Rain water and tap water discussion

[blondie]

Creeperpark I’ve noticed a few posts by creeperpark that he is using rainwater and tap water is less than ideal for our plants. I recalled in school days learning about various pollutants being found in rain and wondered how rain water could be better than tap. I looked rather briefly and found a few websites discussing PH of rain and a few other items of note.

https://www3.epa.gov/acidrain/education/site_students/phscale.html

https://sciencing.com/ph-level-rain-water-5552228.html

It looks to me that rainwater ph is a very local value and could easily be based on weather conditions. I don’t think rain ph can be counted on as a constant, rather testing and adjustment would seem to be necessary. But based on the above, normal average rainwater is 5.6 which is lower than desired. I’ve checked my tap water and gathered a pile of snow to check. Mind you I’m using drops for ph still but the results are interesting nonetheless. Best I can gather from the very imprecise drops is my tap is above or near the 8.0 range. My snow water is near the 6.5 range. does anyone worry about rainwater contaminants?

What does everyone do with their water? Let’s keep this FRIENDLY. Enough bullshit in life without getting it here.

 

[Creeperpark]

My friend God makes rainwater and it is a "blessing" and is the best water known to man! The acid rain you talk about comes from carbonic acid and that comes from carbon dioxide. The same thing they use in soda drinks. I've been using rainwater for a long time. I used a lot of different kinds of water in commercial greenhouses, outdoor growing, and indoors. The best comes right from heaven. When you talk about when you was in school and say things, you show how much you don't know. You use your tap water and then post your plant photos. Other wise you are just talking. Heres a rain water grow! If you want to see more photos or Giant buds I'll show you those too.

 

[troutman]

Carbon filtering water is a good start when growing indoors.
Chlorine in tap water will affect your good microbial life.

 

[@peace]

Hey blondie, rain water is pretty good in the winter if you have had some rains on your roof already and plants around you have been dead for a while. If you collect in the summer the risk of introducing pathogens like powdery mildew increase because many of the plants in the wild around you are likely infected. It also depends on how much rotting plant material you have hanging out in your gutters. If you don't have trees over your roof then I wouldn't be as worried. I have moved to an Apec Ro system (RoHi) recently and really like it, as does my wife since I'm not stealing all the family water out of our main RO system lol. The only thing I did was add an aftermarket 14 gallon tank so that I can have more water available than the smaller tank it comes with (RO's take a while to fill their tank). I have really hard well water though. I see lots of guys on here seem to get along with city water just fine though. I like the RO because it took some of the guess work out of mixing nutrients in my scenario as I generally just have to add the liquid nutrients and it is already pH'd to 6.2 once they are added, whereas my hard water required a lot of pH down to counter the calcium among other issues. Hope this helps.

 

[Creeperpark]

I'll show you some rainwater buds too. I'm just starting to get where I'm not scared to take photos.Show me your buds Blondie

 

[gizmo666]

As I said before in another post that all depends on the quality of your local water
I live where the water supply is one of the purest in Britain (before you jump in offensive creeper I'm a plumber so know exactly what is in water content)
So in that for some tap water is not a good idea
But to say or imply you can only grow good plants in rainwater for me is wrong
All my grows in my diary's are with tap water
And I can't say I've ever had any troubles due to the water
Me screwing up nutrients well that's another story

 

[Creeperpark]

Hey blondie, rain water is pretty good in the winter if you have had some rains on your roof already and plants around you have been dead for a while. If you collect in the summer the risk of introducing pathogens like powdery mildew increase because many of the plants in the wild around you are likely infected. It also depends on how much rotting plant material you have hanging out in your gutters. If you don't have trees over your roof then I wouldn't be as worried. I have moved to an Apec Ro system (RoHi) recently and really like it, as does my wife since I'm not stealing all the family water out of our main RO system lol. The only thing I did was add an aftermarket 14 gallon tank so that I can have more water available than the smaller tank it comes with (RO's take a while to fill their tank). I have really hard well water though. I see lots of guys on here seem to get along with city water just fine though. I like the RO because it took some of the guess work out of mixing nutrients in my scenario as I generally just have to add the liquid nutrients and it is already pH'd to 6.2 once they are added, whereas my hard water required a lot of pH down to counter the calcium among other issues. Hope this helps.

I don't know where you got "introducing pathogens like powdery mildew increase" That's bull shit. I use rainwater all year long and I never get powdery mildew or any kind of mold. You need to research powdery mildew because you are saying things that are not true. You show me that you don't know what you are talking about. Since you don't use rainwater you are just talking words too.

 

[Cvh]

 

[Creeperpark]

As I said before in another post that all depends on the quality of your local water
I live where the water supply is one of the purest in Britain (before you jump in offensive creeper I'm a plumber so know exactly what is in water content)
So in that for some tap water is not a good idea
But to say or imply you can only grow good plants in rainwater for me is wrong
All my grows in my diary's are with tap water
And I can't say I've ever had any troubles due to the water
Me screwing up nutrients well that's another story

You, people, use the water you want I don't give a care. When I look at your plants I see tap water plants and that's ok if it's ok with you. They're still pretty and if you are happy then cool Your plumber I'm a horticulturist and ya'll do what you want to do and I will do what I do best "Grow Plants"! Peace Friends

 

[Three Berries]

I use rain water and getting it this time of the year is a pain. But fortunately I can collect it as it melts. I do filter it all before I use it. pH is usually around 6.5

Got a 150 gal barrel setup for non winter use.

 

[gizmo666]

You, people, use the water you want I don't give a care. When I look at your plants I see tap water plants and that's ok if it's ok with you. They're still pretty and if you are happy then cool Your plumber I'm a horticulturist and ya'll do what you want to do and I will do what I do best "Grow Plants"! Peace Friends

Dam I never knew I was speaking to someone so specialised
So your saying with pure natural springwater running through my taps that that's not good
As I said twice already IT DEPENDS ON YOUR WATER SUPPLY
I have no beef with you so your attitude on reply is astounding and only shows your intellect
Peace

 

[@peace]

Creeperpark Where did I say that I haven't used rainwater? I have used rainwater many times prior to getting my RO setup as I couldn't use straight well water. I said it would increase your chances, not that rainwater = powdery mildew or other infections, I have used it but always felt that RO provided a less risky alternative for me. I also live on a farm where we handle crop so I am more concerned about airborne disease than most. Powdery mildew is an airborne disease, I didn't tell him not to use rainwater, I shared my take on how I have evolved to use water in my setup.

 

[Creeperpark]

Dam I never knew I was speaking to someone so specialised
So your saying with pure natural springwater running through my taps that that's not good
As I said twice already IT DEPENDS ON YOUR WATER SUPPLY
I have no beef with you so your attitude on reply is astounding and only shows your intellect
Peace

I said, I can tell by looking at your plants! There is so many people who claim to know what they are talking about, but yet have shown no proof! I'm not saying anything about you or blondie however you are attacking my growing methods and you don't even know what you're talking about. . I don't disrespect you gizmo and I don't care what kind of water you or anyone uses. Trying to disprove and attack my skills is only showing one's ignorance. I worked hard and I don't need some inexperienced person telling me anything.

 

[Cvh]

Please keep the discussion on topic and not personal. Thanks.

 

[Creeperpark]

Creeperpark I’ve noticed a few posts by creeperpark that he is using rainwater and tap water is less than ideal for our plants. I recalled in school days learning about various pollutants being found in rain and wondered how rain water could be better than tap. I looked rather briefly and found a few websites discussing PH of rain and a few other items of note.

https://www3.epa.gov/acidrain/educat...s/phscale.html

https://sciencing.com/ph-level-rain-water-5552228.html

It looks to me that rainwater ph is a very local value and could easily be based on weather conditions. I don’t think rain ph can be counted on as a constant, rather testing and adjustment would seem to be necessary. But based on the above, normal average rainwater is 5.6 which is lower than desired. I’ve checked my tap water and gathered a pile of snow to check. Mind you I’m using drops for ph still but the results are interesting nonetheless. Best I can gather from the very imprecise drops is my tap is above or near the 8.0 range. My snow water is near the 6.5 range. does anyone worry about rainwater contaminants?

What does everyone do with their water? Let’s keep this FRIENDLY. Enough bullshit in life without getting it here.
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Regent pH testers are not that accurate. I recommend you get yourself a pH meter and learn how to use it before you start telling growers what to do with their water. Ask Google What is the most accurate way to test pH? Answer, pH meters are the most accurate type of measurement and are widely used. Google

 

[Creeperpark]

Please keep the discussion on topic and not personal. Thanks.

Sorry for the bad comment.

 

[blondie]

Holy fuck. Creepy fart don’t post if you only know how to insult. Your holier than thou attitude has no place here. Maybe rainwater is better and maybe it makes no difference... And no I don’t know if others ph rainwater constantly or test or anything. Its why I asked, not to be insulted or listen to you insult others. If you feel attacked move on to another thread. Nobody is attacking you. I had hoped you would contribute positively. Guess I was wrong.

everyone else thanks for the info. Do you guys test regularly or essentially trust the rainwater ph? Areas of industry and nuc plants, things like this seems rainwater can’t be the best? I know somewhat close to me there are coal fired plants. Not sure in reality how worrisome this kind of thing is, unless you are on top of it.

I can easily get a few 5 gallon pails of snow at the moment and looks like the ph is closer to what is needed, at least for me in my area. I’m not sure it’s worth me lugging around though, especially if it still requires adjustment. I’m not really healthy and the prospect of gathering snow seems it may be a waste of energy.

 

[@peace]

blondie I test every time before I water, pH, and EC if I added nutrients, regardless of the water source I am using. If you work with good genetics (as you are with Ace) plants issues are almost always caused by their grower, testing what you give your plants is good step towards controlling some variables so that less things can go wrong in your grow. I started out never testing, then used strips, then a pen meter. Eventually I stopped being cheap and bought a combo meter which helped me identify how bad my well water is. I have been using one ever since, clean it every use and it is an investment that will last a long time.

 

[44:86N]

I think what Creeper is saying is what works for you works for you.

Clearly, he's growing some nice looking plants there.

We all have what we have to work with, in terms of water quality, and have to work it out however we can.

It's not what's best, it's how can you make what you have work best. That's one of the marks of a good grower.

I mean, we'd all like to have "optimum conditions," but life's not lab grade.

 

[f-e]

What is rain water.
Once, it was thought of as distilled, as it gets in the air through evaporation. We can buy that, or use RO which is what labs do to get a comparably clean water.
Our vapour in the sky can't actually fall until it condenses upon something. Within every drop of rain, is a contaminate. Ranging from stuff out the back of a plane, to stuff sprayed on crops, to the more usual dust carried up on rising air currents. On occasion, it's even stuff put up there for no other reason than to make it rain. I think 5.5 is pure water. Pure water has no desire to be anything. If you get the tinyest bit of something that's say 7, then you can turn vast quantities on pure water to 7 with it. It just puts up no battle. It contains nothing to buffer against the action of that tiny bit of 7. Thus it becomes 7. No argument. Nothing to effect the 7 however thinly that 7 gets spread. Well... within reason. I'm trying to paint a picture.

If your distilled water is 5.5 and RO 5.5 but rain 6.5 then you might be right in presuming the rain carries more unwanted stuff. Perhaps stuff with a 6.5pH. However it could be a tiny meaningless amount. In terms of purity, you can't really separate all 3 when it comes to what a plant wants.

Rain has something though. As it falls, it tends to get oxygenated. Not just bubbles. Enough oxygen to make a chemical change. Just like adding hydrogen peroxide. It picks up quite a bit, as it's bloody cold. More than a bubbler is ever going to get in a tank. Levels that organic gardeners would never knowingly add to their tank.



I have no issue using average tap water, as it's not particularly poisonous and we are not orchid growers. Our plants are extremely good at finding what they need, and very tolerant of issues.
Pics are just examples of my growing ability, not how good my water is. I will take the challenge though. There is nothing wrong with tap, and it's 0.6