water WATER options

NorthernJeff · May 9, 2017

Hello forum,

Quick question:

Is there a list of the various types of water to use to satisfy the thirst of our super hot peppers... made in order of highest preference to lowest?

I'm currently using RO (reverse osmosis), as was recommended to me by the local hydroponics store.

I don't use a hydroponic setup though. My plants are in soil, and I only water enough to moisten the soil, so as not leach the nutrients out of the container.

Advice or thoughts welcomed... thanks!

solid7 · May 9, 2017

RO is always going to be the preferred, and distilled works. Anything else is "tainted" from a hydro perspective. After all, the goal of hydro is to give you complete control over the process. The minute you introduce a variable, you lose a bit of that control. Big problems can happen with small deviations.

hogleg · May 9, 2017

+1 RO, but I would avoid distilled.

solid7 · May 9, 2017

hogleg said:
+1 RO, but I would avoid distilled.

Distilled is only problematic before you adjust the PH. If you add a PH down before testing, it will have enough conductivity to register a proper reading. If you try to take a bona fide reading right out of the bottle, the low ionic water has higher resistance, and causes erratic readings. Not so when you adjust and buffer, though. However, in principle, I do agree that RO is the choice. (just harder to come by, if you don't have your own system)

The_NorthEast_ChileMan · May 9, 2017

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How does (Or doesn't?) deionized water fit into this?

alkhall · May 9, 2017

Sort of off-topic; is RO, distilled, De-ionized water considered Organic?

moruga welder · May 9, 2017

mine love RAIN WATER , :party:

The_NorthEast_ChileMan · May 9, 2017

What he said!

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alkhall · May 9, 2017

moruga welder said:
mine love RAIN WATER ,

As do mine, and it is definitely Organic.

solid7 · May 9, 2017

The_NorthEast_ChileMan said:
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How does (Or doesn't?) deionized water fit into this?

It's basically a cleaner version of distilled water. Same problems. Less ions = more difficulty getting an accurate PH reading. But again, nute up, and test it. Should be no problem. Only if you're trying to establish a PH reading of distilled/de-ionized water, on its own. Some people don't feel confident that the water isn't somehow tainted by the plastic container, and find the distilled/deionized oddity the hard way. But it's used in labs all of the time, and is always assumed to be neutral when used from an unopened container.

solid7 · May 9, 2017

alkhall said:
As do mine, and it is definitely Organic.

I thought it was some kind of troll when you asked...

So you have "organic" water. But how do you now grow hydroponically, and call it organic? I've never seen anyone run a hydro setup with organic nutrients, that didn't end up with a tub of sludge.

I still think it's a troll.

alkhall · May 9, 2017

solid7 said:
I thought it was some kind of troll when you asked...

So you have "organic" water. But how do you now grow hydroponically, and call it organic? I've never seen anyone run a hydro setup with organic nutrients, that didn't end up with a tub of sludge.

I still think it's a troll.

Think what you will.

I grow outside, fresh air and sunshine. I only water (city water) when the rainfall is not adequate.

And I am not trying to be a snob, I just prefer the organic way.

The question about the water was legitimate, if you do not know, you could simply ignore the question.

solid7 · May 9, 2017

alkhall said:
Think what you will.

I grow outside, fresh air and sunshine. I only water (city water) when the rainfall is not adequate.

And I am not trying to be a snob, I just prefer the organic way.

The question about the water was legitimate, if you do not know, you could simply ignore the question.

Sorry, I really don't know what to think anymore. As the question was legitimate, so was the answer. It seems that the context was hydroponic growing. If that doesn't apply, ok...

I didn't judge you, I grow organically, also. (with exceptions)

Slug · May 9, 2017

moruga welder said:
mine love RAIN WATER ,

So do mine. Except for the two straight weeks of it they got drowned with recently...which caused half of them to wilt and crap leaves everywhere. Now I've got a bunch of naked but otherwise perfectly healthy plants and I'm like "harden the hell up, you pansies...some plants LIVE in water".

nzchili · May 10, 2017

alkhall said:
Sort of off-topic; is RO, distilled, De-ionized water considered Organic?

No water is not organic, its not made from plant / animal matter / living matter.

nzchili · May 10, 2017

alkhall said:
As do mine, and it is definitely Organic.

No rain water is not organic. No water is organic. Water by definition is the exact opposite of something that is organic.

Define: "Organic" relating to or derived from living matter.

Powelly · May 10, 2017

Original poster said that they do not have a hydroponic setup but plant in soil
General theme from people is that any old water will do

Powelly · May 10, 2017

"Chlorine in Plant Nutrition

Experiments with plants in nutrient solutions establish . chlorine as a micronutrient essential to plant growth"

Link - https://ucanr.edu/repositoryfiles/ca1009p10-64551.pdf

For those that aren't interested in reading the article, at least take a look at this short excerpt -

"A severe nutritional deficiency dis- ease occurred in tomato plants growing in experimental cultures after chlorine was removed from the nutrient solutions.

Although the major portion of subse- quent investigations with chlorine was with tomato, other species-particularly lettuce and cabbage-also have shown acute nutritional disturbances within a few weeks after transplanting seedlings to culture solutions lacking chlorine. Therefore, the studies of chlorine nutri- tion as revealed by the tomato plant are believed to have general implications for plant nutrition.

The nutritional disease in its severe state resulted in the yellowing of the leaves-chlorosis-and finally death- necrosis-of leaf tissue itself. Growth was exceedingly restricted and plants would not set fruit. Additions of chlo- rine as chloride to the culture solutions prevented the disease, and severely chlo- rine-deficient plants resumed growth after chlorine was supplied."

alkhall · May 10, 2017

nzchili said:
No rain water is not organic. No water is organic. Water by definition is the exact opposite of something that is organic.

Define: "Organic" relating to or derived from living matter.

True, perhaps 'natural'; as in not modified e.g. distilled, filtered, etc., would be a better term?

The_NorthEast_ChileMan · May 10, 2017

Slug said:
Now I've got a bunch of naked but otherwise perfectly healthy plants and I'm like "harden the hell up, you pansies...some plants LIVE in water".

Pepper plants are resilient! My first attempt at DWC had a plant shed it's leaves yet rebound to be one of my best plants in 2015.

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