Lockout- Hard water, rain water, choices!

[stinkyattic]

Distilled water contains no minerals, but will pick up anything in the atmosphere- C, N, P, O. You'll have to use calmag and then adjust the pH if needed, as C, N, and P can form acids in the presence of water.

Just mixing your nutes won't re-dissolve insoluble salts.

You should be using hardwater formulas if your water is that hard. Your background ppm is outrageous; check the GH hardwater formula or the Canna one shown here:
Canna Hydro Vega 1Ltr Hard Water / Canna Fertilisers / Two part nutrients / AquaCulture Hydroponics
*I've never ordered from that site; link is for the product description*

[Chronic Chrissy]

OK in the mean time I've pulled out my dehumidifier, but it really needs to be cleaned, we used it in the basement of our last house. I was curious though why the inside of the resivoir where the water is deposited would be so dirty if the water going in should be pure?

[stinkyattic]

Distilling your own water is a kind of last-ditch solution. Don't forget to check the EC of the DW coming out, because if it's loaded with metals, it's useless.

The water going in isn't 'pure'- it has as I said picked up atmospheric contaminants, yes, actually NPK, and created a decent environment for algae and bacteria to thrive.

HARD WATER NUTES!!! (repeat after me) HARD WATER NUTES!!!

[Chronic Chrissy]

I'm on last ditch situation for right now. I need something to do right now because at 1pm my daughter takes her nap and I have plants that need to be watered. It will probably be a few weeks before I can replace my nutes. Not to mention the funds really aren't there right now. So I need to come up with something that is better that what I have going right now, I'm looking for the better of bad ideas.

[stinkyattic]

Duly noted. Try to fabricate an all-plastic passive-solar still, then, if you can. And when you get enough water, do a GOOD flush of your pots. Actually, I'd flush them through real well just with your tap water dropped down to pH 6.3, just to remove any buildup you have already, and then a light feeding with your nute solution. If you have a micro supplement, you can mix that up weak and, again, LIGHTLY, do a foliar feed to try to combat the micro lockout you are seeing.

Edit: changed thread title to get other input on situation and clarify what it is

[Chronic Chrissy]

Crazy question. How do I change my thread title, and what should I change it to?

The plants were just flushed 2 weeks ago and have been given 1/4-1/2 strength feed at about 362-725ppm. Would it be better right now to water with pH tap water and exclusively foliar feed(I really need to brush up on foliar feeding again)? A whole flush takes me about 5-6 full days to do properly since I have a toddler, and I have so much on my plate this week.

[stinkyattic]

I changed it so it would get more responses. I fyou want it to read differently, post that in the thread and I'll change it. Mods can do that.

Foliar feeding will help with the micronute lockouts, but you're really going to need to keep giving your regular ferts with the water. I don't know what else to tell you. Your tap water sucks. You have to either change the water source or change the nutes to correct this.

[Chronic Chrissy]

Oh I guess these are two options for a water source too, but probably not the best. I live right next to a large lake, and I also have a fast moving, super cold, clear creek, that comes out of the bush untainted by people. There are aparently alot of aquifer(sp?) around here. Under ground springs that push up above the earth. Is this an option?

[stinkyattic]

Spring water from an underground aquifer would likely have similar properties to well water from the same geologic region. It's worth checking, but don't get your hopes up.

Lake water may have a higher proportion of rain as the source, and is worth looking into out of desperation- next time you go by, stick your EC meter in the lake and see if you get a reading below 300.

[Chronic Chrissy]

I doubt the lake would be a good choice and I should have known better than to post it as a opitionNo offense but the Devils Lake Project has flooded our main river and lake here with american's shit. The creek however is swollen with rain, it has been so wet this spring, and doesn't run through any populated area.

How do I change my the title of my thread?