new dude grow

[Chromophore]

Wow Weezard what great info. That's the thing about DI water that has always worried me: it's relatively pure and likely to impose osmotic imbalance. Chloramines will not evaporate easily from water, but they aren't bio-available to plants either. So that is probably good in the sense that it retards microbial growth in the water that could harm plants or people. But I am very distrustful of our local treated water. The pH varies between 4.5 and 7.0 over even a day or two. Crazy. I am amazed by how little the absorption ranges for certain ions overlap. There is very little room for error, especially with something like P vs Fe.

[Chromophore]

do any of yours have varying shades?

budbro I will look at this tonight when my lights come on and let you know.

[Weezard]

"I am amazed by how little the absorption ranges for certain ions overlap. There is very little room for error, especially with something like P vs Fe."

I agree.
Wholeheartedly.

Even on a good chart it's damned if ya do, damned if ya don't.

The trick is to not think of it as a single, perfect, number.
That's not nature's way.

After looking at several charts, I just decided to do a PH drift.
I drop it a little low and let it rise if that's what it does naturally.

If it tends to sink when left alone, I let it.
When it gets to the bottom edge, I bring it back up to the top edge and let it slowly drop again.
Covers the entire useful range and every player gets to ride.
This applies to hydro, of course.

With soil, PH is positional.
Do not mix your soil ingredients too well, especially, the mendicants.

Little concentrations of dolomite, and peat, etc., create a graduated PH zone around and between them.
The plant has feeder roots throughout, yah?
So, in roughly blended soils, again, every player gets to ride.

Mix your soil carefully, but not too well, and it works a treat.
Attempting to adjust it after the fact with PHed water is frustrating at best.
I learned most of this the hard way, and the basis of it from Cdot's archives.

The rest from reading thousands of threads, and heavy winnowing of said threads.
(Seems to be 90% horse exhaust on most forums).
No wonder I'm tired.

Bottom line?
Your best tool is a good book.

Aloha y'all
Weeze

[budbro28]

weez...i love you but speak english to me on the first part...P vs Fe? loosing me real fast...be gentle with me im half inbred..(mother side another issue (total joke))
and i love books...what one.
im tempted to go back to tap water...this is the first week and a half with distilled water and now this...they seemed to do fine with the tap water after it sat out for a day and a half....so i may experiment.

i hate fucking shit up...dad instilled perfection

[Weezard]

The quotation marks, and different colored font indicate that the P vs Fe comment was not mine, but in fact Chromophore's.

Allow me to translate for you.
The PH chart seems to indicate that in order to use Phorphorus the chemical symbol for which is, P.
The PH must be high enough to almost lock out Iron, the chemical symbol for which is, Fe.

And the point of that post was that you should go back to tap water.

And do not let the tap water sit out for a day and a half.
That is an old wives tale that just won't die.

All that does, is allow the dissolved air to escape.
Stagnant, airless, water is not good for plants, or critters.

The Chloramine, that is almost universally used as a water disinfectant today is a compound and not a gas, it does not escape when water is left to stand.
Nor do you want it to.

It protects against anaerobic bacteria, and is not taken up by roots.

Run your water right from the tap.
Preferably through an aerator, then add your amendments, check the PH, and apply immediately.

As for books?
Start by clicking on the first line in my signature.
Then gorge on it!
It's a free education and mostly accurate.
Anytime you are puzzled, google will enlighten you.

"Perfection, while momentarily attainable, is unsustainable. Entropy always prevails". --Me

Pontification, it's what I do!

Aloha,
Weezard

[tlranger]

"Perfection, while momentarily attainable, is unsustainable. Entropy always prevails". --Me

Now that is deeply profound!! Almost Einsteinium. :clap::clap::clap:

[crystaliscious]

OMG - The first line on Weezards signature would remind me of a wet dream except I'm a girl lol!!!!

[catbuds]

Gotta love Weezes thinking cat!

[Chromophore]

Weezard your thinking cat was purring last night. Thank you for the great info.:detective1:

[budbro28]

The quotation marks, and different colored font indicate that the P vs Fe comment was not mine, but in fact Chromophore's.

Allow me to translate for you.
The PH chart seems to indicate that in order to use Phorphorus the chemical symbol for which is, P.
The PH must be high enough to almost lock out Iron, the chemical symbol for which is, Fe.

And the point of that post was that you should go back to tap water.

And do not let the tap water sit out for a day and a half.
That is an old wives tale that just won't die.

All that does, is allow the dissolved air to escape.
Stagnant, airless, water is not good for plants, or critters.

The Chloramine, that is almost universally used as a water disinfectant today is a compound and not a gas, it does not escape when water is left to stand.
Nor do you want it to.

It protects against anaerobic bacteria, and is not taken up by roots.

Run your water right from the tap.
Preferably through an aerator, then add your amendments, check the PH, and apply immediately.

As for books?
Start by clicking on the first line in my signature.
Then gorge on it!
It's a free education and mostly accurate.
Anytime you are puzzled, google will enlighten you.

"Perfection, while momentarily attainable, is unsustainable. Entropy always prevails". --Me

Pontification, it's what I do!

Aloha,
Weezard

yeah straight up....thank you weez for lamens terms(should have the wife bake you a cake to bad your half way around the world) shame...so i switched back to tap water today for a watering added nutes and PH'd so the note pad and pencil come out...im about to read up on some health and nutrient info, along with deficiencies and over abundance of things, time to hit the books and roll a fatty...any other study up suggestions?