I am going to ask a simple rhetorical question that should put this debate to rest. How many large scale farms, meaning hectares of cash crops, use RO water? None!!!
That's not to say that using RO doesn't have it's place, however for the sake of this blog, I am going to show you how to bring your cost of production down to a point where you can remain competitive while producing top shelf flower.
Today you are seeing the effects of Prop 64 crushing the small and mid size farmers in California. What was supposed to be helpful for the local economy, opened the floodgates for corporate takeover. I am not here to debate politics. Just know that you are going to have step up your game if you want to stay in the game. This coming from an industry where the black market had no idea what their cost of production was. Let alone yield per watt. It was never treated as a business, which is why they will not be able to stay.
Now that my rant is over on that subject, let's get back to watering your garden.
For this lab testing, I am going to use city water. Yup, CITY WATER!!! And this is where the conventional wisdom and I start to divide.
The picture on the left is the EC (electrical conductivity) of the tap-water as soon as it comes out of the faucet. You will notice it has an EC of .8 after 24 hours, that EC drops down to .6 which I use as my baseline. Just for general info, the lower the EC the softer the water, conversely, the higher the EC the harder the water. For a matter of clarification, anytime I discuss nutrients and feeding, I base it off of EC, not PPM. The reasons are for another post.
Today's feeding of the Mom's consisted of the following ingredients:
20-20-20
CALiMAGic
1-Triacontanol
Sea Kelp
Root Stimulant
After adding all of these ingredients into the water my EC was:
An over all increase in EC of 1.1. This is an important number to remember as we adjust through the cycle.
The clones that were harvested the other day remain under a dome. I checked the plugs and they are still moist, so no need to do anything with them at this time. I did add some tap water to the tray underneath.
It is important to make sure that there is plenty of airflow and prevent any mildew from starting. Control the environment. Remember, this is your time to play GOD. You control every aspect of the room. Temperature, humidity, light cycle, air flow, CO2 levels, watering, nutrients, etc.