PPM and pH nonsense?

[jujment699]

This is the city report on my ppm (my meter is currently on its way so im not sure the total)
Calcium(Ca): 30.0 ppm
Magnesium(Mg): 17.0 ppm
Sodium(Na): 5.0 ppm
Sulfate(SO4): 12.0 ppm
Bicarbonate(HCO3): 252.0 ppm
PH: 7.9 PH

I noticed it is lacking some minerals on there (don't know if bicarbonates mean all the other minerals) But anyway my ppm is at least 300 according to this possibly higher.

I've posted on other forums and nobody seems to have any answers i've also googled for days @_@
So if my ppm is three hundred obviously i need to only add 500-700 nute solution, and i do not need to add any cal mag... thats a decent amount right? Im told 50 calmag ppm or higher is bad...

My plants experienced extreme lockouts and all are currently in the process of dying due to hard water and PH problems... So since my ppms are up there is it better to just adjust accordingly or is it too harmful? Like can i just instead of watering at 300 ppms and feeding at 1000 ppms (including water) cant i just add a little nutes to my water every time? like water at 500 ppms every time and skip actual feedings? or will this cause a lock out?

In this case i need a lower ppm so would you reccommend a floramicro/IONIC hardwater solution? or would you do reverse osmosis? or do you think that my water is fine and i should just buy gals of PH down since my ph is so high? Like i feel like 300 ppms isn't even that high yet my plants are going berserk. But i don't understand the buildup of the ppms... like if i have 30 calcium and 17 magnesium in every watering thats a perfect dose i figure? but its all that other junk that builds up? The only way i can get rid of those build ups is by using clean plain 100% pure water between feedings right? which points to the floramicro/IONIC or reverse osmosis... yet i don't want to waste hundreds on nutes and hundreds on a RO system if i don't have to.

The reason i can't answer this question myself is because (obviously) my plants are dying from having 8+ ph and i didnt' even realize. Now the high ph i've done a flush do bring it down to 6.5 (and it is now successfully 6.5) but am i really flushing? if my tap water ppm is high its not really a flush is it? its just a bunch of loaded 6.5 ph water. Which brings me back to the question about feeding every watering at like 500 ppms instead of alternate feeding...

Anyways i know its a lot of questions i hope someone can answer.

Note: Please do not link me to ph guides and ppm guides i have read so many of them and none of them actually answer my question. i understand how it works i just need someone with experience to tell me what situation they think is best.

here is what my water has done to my plants:

 

[budstud]

Mn deficit on the ladies equals stunted growth. Looks like you'll need to purchase RO water if you continue because carbonates and bicarbonates have ruined your yield. Might I make a suggestion? My wife has special needs, so when it comes to water I purchased a "zero water" at Walmart ... it takes all the ppms out and lasts about 6 months on one filter. This would be a rather inexpensive way to remove the ppms. Container holds about one half gallon.

During the course of your grow, did you monitor ph run-off?

Also, when you use a fertilizer that formulated with more anions (carbonates/bicarbonates) than cations it will raise the ph of your growing medium. Dark cycles raise the ph also while the light cycle lowers the ph.

 

[jujment699]

Mn deficit on the ladies equals stunted growth. Looks like you'll need to purchase RO water if you continue because carbonates and bicarbonates have ruined your yield. Might I make a suggestion? My wife has special needs, so when it comes to water I purchased a "zero water" at Walmart ... it takes all the ppms out and lasts about 6 months on one filter. This would be a rather inexpensive way to remove the ppms. Container holds about one half gallon.

During the course of your grow, did you monitor ph run-off?

Also, when you use a fertilizer that formulated with more anions (carbonates/bicarbonates) than cations it will raise the ph of your growing medium. Dark cycles raise the ph also while the light cycle lowers the ph.

Thanks for your reply. I did test my ph during the grow, unfortunately my ph meter was almost 2 points off and so i was thinking everything was okay, in reality it wasn't.

I've checked out those zero water gallons. It looks like on their charts with the hardness of my water each filter would las about 8-15 gallons. Thats 2 to 3 waterings, which means if i buy replacement filters it about 10 bucks per watering which doesn't fit into my budget, that actually will rack up quite the bill for me.

My goal here is to figure out the best possible solution. I understand what ruined my plants, thats why i have this post. What i want to know is, most people do the water, water, feed schedule. So if you're watering at nearly 0 ppms (with maybe some cal mag) and feeding at 1000 ppms, why can't i just divide 1000 ppms by 3, and instead of water, water, feed can't i just feed, feed, feed at like 333 ppms each time?

Seriously though how does it make a difference? As long as my PH is 6.5 i can just use my tap water with little to no nutrients. I already have 65 calmag ppms in my water, all the other stuff is just bonus (besides contaminants)

My plants experienced extreme lockouts and all are currently in the process of dying due to hard water and PH problems... So since my ppms are up there is it better to just adjust accordingly or is it too harmful? Like can i just instead of watering at 300 ppms and feeding at 1000 ppms (including water) cant i just add a little nutes to my water every time? like water at 500 ppms every time and skip actual feedings? or will this cause a lock out?

The reason i can't answer this question myself is because (obviously) my plants are dying from having 8+ ph and i didnt' even realize. Now the high ph i've done a flush do bring it down to 6.5 (and it is now successfully 6.5) but am i really flushing? if my tap water ppm is high its not really a flush is it? its just a bunch of loaded 6.5 ph water. Which brings me back to the question about feeding every watering at like 500 ppms instead of alternate feeding...

I feel like this is a pretty good solution so long as I:
- Flush every 3ish waterings
- Keep my ph 6.5 religiously
- Add at least some nutes from my bloom.

But as you can see by the pictures obviously my logic doesn't work, thats why i'm asking. I just know that hard tap water can't be that devastating for plants as long as you PH it correctly. Hope someone can clear this up. Thanks.

 

[budstud]

Man, your right, that water to have is terrible. As far as "will it work," I'd say have at, sounds like a plan.

 

[Fuzzy Duck]

My own tap water comes out at PH 6.5 & PPM 500 most of the time in less in periods of drought the PPM level suggest hard water pretty much get away with it with soil grows.

How ever you might want to switch to a hard water brand of nutrients.


I don't think it is the water PH being the problem tho as it does change through out the world and from one place to another... Mj been growing in dirt for a very long time even with out controlled environments so that suggest some else is at play !


It might be your feeding regime... little 'n' often feeding, plants are going to use what nutrients it needs the rest of it sits in the soil & in fact can build up over time causing a PH imbalance in the growing medium turning acidic in nature which may well create a lock out of some of the macro nutrients to which you are vastly suffering with a P-phosphorus & K-potassium def by the looks of things.


I would more likely question the PH value of your growing medium at present than blame the water used !



If PH of water was so important why i have not seen any thing mentioned in any gardening book or horticultural/agriculture studys... do we water house plants with PH corrected water, do farmers irrigate their fields with PH water, do people who grow veg in allotments etc PH correct water ?????????

Na it is about the PH of the soil & then it gets technical on nutrient regime... depending on a soil analysis from a professional company that is hard core agric/hortic stuff tho...