Buying water from a store is not only fiscially stupid, but it's ecologically stupid, too. If using water from your tap, you're most likely using local water, that will be able to go back into the system. Buying water adds to the problem of the 1st world shipping water away from poorer countries, to not be replaced. Countries are having to dig further and further down to reach their water tables becasuse of bottling water, sodas, etc. The hoover dam is drying up because of all the water being piped away to Vegas, et al. This water does not return back to it's original water reservoir. Yes, the world is mostly water, but this is fresh water we're talking about. If we have to result to relying on ocean water to survive, then the problem becomes how to purify the water. And once it's purified, you can bet the capitalist companies that had purified it will demand a pretty penny for their new 'commodity'. More will wither because they will not be able to afford fresh water... The UN warns that if there is no change, there will be no drinkable water left in the Gaza Strip by 2016 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1a3tjqQiBI
i hope for your sake they deliver, lol! as for the OP trolling, if he is then well played sir, now go back to some other forums. but if he isnt then im just interested to see what happens, for science! its his plant he can do what he wants with it, but its kinda frustrating when he asks for advice but takes none. if you don't want peoples opinion you shouldn't ask for it.
Re: receipts - yes, please. I'm just wondering WHY tap water is so bad for your (anyone's) plants. Please and thank you in advance. J
I use tap and r/o water because i also do hydro, however, I pay $0.33 a gallon for the water so 20 gallons no big deal.
Look I'm just coming off of personal experience but my first ever fish tank i made the mistake of using tap water, put fish in and within minutes they were floating belly up. How good can that water be for my plants if it kills fish like that? Yes everybody's water is way different, I'm just coming from personal experience. In my situation it is better for me to buy distilled water. My r/o filter also takes a while to filter 6 gallons so I'm switching between ph'd distilled water and r/o water.
The fish probably died from chlorine in your town/city water. Fwiw, chlorine will has off if allowed to set out overnight. It's what I always did with my own (many) fish tanks when I was younger. I kept both saltwater and fresh and never bought water. Same deal for plants. Just let your water sit out overnight and the chlorine in the water will turn into a gas and escape into the air. It's always worth a call to your local water district though, to make sure that they use chlorine and not chloramine, which is a slightly different method to allow it to gas off. You can save yourself some money, weary arms and aggravation... J
So what's the method to gas off chloramine? http://forum.grasscity.com/index.php?/topic/1357118-Scotty%27s-first-grow
I don't need to do this myself because I use artesian well water so hopefully others will chime in but I believe simply adding a small amount of organic matter to your water, such as worm castings or compost, and I've also heard Vitamin C tablets will work. Let this sit for 24 hours and the Chloramine will change to Chlorine at which point it will gas off. J
IF you were on a municipal water system that was treated with chloramine, would you actually go through this process, or just use that water straight from the tap? Seems to me these reactions will happen as soon as the water hits the organic matter in the soil...
Since this conversation has actually shifted in the direction of intelligence, I'll say this... I remember a couple years ago when i FIRST started thinking about organic growing. I remember hearing about Chlorine and Chloramine, and thinking "Well shit. How can I ever use tap water if it has stuff in it that will kill my microbes?" I posted about it. Long story short, most people said not to even worry about it. If the organic medium has been prepared and kept up properly, the microherd should be more than dense and resilient enough to withstand it. Being the paranoid person I am, that answer wasnt good enough for me. Did my own research, and found that Chloramine will eventually gas off as well, it just takes much longer. So I started filling buckets with tap water about 2 or 3 days before I would need it, and by the time I needed it, I felt pretty comfortable using it. Just my additional $.02.
Good to know and makes perfect sense. I don't plan on moving to a town where I need to do this though. I honestly hope I never gave to move again. I really like where I live (most months) plus moving just plain ol sucks. I'd probably just let a large reservoir sit out and use that. J
Ralph... WHAT are you doing, man?!?!?!? I mean, REALLY? That is THE tiniest flowering plant I've ever seen (kinda' cool though!). What are you trying to accomplish by growing plants that small? All of your time and effort is going to realize next to ZERO smoke when it's all said and done, so what's the point?