Hi all, I have a few questions, first you should know a little about my set up. 2x 3.5G Bubble Boy Hydro System Reverse Osmosis Filter for Water General Hydroponics FloraSeries First: I have tested my water (RO) with my new meters and it shows I am running about a 6.2 pH which matches what I was getting with my test kit. Also, the TDS meter is reading 22PPM. I have heard not to test in straight RO water, is this a fact? Second: I am going off of this feeding chart on GH's website http://generalhydroponics.com/site/gh/docs/feeding_sched/GH-FloraSeries-REC-Charts.pdf My plants are three and a half weeks from the day I first placed them in a paper towel, moved into the system a week and a half ago so I consider this the second week right? It says to keep the PPM between 1000-1200. Does this amount of PPM stay the same regardless of the fact I am using extremely low PPM reverse osmosis water instead of tap water for the base of my solution? PS- The softened water out of my well runs about 440PPM Thanks ahead of time for anyone who can shed some light on this or has experienced a similar situation! Happy Toking
RO water doesn't really have a PH. You'll find that if you put just a single drop into a 5 gallon bucket of RO water, it'll change the PH greatly. This is because RO water lacks buffers. Things in tap water, or nutrient feed, are PH buffers. Without PH buffers, the PH really isn't very stable. You need to start with a much lower ppm. Something like 200-500 for the first week or two, then you can start increasing accordingly. I'd definitely suggest 1k ppm for mature plants. That kind of potency can really affect your plants negatively that early on. I personally use EC as a measurement and I have no issues with my plants being hungry or overfed at 1.0-1.4 EC. In that range seems to be good for plants that are at least almost a foot tall. Pushing high ppms doesn't really mean that your plants will grow faster or better. It's the same as feeding humans, EAT RAW!, where you can't just eat more to grow faster. Instead, you'll likely get sick.
Your softened water out of the well is terrible, lol. Keep it away from the plant it won't be good for them.
Thanks for the info.. So does this somehow put me at a disadvantage for using RO water? Should I still strive to keep PH at 5.5-5.8 like I have been? Do the nutes add enough "buffer" to help keep the pH stable? Thanks!