Minerals in your water Dixie, Yes your plants need minerals. However in hydro, not soil, it becomes Vitally important to control those mineral levels. Unless you take your water to a lab and have it analyzed (like commercial hydroponic gardens do) you are starting with a medium with an unknown quantity of Ca, K, and the rest. Now when you add your nutes to RO water, which have known quantities of minerals, you know exactly what is in your solution. But when you are adding a known quantity of N,P,K.... on top of water with an unknown ammount of minerals you just don't know what your solution is really composed of. This becomes especially important when diagnosing problems with your plants. Now like I said this is hydro specific. Soil is ever so much more forgiving and, IMO, you don't need to be as fussy about your water. Hope that helps Retiree
YO! I'm glad you finally got it! I know, now that you have it, you'll love it! I love mine. that the store I recommended took forever to deliver it. Dix-Retiree explained it pretty well. What I'm learning is that with hydroponics you really want to have as much control over the nutrient levels and pH levels as possible. That means starting with pure unadulterated medium and water. For soil plants the soil itself acts as a buffer to hold the nutrients for the plants until they can uptake them. In a hydroponic environment you plants uptake everything more quickly and therefore if your water has too many minerals in it and you add additional minerals that are part of your nutrients then you are just overloading the plants with more than they can uptake causing toxicity issues. Since some micro elements and minerals can affect how the plant uptakes other nutrients as well you could throw everything out of balance very easily. For Hydro/Hempy plants IMO it's best to start with R/O water that way you know that the pants are getting the nutrients that you intended them to have and not a bunch of extra junk. Plus people seem to forget that well water is full of not only minerals but everything else that leaks into the ground and filters down into the underground water table. I bet if you had your water tested you would be surprised to find out how much arsenic and heavy metals are in your water. People wash their cars on their lawn and fertilize their lawns and gardens and whatnot. Not all of those contaminants are washed down the storm drains and treated Much of it makes it's way into our water tables. We have several springs in our nearby mountains and because of increasing contamination from people's homes and society and a dropping water table they have closed them down for human consumption. The water contains too many contaminants to be considered safe to drink.
It is tight. First thing I did was pour a glass of it. Plan on usin this puppy alot. Hook up was way easy. No biggie on the site, I just doubt I will shop there again. asssit:
