Want to use R/O water with Organic Mix?

[Asphalt Gardner]

I am looking for a product or ammendment to use for Micro Nutes when running R/O water....can anyone share their method of R/O watering. I use a variation of SubCools super soil..Thanks

 

[Seamaiden]

I don't bother with RO at this time for my organic soil girls. If I did, I'd dissolve dolomitic lime in it, which is putting back at least some of the very compounds I just removed via RO/DI. I don't know of anything else besides azomite that provides micronutrients, and I don't know whether or not that will dissolve in water as I've never tried to use it that way, I just mix it and top-dress with it occasionally.

 

[true grit]

I would supplement that with a either Age Old Kelp, or Bloom really light. Another option to consider would be an organic tea.

With RO i would most def use calplex as an addititive. All depends on how hot your sub soil is...

 

[Asphalt Gardner]

Thanks everyone for your answers SeaMaiden and True Grit.

SeaMaiden-What is Azomite?

True Grit-I do use dolomite lime in my mix as well as kelp meal and earthworm castings.

Do you guys PH water( before or after )? So if I understand right is that I can use RO water and not worry about a soluable additive..instead an ammendment? Thanks guys

 

[Seamaiden]

I don't remember how azomite is acquired, but it's in most versions of the Subcool soil recipe I've seen.

http://www.azomite.com/

With indoor soil girls, I don't currently bother pHing. But! Those are my mothers, and they look ROUGH, really shaggy and always have yellowing, I rarely mess around with removing dead leaves or anything like that except to keep them contained so they fit in their area. If I were flowering soil girls out, then yes, I would be paying attention to pH and logging that so I would know what parameters are at in case anything went wrong.

As for whether or not you can use the RO without a soluble additive... I don't feel comfortable offering an opinion on that because it would be just that--an opinion. I've never used RO on my soil girls, for a start, ya dig?

 

[Asphalt Gardner]

I feel you seamaiden but where I live the water comes out of the tap at over 8....its crazy high!

 

[Seamaiden]

Same here. I'd try adjusting pH before switching over to RO and using an additive IF your local water has a high carbonate hardness level. Have you done that yet? If so, and you're not seeing what you want, then the next logical step would indeed be to move to RO with an additive. If your goal is organic, I'm not positive, but I believe Humboldt Nutrients Equilibrium is an organic product. Don't hold me to that, though, I'm the lady who'll mix prilled dolomitic lime into her water.

 

[shavits]

you can try maxicrop liquid seaweed for your micronutes! Its completely water soluable and 100% organic! This liquid fertilizer is often used to correct deficiencies! I use it liberally thru out veg and up to the first four weaks of flowering as a foliar spray and you can drench roots with it as well! Its a great fert all around!

 

[Asphalt Gardner]

Well I ended up picking up some magic cal and am going to be switching over to RO water...do I still need to PH the water ( before or after additives? ) I know that EC and TDS will be off read due to lack of disolved solids but is that the same with the PH I am a little stuck on this one.....In the meantime I will light a fatty and wait for a hopefull answer!

 

[Trim Reaper]

YES, always check your ph after adding all nutes. In soil you should shoot for 6.2, and check your runoff to make sure your soil ph isn't spiking up as the lime gets used.
When using RO, it is always necc to add cal-mag.
:harvest:

 

[Seamaiden]

Apparently it depends on your meter. I recall reading something Tobor wrote that some meters cannot read super clean water, i.e. RO or distilled. But my pen read my RO water just fine. Until I BROKE THE PROBE. GAH!

And then yesterday I visited a good friend and he's starting up as a purveyor, had a sweet little Hanna combo meter for me that I got to take home and play with last night and ohmygoodness, is it fun! Gotta get my head wrapped around the numbers, though, and the conversions.

In any event, even if you don't adjust your pH, it's really a good idea to know where it's at and log it. That way, if anything goes off you'll have notes to look back on, Oh, I did this on that day/week and now this is happening. Ya dig?