I just started using purified water. My plants are about week 3 into flowering. I'm using one of those PUR pitchers that has the filter in it so you just fill it up and it does the rest. Would this be just as good as using distilled water? How much does using clean water instead of tap water really factor into the taste and health of the buds? I live at the coast if that makes a difference. Also, does it matter if you use cold water on them? I drink the water from my PUR pitcher too so it usually stays in the fridge. But I could leave it out if cold water is going to hurt my plants. Thanks.
I think that the water would be just as good since its going through the PUR water filter which is suppose to remove most impurities. I attached a PUR water filter comparison which tells you all of the things that the filter will get rid off. You do have to remember that you must replace your filter at appropriate times because it will not work properly. Just for your info I think that distilled water has no impurities whatsover unlike the PUR water filter which may have some but none that would be harmful to your babies. You should also make sure that you check the PH of your PUR filtered water that you are using to make sure it is at what is suppose to be. I would not feed your plants cold fridge water because it might slightly shock your plants and throw off the constant temperature that they are use to...I would do my best to give them room temperature water
I agree with not giving them fridge-cold water, and you should definitely check the pH before feeding as tap water usually has a high pH.
Exactly what kind of PH meter should I be using? What kind of stores should I look at? Pool stores? Hardware? what?
I would say you might be able to find one @ a gardening store or maybe home depot the gardening section (this would be harder especially since we are moving into the fall) I purchased one on eBay and it was a very basic one and did its job...ive attached a picture of the one i got...if you have money to spend you can go for a higher end one, you can just google PH meters
"PUR" water or any kind of bottled drinking water is not as good as distilled water, but usually (but not always) better than tap water. distilled water is 0ppm. NOTE: all nutrients that are meant to be mixed with water are calibrated to added to 0ppm water, unless they are labled as "hard water nutrients" Also, you might wanna invest in an RO filter, which you can get on ebay for about $60-$100, (you wanna get a 4-6 stage one) the more stages the better. Do not give the plants Fridge cold water... it won't kill them, but it will shock them and slow the growth rate. the type of ph meter that Sir_Buddington pictured, works fine for monitoring the soil itself, but I don't think it will be that acurate, or work at all, for monitoring the nutrient/water solution itself. (not sure though..as i've never used that type) you might wanna invest in a TDS meter too, so you can accurately detect the ppm (or EC, same thing, differnt scale) of the nutrient solution and run off. depending on how much $$$ you can spend, you can get nice combo meters that will tell you PH, PPM/EC, Temp all in one.
I read somewhere that distilled water is probabily the best to use. Since it's dirt cheap, why not use it?
this grow I have only been using pure RO water (with and without nutes). I don't even ph the RO, I just give it to them straight and they love it. When I feed, I PH the nutes (always too acidic, so I add a bit of PH up). I have been having great results like this, on my 2nd grow. I hardly have to check ph, maybe it's good soil? (maui gold). The way I see it is that rain is essentially distilled water right? A good RO system can be had on ebay for about 100-120, and are easy to install, and great to have-drinking water. If you have a large grow, and need lots of RO, you may need to invest more on a bigger system, as they can be slow to work.