I am experiencing some leaf curling on my flowering plant, and last night I was playing mad scientist and checking everything out to try and solve the problem. A few months back, my PH tester started going wacky so I figured I needed to order a new sensing tip for it. I pretty much had my well water dialed in with how much PH down I needed per gallon to get to around 5.8, so I thought I could wing it and be okay, but I recently switch nutes, installed an RO system under the sink that I have been using to water with. I have also been collecting rain water that I have been using recently because it's natural and free. I never checked the PH of the RO water or the rain water, but assumed it was closer to nuetral than the well water. WRONG!! Initially I thought I was overfeeding so I cut back and watered with just plain rain water for a little while, but the problem persisted and even worsened slightly. I pulled out the PH tester again last night and it seems to be working just fine now. I guess it was having a bad day. Anyway, here are some of my findings that I thought were interesting. Straight well water (no filtration): 7.4 ph Well passed through RO system: 7.6 ph Rain water: 8.0 ph Well water w/ the recommended 1 tsp of GH Microgrow nutes: 5.8 ph Results: Once again, as has been stated over and over here at GK, improper PH appears to be the problem. I will know more in the next day or so. My attempt to correct the what I thought was an overfeeding problem with straight (untested) rain water actually contributed to the problem. I am very impressed with the GH Microgrow Bloom PH buffers. 1 teaspoon brings the water to exactly 5.8 ph. On the next watering I will test that with both the RO and the rain water to see if also brings them to 5.8. My question is: out of the three sources of water I have available, which one would be the best to use? Now that my PH tester is working and I can get whichever one I use dialed in properly. edit: I don't have PPM meter
I'd stick with the well water myself. Filtering the water takes out minerals which the plant can use. If you can properly balance the PH of the well water and have it work for you then that's your best bet as it is always there and it's properties remain pretty much unchanged. Rain water contains a lot of nitrogen (that's why trees look so green after it rains) but it's not always available and who knows what other contaminates it picks up on the way down? I'd only fliter water that comes from a source that contains things you don't wish to have (chlorine, floride, etc etc) in your plant's water. Well water is usually free from such things as it is not 'processed' like most water 'systems' are.
8.0?..... Yikes! :icon_confused: Funny, though... I had to use snow a couple weeks ago, and I tested it; it was 6.0....I'm still using it .....and gathering more everyday:love4: .....but, yeah, it picks stuff up from the air as it comes down....I wonder what made it so alkaline?:qbluewacko: ......hmmmmm......
ph rain water :sign13: well just reading your post on rain water and you made me panick as i use rain water when im vegging you say your rain water ph is 8 well i just did another test and mine is 6.1 so im still okay maybe your tester is still on the blinck
It's possible, but I'm pretty sure that's right though. or at least close. I used the calibration solution to reset it at 7.0. I know my well water is 7.4, and once I set the 7.0 it went right to 7.4 in the well water. The nutes I use have PH buffers in it and once mixed the ph went to 5.8. So even if it's a little off it still shows that my captured rain water has a higher ph than my well. Just to be sure though I ordered a new pack of calibration solutions that should get here soon, so I'll doublecheck all of it. The only thing I can think of is that the water I collected came from my roof, so maybe running over the shingles has an effect on it. I tested a different rain source and came up with 7.6. Either way, I'm just gonna go back to just using the well water right out of the faucet. It's the easiest and has worked well for me so far.
I agree rain water collected off of the average Tar shingle roof is water that has passed over tar and grit shingles that oil tar based product will screw your PH up big time..I always used well water but I warn you Big plants can handle cold water right out of the ground but well water straight out of the ground my well is 145 feet deep and is around 42 degrees and can stunt new sprouts... always let the water get up to room temp when they are young... Good luck with your grow
use a Brita filtering jug,, my tap water goes in 7.8 abd comes out 4.6 I add 1/2 filtered water and 1/2 tap water and get a ph of 6.7 for soil Very easy to adjust JUG cost 20 bucks the get a test kit, from a hydro store
Whats the deal with everyone having different Ph? Some are at 6.5-6.8 and some are way down to 5.8. The books and shit I read say to keep it at 6.6-6.7. So my question is why are people doing it differently? Forgive me I'm a little high right now. :jj:
"I see" said the blind man. that chart is great answers some things raises questions about other stuff. well guess ima go read some more
See I have to use RO water here. The damn city water is 750ppm out of the sink! If i try using it I get tons of lockout problems just because of there being an over abundance of minerals. With the RO I do have to supplement some things like Mg and Ca. However I don't mind because I know what i'm looking for and can control exactly whats in my water. Well guess not exactly for all I know there are a million virus particles floating in the water still that haven't been removed.
Water As long as the ppm is 0-100 and the ph is between 5.5 and 6.5, it shouldn't matter. Do not use rain water unless you know the runoff enviroment. I filter all water regardless where it comes from. Well water tends to be hard.
