So, new place, new water- I would LOVE to get away from having to use an RO system as it wastes so much water, takes time, space, energy blah blah. So, in my last place the issue was my sodium levels in my well water being at 54 mg/l!! Others were fairly high across the board as well.... so, what is an acceptable level of minerals, salts etc in well water for organics in anyones experience? Here are most of my levels- Sodium-6.2 mg/l hardness (EDTA)- 197 mg/l iron-.10 mg//l manganese-.02 mg/l copper-.04 mg/l ph-7.6 Any advice on these levels and how they would pertain to cannabis health would be very appreciated. An ro will be used if necessary, but it is just so wasteful if its not really really needed. Thanks!
Except for the obvious ph, the rest of the levels are within limits. I'd say adjust the ph and skip the ro system.
That would be greeeat, thanks for the response. Ill feel super confident if a few more people chime in as well! Good news!
Adjusting water ph in organic soil? If I read correctly in other topics, ph worries should be non-existent because the ewc should help regulate it.
I've used water with a pH of 8.2 with no issues. if you use a soil with quality humus you need not worry so much about pH. if you still worry about pH then mix in a couple of cups of humus in 5 gallons of water and water your plants.
ph isnt so much my concern here, AS MUCH as the minerals and salts...... it is important, but I dont want it to distract away from my inquiry about my numbers and how they would impact an organic living soil if at all.
Allow me, if you will, to help you with this thought process. No offense to you intended but as people come and go in The City the subject comes and goes. It's worth highlighting the following for all budding soil scientists. It is often misrepresented that "pH is not of concern in organics... or ... pH doesn't matter in organics... or ... " any of the variations thereof on this subject. Let me be clear, pH matters always regardless of growing medium. A lot of growers, myself specifically, have struggled with "pH issues" growing organically. So in the totality of the realm of horitculture, agriculture, cannabis growing, gardening, etc., pH does in fact matter and the organic grower wants to arm herself with some basic soil chemistry such that she'll get to the point on her growing continum where she won't be as concerned about pH and she'll be ever vigilant to guard against pH flucuation by always ensuring plenty of SOM in her soil mix. As RedClay rightly pointed out, humus, humic type substances, soil organic matter (SOM), etc., greatly work to keep pH balanced in the soil ALL other "things" being equal. There are plenty of materials and ammendments that can be added to our soil mix that can negatively impact a balanced soil pH. Ammendments typically are neutral to acid. Very few are base but there are some. Adding hard water, which is adding a large base buffer can certainly, over time, increase the soil's alkalinity. At the end of discussion it is all about how many cations, how many anions, and how those balance out, and interact with one another. Hard water is loaded with cations and hard water 100 ppm> has the potential to alter an otherwise balanced growing medium. pH matters in organic horticulture, it always has, and it always will. The saving grace in organic gardening is humus, humic type substances, and soil organic matter (SOM) which will help to keep the pH balanced. Even bacterial slime, the byproduct of that which we organphiles covet in our growing medium, is acidic. Soils will always tend to be on the acidic side of the scale IMO, unless influenced by a large buffer pool of cations from the alkaline nature of certain materials added. Yeh. pH matters. Don't anyone bet their organic cannabis garden's future that pH does NOT matter. It always will matter and the gardener should be ever vigilant to manage it properly. It's not majik. It's science. ... word...
Another often passionately debated topic. I am a pure RO water or distilled water believer and supporter. I supply 78+ minerals in my soil mix by the different ammendments I use. But, you work with what you have. Some folks don't believe in RO'ing 55 gals of water due to waste, some folks have issues with lesser amounts. In that spirit it is personal choice. But unless you get a quality water test and are comfortable with what the test results show it's a roll of the dice. RO or distilled removes that guess work. While on the subject, the grow supply shop I frequented recently offered free RO water to their patorns. You may check around your area if you have grow supply shops and see if they offer the same. That's an awesome service and well worth becoming a patron for. If you are a small footprint grower and only irrigating a few containers 1 gal distilled water works great. A pain in the ass to deal with IMO but again, water quality is important. If your water is supplied by a municipality or community they have to provide an annual water quality assessment to the public. Go online or call them for a copy. I've found that if you call the municipal water supply provider to make arrangements they will generally test your water for those on well water and provide a quantitative analysis, perhaps for a fee, perhaps for free. Depends on how you ask. Water quality is important to both plants and people and it's very worthwhile to use the absolute best quality water you can. For some folks that''s straight out of the ground, others get it piped to the house, the rest of use RO or distilled. As for the additional minerals along the entire atomic table that might come from a given water source, use quality ammendments, rock dusts, mineral dusts, compost, humus/humic substances, and you'll be good. No worries.
Well the water quality test results I posted are from a professional home inspector that sends it off to the state lab. I am not a small print grower anymore and actually am at this dillemma because I need water, and a lot, often in order to keep up with my growing patient count. This water is from a well... but the numbers are in my first post. Thanks again
veener- I saw your post early this morning and just had to dig out my well water analysis. Keep in mind that we live in different areas of the country and testing of some dissolved minerals will differ accordingly. Calcium- 20.5 mg/L Iron- <0.05 mg/L Magnesium- .7 mg/L Potassium- .7 mg/L Sodium- 103 mg/L Hardness (CaCO3)- 54 mg/L Chloride- <10 mg/L (report limit) Flouride- .3 mg/L Sulfate- 20 mg/L pH- 8.12 TDS- 320 As you can see, not the best water out there, but not the worst. Yours looks better. So here's the deal. I used to RO filter & pH balance my water. I stopped doing it about a year ago. Three grows since then. I don't regret going straight well water one bit. Way less hassle, less monies spent, no more WASTED water. One comment. As several previous posters have pointed out, good humic content is the key to a well balanced soil pH. Make sure it's quality and your ratios are accurate (25-33%). I recycle/reamend my soil. IMO, you'll be just fine using your water as is. Peas. wak
Couple doses of ful-power humic (fulvic) acid should help that along id imagine? Awesome response waktoo- although some of my levels arrre twice as much as yours. But it reassures me that much more, regardless!
I know nothing about growing pot, but I've been vegetable gardening for the past half century and have picked up a few things. Minerals in water, generally, are good for us and good for plants. PH in the soil can be easily adjusted either way from 7.0; farmers do this all the time. Excessive sodium is not good, but the number you posted doesn't mean anything to me so I don't know if it matters or not. If you can grow tomatoes, peppers, squash, etc. etc. with your water, then it sure as hell isn't going to hurt a weed. I had a new well drilled in '05 and it had a lot of iron. If I drew a glass of water, which was crystal clear, and let it sit on the counter for 20-30 minutes it would turn orange as the iron oxidized. It was perfectly healthy to drink, but was a PITA otherwise. So I had a water softener installed which was specifically designed to also remove iron. It works great, haven't touched it since it was put in seven years ago. But except for the annoying iron, I wouldn't have bothered having a softener. There is some residual sodium in my water as part of the softening process, but you can't taste it. And it doesn't bother my vegetable garden at all. For more on all this, check the OP, and my comments, in this thread: http://forum.grasscity.com/indoor-g...re-perfect-plants-doing-everything-wrong.html