Please post your experiences dealing with Hard Water

[Max Headroom]

i got pretty hard water, but generally i think it's quite usable (good quality). ph out of the tap is around 7,6-7,8.
i suspect though it might cause problems with strains that are a bit more fussy and difficult to grow.
since i haven't found 'my' strain yet, it's 2 new strains every grow for me, which makes things a bit more difficult.


additional info: i use 3 gal (11 l) pots with organic ferts (canna). strains will be mostly sat dom hybrids. first try with this water source was 1 indica strain (which did well) and 1 sativa strain (which did poorly). i water with lukewarm water from the tap. therefore some of it has been heated and been sitting in a boiler. don't know how and if this affects the hardness of the water.

please post any insight and experiences you might have in dealing with hard water. thanks

 

[Asslover]

Just how "hard" is your water? You didn't give an ec or ppm...
My tap water comes out @ around 350-380 ppm (500 scale) or .8 ec, ph of 8
Also, my city uses Chloramine (not chlorine). That said...I use nothing but my tap water and have never had any problems. Mind you, my water contains mostly Cal Carb and Mag Carb.
I grow in soil coco and Waterfarms and my "hard" water keeps cal/mag deficiencies away and ph is rock steady. Btw, I use GH Flora series or Maxi series.

 

[Asslover]

Wanted to mention that I DO NOT use the GH Hardwater micro, just the regular micro.

 

[TheCleanGame]

---Snip---

 

[bigshrimp]

This thread is kinda old, but has some excellent links in there for dealing with hard water.

https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=191399

What you want to pay attention to is the alkalinity of your water source, that is its capability of it to neutralize H+.

Water with high alkalinity, will be depositing carbonates in your soil over time. This will cause the Ph to rise over time. Especially if you are liming heavily.

So course of action for me was (in recycled soil)

- Little to no liming, Many organic amendments have high CCE (calcium carbonate equivalent)

-Collecting rain water - dehuey water - furnace water and mixing with tap

- cycling of soil, a portion of soil is put in the garden and replaced with a newly amended peat mixture.

- Ph adustment. adjust ph to mid sixes. It has been stated that citric acid makes carbonates more available to the plant. If that is true, then that would be less deposited in the media.

 

[bigshrimp]

All that shit cleangame says about rocks and all that is crap.

Your weed heats up and tastes bad because either you are nutrient plus or its not dried all the way.

All plants have calcium, if it comes from lime or calmag or bone meal its all the same. You aren't going to avoid smoking "rocks". Try and grow a plant without "rocks"!

I have high alkalinity high ph tap water, 300+ ppm CaCo3, I smoke my weed no flush, no cure, and its the best in my circles.

 

[HidingInTheHaze]

Cleangame is an idiot.

If we took what he said as truth nothing grown in soil period would be worth smoking, because well rocks.....

And nothing grown with most commerical fertilizer would be worth smoking either, because well rocks...

 

[TheCleanGame]

---Snip---

Gee... I'm opening up a commercial grow op based on how much better my cannabis is than anything I've found in Colorado so far. Laughing my ASS off at everyone who thought I posted shit info. LOL Better hope you copy/pasted my info somewhere because I'm removing it all. Hell, ya'll posted that you didn't want/believe what I post anyway. LOL

Suck it up, bitches!

 

[Blue Socks]

Clean Game did you used to post on here as "Crush"?

 

[bigshrimp]

My recycled soil is over a year in - with proper stewardship it will go indefinitely. Hard water or no.

With a basic understanding of soil science and some research hard water can easily be managed.

 

[Max Headroom]

thanks for the replies!

whatever the reality of the 'rock' issue may be - i vape 90% of the time so i don't think it'll have much impact.

It has been stated that citric acid makes carbonates more available to the plant. If that is true, then that would be less deposited in the media.

that's very interesting! my water seems to be around 300ppm
i've been using vinegar the last time and before that phosphoric acid.
that thread you linked looks promising!

 

[TheCleanGame]

---Snip---

 

[bigshrimp]

This was actually the link i meant to post - https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=169662

On alkalinity and ph in soil grows , the citric acid one isnt bad though =P

 

[TheCleanGame]

---Snip---

 

[PermaBuzz]

My well water is super hard alkaline 1000+ ppm with iron and hydrogen sulfide in it to boot. On some days, a 5 gal bucket filled with this water will look more like apple cider instead of water.

Anyways, one of the best runs I ever had was with this water. I did a rockwool NFT run back in the day with it and the plants loved it. I used good RO quality water to reup the res. as it evaporated but always used straight well water for the res. solution changeouts. To this day I still wonder how they did so good with that crap water but they did.

These days I use it more sparingly as I do worry about salt buildup in soil so its just 2-3 waterings with straight well water. It takes the place of calmag and dolomite very nicely.

About a year or so ago, I read about a new science study showing that the addition of hydrogen sulfide gas greatly speeded up plant growth. Maybe thats why the plants liked that well water so much.

 

[Max Headroom]

^^^
yikes, that water sounds disgusting!

one thing i'll change immediately as a result of this thread, is that i'll be using citric acid instead of vinnegar as ph-down.

also: am i correct in assuming that with my ~300ppm water it wouldn't be necessary to use epsom salts every now and then (as i have been doing)?

and another thing: any suggestions for components that the potting soil mix should or should NOT contain considering the hard water? (peat?)

 

[bigshrimp]

I'm hesitant to recommend anything without knowing whats in your water.

If it is single use media - you should be fine as long as you don't overlime.

 

[Asslover]

You won't need epsom.

 

[Granger2]

My tap:
Alkalinity 274 avg
Ca 67
Mg 14
Hardness 226 [lime]
pH 7.7-8.3
TDS 269

Using Earth Juice line in bloom. Without pHing, EJ nute mixes take that down into the 4's, so I have to take measures to manage that.

I'm in coco. Just mixed new coco with Met52, and will use if for about 3-4 crops. The last coco was used for 4 crops, and I had no problems with excessive Ca, or if I did, I couldn't tell by the health of the plants, yield, or bud/smoking quality.

My black cloth bags had what looked like lime on them which came off in the washer. It wasn't real heavy.

I do a lot of teas. I use my carbon filtered tap without diluting with RO because the pH goes thru the floor if I don't start with the high pH water. I usually feed heavily and follow it the next day with pH'd water. There I usually use 1/2 tap/RO ph'd with citric acid [EJ Down]. The citric acid converts some of the Ca, Mg, etc. to more plant available citrates. With organics, there are still nutes the next day in the medium, so the watering doesn't screw with the coco and it's nute bank, etc.

I do use Mg and other trace mins [EJ Microblast] till flush.

You can use high alkalinity tap with success with proper management. In coco pH does matter with organics. If you have a good middle of the road tap, you may not need to worry much about it, but with the kind of tap I have, I do. I know from finding out the hard way that it's best for me to have my nute mix pH in or near the 5.8-6.2 range most of the time. Good luck. -granger

 

[Max Headroom]

here is what i've found most helpful since this thread started:
bigshrimp's link led me to this post:
https://www.icmag.com/ic/showpost.php?p=3425601&postcount=4

which contains links to this information, which i think should be required reading for anyone into growing:

pH Management and Plant Nutrition
Bill Argo, Blackmore Co., Journal of the International Phalaenopsis Alliance

Part 1 Intro
http://www.staugorchidsociety.org/PDF/IPAPlantNutrition.pdf

Part 2 Water Quality
http://www.staugorchidsociety.org/PDF/IPAWaterQuality.pdf

Part 3 Fertilizers
http://www.staugorchidsociety.org/PDF/IPAFertilizers.pdf

Part 4 Substrates
http://www.staugorchidsociety.org/PDF/IPASubstrates.pdf

Part 5 Choosing the Best Fertilizers
http://www.staugorchidsociety.org/PDF/IPAFinal.pdf


(requoted for easier access)

there is some GREAT stuff in there, and while i still don't understand most of it, it certainly has brought my understanding of the subject up to the next step.

recommended!
thanks for the info!


meanwhile - as i was getting smarter, i also found out how fucking dumb i have been in the recent past, by buying two huge fucking bags of potting soil without checking the ph value. i have no idea why i did that. i shouldn't have.
anyway, so i check the label just now and it says the ph is 5,7!
so i got this soil, hard water at ~300 - what should i do?? i don't think i can return it to the store :-(

would mixing dolomite into the soil fix the ph but cause havoc with my hard water?

any strategies?