rain water of distilled water?

[Chimeng]

i need advice, distilled water or rain water are best for watering?

the rain water has pH 4.14

[cantharis]

You are lucky to have the choice. In my area it never rains in the growing season, and my girls need 6 litres of water a day each so TAP water is my only option. Good luck with what you decide.

[coffeeandherpes]

Soil or hydro?

Hydro you shoot for a little lower pH than you would like for soil. Either way you'd need to boost the pH if you were going to use your rain water.

[Chimeng]

Originally Posted by coffeeandherpes

Soil or hydro?

Hydro you shoot for a little lower pH than you would like for soil. Either way you'd need to boost the pH if you were going to use your rain water.

soil

but im going to try to mix watering schedule with different kind of water to see what it looks like cause so far my rain water wasnt bad for germinating and seedlings, most of my seeds popped up after germinating for 2-3 days using rain water & inorganic soil

[toastybiz]

Distilled is going to be cleaner, most likely. Rain filters out the atmosphere, so in many places it comes down laden with pollutants. Low pH in rainwater? No surprise, that's what "acid rain" is.

But why pay for distilled when in most places you are fine with tap water if you filter it. Just be sure to let it sit open for 24 hours to ensure the chlorine has evaporated (most filters are supposed to remove chlorine but letting it sit out can't hurt).

[The Grim Reefer]

rain water with a ph of 4.14 ? thats quite low for rain mate, usually around the 5.4-6.0 mark. I'd consider that to be quite acidic, so i'd go for distilled.

[Chimeng]

i thought rain water is better than anything else because it comes from natural source. i've been watering my plant with rain water for about month & a half now, the leaves seems a bit smaller than what i expect, the first sheet is 6 cm long for 7 sheet of leaves, is it normal?
strain is northern lights

and what's the pH for distilled water?

and thanks again for the advice i wont bother using my rain water anymore

[zpyro]

Ideally, distilled water has a pH of 7.0, which is neutral. Soil needs 6.3-6.8, hydro even more acidic. I wouldn't even THINK of using rainwater from where I live, we have the worst air of the whole damn state and I already breathe enough of the shit in. Rain water may be natural, but the layers of smog and other pollution takes that clean, natural water and dirties it up. You can see this by the very low, acidic pH of the rainwater. As I said, pure water is 7.0, so if yours is 4.1, that means there's quite a bit of pollution in that water. I use RO/DI water when I can (buying a system soon), otherwise I use tap water. I leave the tap water to sit out awhile (supposedly allows the chlorine to evaporate off), then adjust the pH because it's like 7.2+

[zpyro]

Actually it seems I was wrong about distilled...
http://www.kangenwaterreport.com/ph-of-distilled-water/
"
What is the pH of the notoriously clean, distilled water? If you know anything about distillers, or own one (like I do), then read on.
Since the dawn of time there has been distillation in nature and it continues each and every day. The term we know it by is the Hydrologic Cycle. The Hydrologic Cycle (also called the water cycle) is the process that moves water around the earth. The cycle starts with the sun heating water in our rivers, lakes and oceans and turning it into water vapor which rises into the air (called evaporation). When water vapor cools it forms clouds (condensation) which become heavy with water and rains back to earth (precipitation). Nature knows best and nature supplies distilled water in the form of rain. However, rain water is no longer pure due to atmospheric pollution. Have you ever seen the color of rain water that has been collected in a bucket? The yellow tint it has is due to the slightly acidic pH level, which is usually around 5.6, because carbon dioxide and water in the air react together to form carbonic acid, a weak acid. The extra acidity in rain comes from the reaction of air pollutants; primarily sulfur oxides and nitrogen oxides, with water in the air to form strong acids (like sulfuric and nitric acid). The main sources of these pollutants are vehicles and industrial and power-generating plants.
With that being said, people have turned to in-home distillers to duplicate the process. Distilled water is water that has been boiled in an apparatus called a “still” and then recondensed in a cooling unit (”condenser”) to return the water to the liquid state. Some of the higher-end models use a charcoal filter to remove any remaining gases. The boiling action kills bacteria and other micro-organisms, and contaminants are left behind in the boiling chamber. The effectiveness of distillation is over 99+% (99.99% removal has been achieved even on ocean water–over 35,000 P.P.M).
Now with that explanation understood, distilled water will test out in a range of pH 5.5-5.8. The reason is that distilled water dissolves carbon dioxide from the air. It dissolves carbon dioxide until it is in dynamic equilibrium with the atmosphere. That means that the amount being dissolved balances the amount coming out of solution. The total amount in the water is determined by the concentration in the atmosphere. The dissolved carbon dioxide reacts with the water and finally forms carbonic acid."

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_th...istilled_water
Pure water has pH 7, so still, freshly distilled water should have a pH of 7.0. However, interaction with the atmosphere allows carbon dioxide to dissolve into it, forming carbonic acid. As a result, agitating the water or allowing it to sit for a while will leave you with an aqueous solution that drifts down in pH. Because there are no natural buffers in distilled water, the pH can go down as low as 5.0. "

See what a google search can do?

[The Grim Reefer]

how far along in growth are u toasty, also i didnt say not to use rainwater, just that if your rain water is in the 4's youve a pollution problem, then not to use it. But to be honest, there arent many places anymore, where theres a modern population, and, good rain water, and even most of these places, have been f***ed up, due to it being carried over on winds etc. Distilled or RO is the ebst options if available, if not, go with what u can, your plants will let you know if it aint good enough

[ocitown]

I would think rain water would be the very best IF you didnt use the first few hrs of it.

After a few hrs wouldnt all the crap drop out leaving fresh 7.0 rain?

Or is the pollution contaminating the rain in the whole cloud?

[The Grim Reefer]

u'll never get 7.0 rain he he, max youd ever find it is around the 6's. Polluted rain area's are generally polluted all the time, while it may change from season to season, it wont change hour to hour

[Chimeng]

last time i've been watering my plant for over month with rainwater and the result was like a piece of plastic toys, leaves looks too stiff

and then yesterday i've water my plant with distilled water and the result is fantastic, the leaves now has become elastic than before

but do i still have to lower the pH from my distilled water to 6.3 - 6.5? or can i use this regularly without lowering the pH?

cause atm i dont have pH tester yet but will do next time when i have money

[The Grim Reefer]

u still must ph correct your feed.