923 total. I Have An RO System. In your Opinion, should i Use The RO Water to grow with?

[MajorGrindage]

I have attached a picture of the results.

My water is 923 total ppm.
I already have a RO system installed.
Through my research, 923 sounds crazy high to grow with, so im thinking i should use the RO water.

My Question:
I will be growing in organic soil (build a soil 3.0)

Based on these results, in your opinon should i grow with my RO water rather than tap, since the ppm is so high?

Thanks in advance for any help!!

 

[Creeperpark]

I have attached a picture of the results.

My water is 923 total ppm.
I already have a RO system installed.
Through my research, 923 sounds crazy high to grow with, so im thinking i should use the RO water.

My Question:
I will be growing in organic soil (build a soil 3.0)

Based on these results, in your opinon should i grow with my RO water rather than tap, since the ppm is so high?

Thanks in advance for any help!!

View attachment 18983058

That's a good question friend. On your test, I see you have over 500 ppm of calcium and magnesium. That's probably too much and may raise your pH late in the flowering. I wouldn't use the tap by itself. A good starting ppm is 120 ppm.

Good clean water is important in any garden. However one needs to watch the pH closely with RO or rain. Sometimes using rain or RO water without being buffered can cause problems late in flower. If your substrate mix has adequate lime the RO will do fine without any buffering.

Some people mix a small amount of their tap into the RO to act as a buffer. With any new grow area or until you know what you got you need to watch the pH closely or until you get tuned in.

The simple definition of water hardness is the amount of dissolved calcium and magnesium in the water. Hard water is high in dissolved minerals, largely calcium and magnesium. You may have felt the effects of hard water, literally, the last time you washed your hands. Google

 

[Dime]

I have attached a picture of the results.

My water is 923 total ppm.
I already have a RO system installed.
Through my research, 923 sounds crazy high to grow with, so im thinking i should use the RO water.

My Question:
I will be growing in organic soil (build a soil 3.0)

Based on these results, in your opinon should i grow with my RO water rather than tap, since the ppm is so high?

Thanks in advance for any help!!

View attachment 18983058

Is this from a well or softened water? If from a awell I would filter it and see where you end up. Depending on the quality and size of your RO system,it will quickly clog filters in it I would think with those numbers.

 

[MajorGrindage]

Is this from a well or softened water? If from a awell I would filter it and see where you end up. Depending on the quality and size of your RO system,it will quickly clog filters in it I would think with those numbers.

Softened water. But i will be replacing the sodium with potassium in the softener later this week.

The RO system isnt installed yet, but i already got fully quoted for a system by a company that i trust and have used for years, and they claim the system can handle this 923 ppm water no problem.

Do you think ill have a problem using RO to water organic soil, consider i will not be water until runoff?

I appreciate the response by the way, any help i can get is beyond appreciated!

 

[Lester Beans]

Why not water until runoff?

Mix the RO 50/50 with the tap for the cal/mag, providing the salt is eliminated.

 

[Dime]

Your sodium number is high from the softener.I have a well and it was up near 950 dissolved solids out of the ground. I installed 2 "big blue" whole house inline filters, one is sediment and one is charcoal. I replace them every 3-4 months. Municipal potable water is 140 ppm in my area.My water immediately dropped to 250 without having waste drain off like RO or having a limit on how much water I could have available. I ran an under counter RO for drinking and tried it on my plants but the system I bought couldn't supply enough water for all my needs(yours may be adequate and better) so then I ran my plants for 20 years at 250 no problem hydroponically and promix. I have never grown true organic because of the smell, mess, the time it takes for the soil to activate and my ignorance on the subject , but since the RO has almost or no solids then I would assume it would be excellent because t would be neutral but I think it will be somewhat acidic since the solids are removed. I think plants adapt as long as there are no big swings in technique,ph or medium. I never run off my grows,it smothers my roots in my case. I don't get them that wet unless I grow active hydroponics.

 

[Creeperpark]

RO has a stripping effect on some substrates. It can pull the nutrients away when there's runoff.

 

[Lester Beans]

That's ridiculous. I would much rather have the air exchange than worry about water doing water things. I might be concerned if I was watering in high pH RO water over long periods of time but even then I would still rather have even saturation and air exchange. Especially with a plant that has such a short lifecycle.

I have not seen that no runoff thing do much but cause people problems.

 

[Rgd]

RO is ok..some people dilute it with their normal water so it still has some “stuff” real water has

 

[Greenfingers420UK]

I got fed up trying to change my water to suit the plants, so I changed to using only rainwater, and most if not all the problems went.
As already said, I do add lime to my soil mix to help prevent issues later on.