CHLORINE OVERDOSE

I grow pot every year since I was 14, now I am 50, and I love to grow plant of all kinds. they all look nice. green and healthy.
a lot of people that I know that grow ask me to look at there plants, and I tell them I am not a botanist, but I will look, and most of the problem originates from the same place, the tap water they are using.
if you are using water strait out of the tap "STOP".
first off it can causes lockout.
it creates a very deceptive looking deficiency.
purple in stems and leaves- looks like nitrogen deficiency.
yellowing of the lower leaves (or older leaves) working its way towards the top
before dieing completely- like a PH imbalance.
yellow spot, pail color.
you might think that you over watered it.
you might think that you need to ad Epsom salt.
you might ad some complete fertilizer.
but it does not help a lot.
it look worse each day.
it look like the whole idea about growing just is not right for you.

city water is chlorinated to kill germs and bacteria.(more in recent years)
cannabis is a chlorine sensitive plant.
continual use in planter shows up the quickest. in the ground might not be as saver, it might not be a problem at all if you prepare your soil sufficiently, but it might be a problem even if you do.
depends on how bad you water is.
first thing you need to do is fill a large cup half way up with fresh tap water,
put it up to your nose and sniff, what do you smell?
smell bad?
maybe like a cat box, or bleach.
that is the chlorine.
it will not harm you (much) it is in your pool, and the pool man always has to ad more.
just fill milk jugs(or any clear container) and let them sit in the sun for a few days.
it breaks down over time with exposure to sun and air.
keep in mind that the more surface area that is exposed to the sun, the faster the breakdown of chlorine will be.(so do not fill to the top, only fill to the narrow part starts, leave cap off)
in the meantime, use bottle water with a mild compete liquid fertilizer.

could u just let the tap sit for a few days and get the same results?

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Originally Posted by fasts102376

could u just let the tap sit for a few days and get the same results?

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I pull my water through a Britta filter and into a pitcher that sets out overnight. Chlorine seems to be gone the next morning. I do this in the bathroom in my toothbrush rinse cup too... I hate getting a dose of chlorine first thing in the morning. I am sure sunlight would help break down the chlorine, but it seems that it does evaporate off pretty quickly just sitting in the open too.

Emmie

Lots of larger cities now use chloramine which does not evaporate if you leave it overnight. You have to filter it with a special filter, or use a water conditioner. I live in an area that has really good quality water, but it is treated with chloramine. So far I have yet to have a problem. I use a britta when they are babies which probably doesn't do a thing other than make me feel like I'm doing something. I have read conflicting reports of whether or not chloramine kills beneficial bacteria in the organic soils I use. I believe that it does kill some of them, but not at a level that is detrimental to my grow. I refuse to spend any money on a filter or water conditioners until I see with my own eyes a problem.

Chloramine - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Originally Posted by Scribble2010

Lots of larger cities now use chloramine which does not evaporate if you leave it overnight. You have to filter it with a special filter, or use a water conditioner. I live in an area that has really good quality water, but it is treated with chloramine. So far I have yet to have a problem. I use a britta when they are babies which probably doesn't do a thing other than make me feel like I'm doing something. I have read conflicting reports of whether or not chloramine kills beneficial bacteria in the organic soils I use. I believe that it does kill some of them, but not at a level that is detrimental to my grow. I refuse to spend any money on a filter or water conditioners until I see with my own eyes a problem.

Chloramine - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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wow... there is always something isnt there? I read a bit further and found that the chloramine is easy to get rid of too.. the process is sort of funny... you add chlorine to break this stuff down and then you get rid of the chlorine by putting it in the sunlight. :) I feel like I am on a merry-go-round. :)

Removing chloramine from water

Chloramine can be removed from tap water by treatment with superchlorination (10 ppm or more of free chlorine, such as from a dose of sodium hypochlorite bleach or pool sanitizer) while maintaining a pH of about 7 (such as from a dose of hydrochloric acid). Hypochlorous acid from the free chlorine strips the ammonia from the chloramine, and the ammonia outgasses from the surface of the bulk water. This process takes about 24 hours for normal tap water concentrations of a few ppm of chloramine. Residual free chlorine can then be removed by exposure to bright sunlight for about 4 hours.

Thanks for the added info on this new thing to look for as I inspect my water content. Any info on why they use this instead of chlorine? Is it cheaper because it doesn't evaporate?

Emmie

Or just collect rainwater...:D

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Originally Posted by TANKJR

Or just collect rainwater...:D

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What's the unadjusted ph of your collected rainwater, and how do you remove the contaminants? (smog, industrial pollution, carbon dioxide...)

Answers.com - What is the pH of rain water and why and what does it mean

I used to use the tapwater when I was living in Vegas. Some of the worst water available from a tap. Worked fine when I'd fill-up a 5 gallon sparklets bottle and let the chlorine 'outgas' overnight.

I now use the tapwater where I am, which is a well on our property drawing from an aquafir of calcium/magnesium limestone. Bummer that it's 7.9 out of the tap, but a little phosphoric acid (phDown) brings it down just fine.

Do not think that just because it's muni water that you need to go buy water. In most cases it's acceptable. It's real easy to find you local tapwater conditions by doing a Google search for your local municipality. For instance...I'd Google "Water quality report - Las Vegas" for that city. Shitloads of info, and some of it is even useful.

Here lately it's been about 7.0 (rainwater), but I don't have a very accurate meter...whatever trace stuff is in rainwater isn't enough to bother me (I'm pretty far from the LA pollution now!)...my "tap" water is also from a well, so chlorine is not an issue...it's not as hard as Vegas water (lived there, did that!) and also runs just over 7...I use both, alternatively, and adjust ph as needed, but obviously I don't have to adjust either source much. I live over top of several million years of accumulated seashells, so there's lots of minerals in my well water...if I use straight up well water all the time I get a crusty surface on the soil from all the salts and minerals that build up....this is my "flush" indicator, or a re-pot...crusty surface=flush time, although molasses seems to cause a crust too...none of this seems to bother the plants much either way...Alternating seems to minimize the need for flushing, tho.

I've never actually taken rainwater to be tested, but have had the well tested before...it's freakin nasty, and tastes like crap...I don't drink it! Plants don't seem to mind it tho!:wtf:

I grew for a long time never even thinkin about PH and the plants still came out pretty good...I also think it's a good thing to have ph fluctuate a little...just in case the plant needs something it's not getting at the "set" ph...

Although you have probably learned all that you need to know about the danger posed by chlorine, chloramine in water is every bit as threatening. This is the new chemical of choice by many of the municipal wastewater treatment facilities, because it is more stable than chlorine, and it is supposedly safer to use also. A carcinogen is a carcinogen however, and I am going to explain to you why you still need to be concerned.

Although they have already been proven to be dangerous for human consumption, the chemical agents used to disinfect our water are something that we are just going to have to keep on living with. We still have not found a safer method for removing the threat of waterborne diseases. So, in order to keep these diseases at bay, we must face a different type of danger.

Scientists and medical professionals have determined that the introduction of chemical disinfection has had much to do with the extraordinary rise in cancer cases over the last century or so. Many people believe that the switch to chloramine in water will do nothing to slow the rate of cancer, and its greater stability is something that lends credence to their opinions.

Chlorine was thought to be safe to use in drinking water so long as it did not exceed 4 PPM, but it often does surpass this upper limit. This is because it has been found that the municipal treatment centers have a difficult time regulating how much of the substance is in the water. Many of facilities have been caught "cooking the books", recording false measurements in order to appear to stay within EPA compliance.

The plan is to use the same limits on chloramine in water as are being used now. Because this chemical is more stable and doesn't break down like chlorine does, it means that more of the chemical will reach your home. Since chlorine was breaking down you probably weren't getting the entire 4 PPM, but with chloramine you will be ingesting every bit of it.

This makes chloramines every bit as deadly as chlorine, so you still need to take precautions to avoid taking this chemical into your body. What you need to do in order to protect your health against all of the different health threats that are present in our water supply is purchase a quality home purification system that utilizes the four filter variations necessary for keeping you safe.

In order to filter out chloramine in water, along with every other chemical agent present, your system needs to feature both an activated granular carbon filter, and a multi media block. To stop toxic heavy metal traces from entering your home, an ion exchange is needed. And finally, to remove the parasites and cysts that have lived through the disinfection process, a sub micron filter is the answer.

Just because they say chloramine in water is not as big a threat does not mean that it is something that you can take lightly.

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Originally Posted by rak7roll

A carcinogen is a carcinogen however, and I am going to explain to you why you still need to be concerned.

Although they have already been proven to be dangerous for human consumption,

Scientists and medical professionals have determined that the introduction of chemical disinfection has had much to do with the extraordinary rise in cancer cases over the last century or so................... Many people believe that the switch to chloramine in water will do nothing to slow the rate of cancer..............This makes chloramines every bit as deadly as chlorine ................stop toxic heavy metal traces from entering your home

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WOW drinking tap water can KILL you.....got any links to SCIENTIFIC studies to support these claims ?? do you sell filtration systems??do you know what an ECO-TERRORIST is ??

Thats some good information there man!

Thanks

I use tap,... straight out of the tap and PH adjusted. The only plants that ever really give me any grief are my moms. And most of the time when they start getting pissy with me it's because they're ready for a root pruning!


I know using tap that hasn't been set out to allow off gassing isn't accepted practice. But I simply don't have the space to keep a bunch of buckets of water sitting out.

You can check online for your local Water Quality Report for your local municipality. It will tell you what's in the water that's coming out of your tap. Info like...what it's ph is, it's alkalinity and carbonate hardness, as well as what they use to kill bacteria. (yes, higher levels of chlorine and chlorine compounds can and will kill the beneficials in your soil) And assuming all water reports are guilty of misrepresentation just because a few were caught cooking the books...is a fairly paranoid approach.

Paying attention to what is in your drinking water is likely a good practice...but I'm not all that certain the fears of a little chlorine justify an all-anal approach, nor does it justify hefting gallons of water (more costly than gasoline in some cases) home for plants and self every week. Most bottled water(s) are from local tapwater, and their filtering techniques have been put into doubt just the same as the occational fudging of numbers for muni water. Same with those kiosks, where you insert a quarter and cross your fingers that the filters have been changed in the past couple of years. Nothing more than a false sense of security. If you can afford a quality R/O set-up, and if you can actually afford the replacement cartridges every year, perhaps it's at that time you'll find out...it wasn't the chlorine 'mishandling' your ladies after all. :wtf:

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Originally Posted by canniwhatsis

I use tap,... straight out of the tap and PH adjusted. The only plants that ever really give me any grief are my moms. And most of the time when they start getting pissy with me it's because they're ready for a root pruning!


I know using tap that hasn't been set out to allow off gassing isn't accepted practice. But I simply don't have the space to keep a bunch of buckets of water sitting out.

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I hear ya, and also have quit worrying about the chlorine and chloramines in tap water. I find that I get less crap growing in the water bucket. Sometimes the bucket sits 24 hours so it outgasses. Weezard was the one who encouraged me to try and forget about it. Also, letting the water sit looses oxygen that dissolved in the filling of the container. I do not keep 'old mothers', just a constant clone process so nobody gets stuck in old soil for a long time.

Now, you will hold minerals, solids, and what-not in a pot of soil over time. A salts buildup and flushing may be necessary to prevent lockout if the plant is not repotted on a schedule.

So I disagree with you. I see no harm nor any difference by using the water straight out of the tap and pH'ing it. Been doing this for 6 months now. Only issue is a single plant that is over 100 days old......getting old sucks.....

Like Cannawhatsis, I know this is an unpopular procedure, but it works for me.

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Originally Posted by WashougalWonder

Only issue is a single plant that is over 100 days old......getting old sucks.....

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My current oldest mom that's still alive is Durban Poison and was plugged into soil in early July last year (2 gallons FFOF cut with CoCo),... Next is my GraftoMum. My Durban mom started freaking out on me late last month, but with the proof I've seen from the grafted mother I had already decided to move the durban mom to flower, so she got moved into 5 gallons of FFOF. And the up pot cured the nute issues and root bound issues in one fell swoop!...... Now I have to deal with her growing like a weed until I have room to flower her!!!!!! :o

My Grafted mom was about 1.5 months old in a 1 gallon square pot when she got her first graft in October...... After several successes I decided I wanted to let her get a bit bigger and generate more space for grafting more strains, and she got moved from a 1 gallon square to a 3 gallon in January or late December.... Didn't mark the exact date of the up pot.... but after 4 months in that little bit of soil I hadn't had any problems! Root pruned her once during that time, and JUST pruned her roots after the up pot for the first time last night..... She's greening up already! ;)