Water Quiz. Win Imaginary All Expenses Paid Hawaiian Vacation.

[Rezinator]

Is the alkalinity end of the Ph scale the same as "water hardness"?

And

What to do if city water is hard - story is - my potted indoor flo grow has consistently resulted in droopier leaves after each watering (currently 52" tall - plan to induce flower next week) with house tap water allowed to sit in five gal bucket a min of 24 hours to neutralize chlorine - Still tho - the plants can take as long as 30 hours for the leaves to come back up nice and pert again.

Is that normal?

Distilled water's pricey.
Is good naturally well vegetated stream water safe enough?

[HARDDON]

Good questions and one I am working on for a sicky of my own.

I think the water we use to give to our plants is highly underrated.

A lot of people have varying opinions and to each his own.

My opinion....

The kind of water you use is critical to the plant on an indoor soil grow. In the wild, you have natural erosion, breakdown of foilage, bacterial colonies and an entirely private ecosystem working on the soils and water.

Tap water, at least in the US is some of the filthiest water in the civilized world. It contains many elements not found in any water naturally and the required chemicals we need to put in there can kill the water.

Kill the water?

Yes.

If looked at under an electron microscope, a fully funtioning water molecule is shaped much like an octangon. However, after treament, use, recycling and so forth, adding flouride (which no plant likes or uses) etc....the same molecule will be missing 'links' or sides of the 'octogon' shape.

I wont delve into that too much further yet, as a new grow I am using will test some theories I have planned and a machine I invested in to return the water to a 'pre-historic' state....ie....the way water was before even dinosaurs ruled the earth. :)

A new SOG grow will show the results of some testing...stay tuned...

As for you hard water issues, mineral will affect the alkalinity to a degree, but no, there is no direct comparison between them being the same thing.

Alkalinity is the "pH" value of water, with 7.0 being neither acidic or alkaline in nature.

The higher the pH, the higher the alkalinity and vica-versa.

Hard city water can suck.

You should look into your grocery store....many of them now sell distilled water (which is really de-mineralized water) by the 5 gallon jug for 25cents a gallon. You gotta haul the fuckers around in a cart, but they are out there much cheaper than bottled water.

I would definately look into getting some other water. Yes, you can grow with hard city water, but I suspect its far more important than I have seen discussed and will be one of the major tests I conduct on a new SOG grow.

Hope I was general enuff andd left myself a way out... :)

[Beeblebrox.420]

The pH figure refers to the acidity or alkalinity - that is the ratio of the H+ to the OH- radicals. More H+ is acidic and more OH- is alkaline. A pH of 7.0 is neutral. This is not the same as water hardness, which refers to the amount of dissolved minerals, particularly calcium. If you have hard water, the most effective way to deal with it is an ion-exchange water softener, which uses rock salt to basically exchange out the hard minerals for "softer" ones, in this case, sodium. If you have white, crusty deposits on your water faucet taps, it's a good indication of hard water. Hard water also makes it more difficult to do laundry and rinse off in the shower - another sign of hard water is a slightly slimy feeling when trying to rinse the soap lather off, and also difficulty in working up a good lather.

[Marc Benson]

"Hard water also makes it more difficult to...rinse off in the shower - another sign of hard water is a slightly slimy feeling when trying to rinse the soap lather off"

Gotta disagree with ya BB420. I have hard water (no water softener) and the soap in the shower will rinse off easily. When I go back to visit my Mom she has soft water (has a water softener) and it feels like I never can get the soap all off in the shower. Feels slimy. I think you got those turned around.

[HARDDON]

When I go back to visit my Mom she has soft water (has a water softener) and it feels like I never can get the soap all off in the shower. Feels slimy. I think you got those turned around.

I know I can tell when my softener is out of potassium....the water rinses off too easy and the soap doesnt suds up as much.

When I rinse my balls for example, they feel like the soap won't come off and then.....welll.....then I get a boner...... :eek:

Thus the name :D

[ballin4Real]

I know I can tell when my softener is out of potassium....the water rinses off too easy and the soap doesnt suds up as much.

When I rinse my balls for example, they feel like the soap won't come off and then.....welll.....then I get a boner...... :eek:

Thus the name :D

HA HA HA FUNNYSHIT

[Wert]

I know I can tell when my softener is out of potassium....the water rinses off too easy and the soap doesnt suds up as much.

When I rinse my balls for example, they feel like the soap won't come off and then.....welll.....then I get a boner......

Thus the name

LMFAO... maybe feed it some bananas?

[Rezinator]

Also ROTFL,

Thanks H. You set that up like a pro standup act.

Spent yesterday trying better proxy softwares.

Thanks also to all for getting me - ahem - straight on the Ph vs. Hardness.

We don't have noticable white deposits on fixtures anywhere but that weird - ahem - grabby feeling after a rinse in the shower is definitely from the water.

I'm pretty convinced that's what's drooping the leaves even tho showering doesn't seem to effect the droopiness of - ahem - anything else !!! <g> :eek:

Anyone growing any plant for the first time would see the droopiness still there next moring and think they had not watered it enough. Then do the worst and dowse the plant again.

As an aside:

Have to transplant my only surviving (abandoned outdoor move of 2 others for security reasons) indoor lady into 5 gal from a 2 gal pot soon. Now at 53" with good side growths. No clue what strain the bag was. Never ask.

2 more Questions plz:
Throwing in rest of worm castings during transplant can't hurt at this stage I presume, right?

Also, when watering the new tranplanted potting the first time (with distilled) should I skip the ferts? Then resume that in a week?

Also, for a 5 Gal white plastic bucket:
1. Going to paint outside black.
2. Is Vermiculite any less compressive than just straight perlite? Or do you just have to load the perlite to like 1 part to 3 parts soil?
Any recipes appreciated. Thanks to all.

And Harddon, remember that if any condition lasts longer that 36 hours, to seek immediate medical attention.