Water into weed

[WWZEUS]

No worries man its actually what I wanted people to talk it out and defend why which water source is better. I know very little about what water is good for plants and the only thing i know about PH is i had to test it all summer long(lifeguard) and I had to add chemicals when ever up or down. this is perfect thank you both. I've been told by people on numerous boards that distilled is the best and others that have told me rain one cause its free and two it goes through earths natural processes. This is my first grow and I used tap water so far and its been great I wanted to try it with rain water and today was the only day it rained so when i water it next I was thinking of usuing the rain water. But I just wanted to see valid points on why i should not use it or use it. Some people just say use it or dont use it and don't give any reason to why they would say so i really appreciate the input.


tomorrow will be 7days since i started my first grow and 5days since they have sprouted out of the soil. they're on their second set of leaves. so far there are no complaints and they are growing wicked fast(to me atleast). the grow im sure will be over before I know it and I want to do everything right so i can have the best WW bud.:jointsmile:

[WWZEUS]

I collected my rain water in two giant bowls. just left them out in the rain all day with a little run off from the roof in one of them.

[cigarettes42]

i got this quote from the green Queen herself

Indoors, you need to use water that has minerals in it.
Rain water has NO calcium carbonate in it whatsoever, and your plants NEED that to grow. Also, rain picks up contamination in the atmosphere, such as Nitrogen and Sulfur from smog and other fossil fuel combustion byproducts. When that interacts with moisture in the atmosphere, it goes into solution as nitric and sulfuric acid- not good! It will quickly use up the buffering capacity of your soil, which is guess what, calcium carbonate added at the packaging plant, and the pH will suddenly drop.
So if you use rain water, you must add CalMag Plus to it, and then adjust the pH before each watering.
Tap water is almost always better.

maybe why i had bad experience was the absence of calcium but my plants drooped too fast for that to be a problem. it prolly was just the region i was in where i collected the water. i did adjust ph but didnt add any calmag but my plant wouldnt respond that quickly to just an absence of cal.

[Weezard]

No worries man its actually what I wanted people to talk it out and defend why which water source is better. I know very little about what water is good for plants and the only thing i know about PH is i had to test it all summer long(lifeguard) and I had to add chemicals when ever up or down. this is perfect thank you both. I've been told by people on numerous boards that distilled is the best and others that have told me rain one cause its free and two it goes through earths natural processes. This is my first grow and I used tap water so far and its been great I wanted to try it with rain water and today was the only day it rained so when i water it next I was thinking of usuing the rain water. But I just wanted to see valid points on why i should not use it or use it. Some people just say use it or dont use it and don't give any reason to why they would say so i really appreciate the input.


tomorrow will be 7days since i started my first grow and 5days since they have sprouted out of the soil. they're on their second set of leaves. so far there are no complaints and they are growing wicked fast(to me atleast). the grow im sure will be over before I know it and I want to do everything right so i can have the best WW bud.:jointsmile:

You are quite welcome, and, you are off to a good start.
Curiosity is key.

I love to:weedpoke: and see what happens.
Get as much good information as I can, then blaze, :stoned:and think about it for a while.

Conventional wisdom is not always wise, but is usually based in fact.
So, I read here for a long, long time to get the basics, tried to filter opinions from facts, then took a critical look at the assumptions drawn from the basic facts.
Re-thinking some of the popular assumptions has taken me to a very un-conventional grow, it's true.

That just proves that there is more than ONE right way to grow,ya?

Shows how resilient and forgiving Cannabis can be.
I'll be following your grow, sir, I think it's going to be exceptional.

Anything I can help you with, don't be shy.:jointsmile:

Aloha,
Weezard

[WWZEUS]

Thanks Weez and Cig. I will keep you updated with my grow as it begins to unravel. I think aand hope that it will be a good one. I will put some pictures up this weekend I want to start a grow log its amazing how this plant changes in one day. Yesterday it had about half in long leaves and today its starting its second set of leaves.

[WWZEUS]

There is absolutely more than one way to grow. I mean in away it is good that this drug is illegal it brings out the genius in some people that need to grow stealth or work on a low budget. If it wasn't illegal there would probably be just the Hydro way and soil route. I saw on one post that some guy was using cd's to help reflect the light so it would get underneath the plant the light. Im telling you man this plant has many positive thing to come from it.

[stinkyattic]

If you like the idea of rain water, you GOTTA run calmag in it, then adjust the pH.
Most city water is fine for soil grows, or even hydro grows if the nute system is forgiving (canna for example- in MA and the Northeast you can get it only at the Liquid Sun shops or online). I run Canna in both my soil and hydro grows, both on city water.
Rain water, remember it has Sulfuric and Nitric acid in it from atmospheric gases. Check the EC before you decide to run it. If it has an ionic strength that even registers on a cheap probe/meter, you might want to look elsewhere, since you don't know WHERE the EC is coming from. Unknowns=problematic.

[Weezard]

If you like the idea of rain water, you GOTTA run calmag in it, then adjust the pH.
Most city water is fine for soil grows, or even hydro grows if the nute system is forgiving (canna for example- in MA and the Northeast you can get it only at the Liquid Sun shops or online). I run Canna in both my soil and hydro grows, both on city water.
Rain water, remember it has Sulfuric and Nitric acid in it from atmospheric gases. Check the EC before you decide to run it. If it has an ionic strength that even registers on a cheap probe/meter, you might want to look elsewhere, since you don't know WHERE the EC is coming from. Unknowns=problematic.

Aloha Ms. Attic

Thanks for that.

Got a question or two.
I'm using General Hydroponics grow and bloom formulas.
Figured they would supply the Ca. & Mg., no?
Label says 2.0% Calcium and .5% Magnesium.

My tap water runs 128 ppm on a TDS3 meter with a PH of 7.2
My rainwater is 26 ppm and can have very low PH. 3.9!
(Depends on the volcano and the wind.)
We get lots of sulphurous H2SO3 and Nitrous H2NO3 acid
in the rain. You can taste it
Probably Nitric and Sulphuric as well. And plenty of mineral ash.

The county water , (from wells), appears to be "over-amended" and leaves a black slimey residue when it sits for a while.
It often smells like sulphur. They claim it's clean and safe but I won't drink it. The Chloromine content has killed the guppies in my koi ponds.


Had a healthy girl on the lanai in a pot of Hydrotron.
She loved the rainwater. Was doing quite well.
We had a dry spell, I got lazy and watered her with the garden hose just twice in a row.

It got way ugly way fast. In 2/3 days she lost most her fan leaf, went yellow, then brown, then crispy/necrotic.
Flushed her with rainwater and she recovered enough to finish blooming, but lost a lot of weight. and most of her fans

So, I had just the opposite experience from Cigarettes42.
That's why I need to figure out what's going on here.
Not looking to argue, or measure dicks, just want to get better minds thinking about it.

Right now, I'm stuck with rainwater. It seems to work well, but you've got me a little worried about it.

The other question?
Is Sodium Bicorbonate unsuitable for PH up?
I test for nute strength before and after I add the Bicarb and the sodium shows up as a higher reading. About 90 ppm per 1/8 tsp per gallon.

Any advice is appreciated
Mahalo nui.
Weezard

[stinkyattic]

Hi Weezard!
No sodium bicarb! The sodium is toxic to plants at a very low concentration compared to how much you will end up with if you rais pH with it consistently. Get yourself a nice bottle of pH up.
Your rain water should still get some CalMag added. Read the chemistry link in my siggy. There's some important concepts of ionic strength and pH measurements in there.
GH will supply some, but not all, of the minerals your plants would like. I would start with your rain water and then add calmag to ~200 ppm and then your GH. Monitor to see if the low leaves get yellow Ca def blotches.
Also, you can play with STYLES of growing, and nutrient systems, until you find one that gets on well with your local water sources. I keep telling people this, that when you have weird water or a problem from past use of chemmy salty ferts or soil, that a fertilizer that contains humic acid can be quite a rewarding change!
I have to get going, but I hope that is a step in the right direction!

[Weezard]

Hi Weezard!
No sodium bicarb! The sodium is toxic to plants at a very low concentration compared to how much you will end up with if you rais pH with it consistently. Get yourself a nice bottle of pH up.
Your rain water should still get some CalMag added. Read the chemistry link in my siggy. There's some important concepts of ionic strength and pH measurements in there.
GH will supply some, but not all, of the minerals your plants would like. I would start with your rain water and then add calmag to ~200 ppm and then your GH. Monitor to see if the low leaves get yellow Ca def blotches.
Also, you can play with STYLES of growing, and nutrient systems, until you find one that gets on well with your local water sources. I keep telling people this, that when you have weird water or a problem from past use of chemmy salty ferts or soil, that a fertilizer that contains humic acid can be quite a rewarding change!
I have to get going, but I hope that is a step in the right direction!

Done!

Stepping in the right direction right away.

Bicarb? History.
I'll use it to bake cookies.
Got no signs of Ca deficiency, yet.
Probably due to the volume of my DWC.
5 Gal, bubbling water per plant.

But, just 'cause I don't have visible symptoms yet, don't mean the girls are growing to their full potential.
So, after I pack your Chem link into my head, I'm off to the Hydro store for some PH-up and cal-mag.
I owe you a couple:jointsmile::jointsmile:

Regards,
Weezard