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water Water

Wunder

Wunder

Ive been using tap water, not sure if its a hard or soft area, ill find out. Friend suggested i let the tap water stand in the watering can, so its room temperature, makes sense. Would heating it gently to 29C make better sense, especially in seedlings?

Rainwater, is it worth collecting or are the micro organisms too nasty?
I understand that different types of water have different make ups, so would distilled (pure water) make sense?

Also, I reckon im going to investigate pH, I believe that chillis prefer slightly acidic conditions around 6-7.
So ill check the pH of my tap water and rainwater. I could make some neutral water, mix some soil with it and find the pH of that solution.
I could then adjust the pH of the water to correct the pH of the soil.

Right, so, pH adjusted tap water, at room temp to 29C, watered from the bottom.
Getting closer to optimum....or no?

Discuss :shocked:
 
Never considered whether hard or soft water made a difference.... although now I gotta ask: Will it make too much of a difference using one or the other?
 
Rain water is best. Especially when there is a good thunderstorm going on. Reason being, or so i've heard, the lightning causes nitrogen in the atmosphere to dissolve in the water and nitrogen boosts plant growth.
 
Water is very important. Rainwater is usually better than tap. If the water is pretty pure (low ppm) you don't need to adjust pH. Check the pH again if you are adding nutrients and adjust AFTER.

Hard water can be bad. My water is very hard and it will raise the pH and cause nutrient deficiencies. Soft water is usually good if it is natural, but may have high sodium if it has been "softened".

If your tap water is very pure (low ppm) then it should be fine, rainwater is probably better for most, and people like me with little rain and very hard water do better with filtered.
 
I gathered a bucket of snow, gonna melt it down and try watering with that. Its a 2 gallon bucket packet full, not sure how much it is going to melt to though, may need to do it a couple times. If the plants like it, I may melt more and put it into milk gallons I am saving for my tomato hot houses when I plant outside and keep it in the extra fridge downstairs. 5 gallons would get me through about 6 weeks of seedling watering, I think.
 
I will let you in on a secret. Hippy uses bore water on his plants and they are the ducks nuts. :D He also uses worm jizz so you may want to invest in a worm farm.
 
Wunder said:
Why?
Click to expand...

They say rain water is best, snow is rain water frozen right? LOL Anyways, I am gonna try it on a few plants, I have TONS of them to play around with and see what works. I accelerated the melting with the microwave and gave the luke warm water to 6 plants, 2 Habanero, 1 Bhut, 2 Scorpions and 1 Medusa, if they are still alive tomorrow, it didnt hurt them. LOL
 
millworkman said:
HEy Nova, whats bore water?
Click to expand...

Just water from the ground that is pumped up through a spike. Generally found in areas with lots of sand. It contains lots of minerals and is known as hard water. Not recomended for drinking without treatment, a lot of golf courses and such use it here.
 
Our water straight out of the tap is very hard BUT that's what they get..maybe would be better with some other kind but peppers have been growing for centuries with whatever was available. Budget and my time say they get what's handy. They'll get rainwater by June ( I hope) but until then they have to rough it.
 
I, like Jackie do the same...they get tap water...I took my rain collectin system out because it was a PIA...it is a good idea but I didn't have the time nor energy to carry 5 gallon bucket after 5 gallon bucket to the plants and water them with it...I like taking my 150' of 5/8" garden hose and watering my plants....

if your grow operation is small and you only have a few plants, by all means use rain water, but growing 300+ plants and giving them a quart to half gallon at ech watering, and the lack of rain we have here in the summer, it was just not worth it...
 
Rainwater/snow is usually good but you should test the pH, especially if you live near factories and/or big cities where acid rain is frequent. Personally I use fairly hard well water(Before it hits the water softener) and rainwater in the summer when possible(I use a submersible pump hooked up to several garden hoses)
 
IMO nothing beats rainwater when it comes from clean air. And like millworkman said thunderstorm rain makes everything go off.
 
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