Ask Erik: December, 2009
I have recently moved to an area that has moderately hard water +/- 200ppm. I have been using standard pH down and nutrient products and supplements, following the supplied feeding schedule.
Not anticipating that I had hard water, I started having massive problems with my plants. To produce good healthy plants do all of the nutrients need to be compatible with hard water or just some of them? If they do, can you recommend a quality product line that has addressed this issue completely through all the phases of growth and bloom?
Please help! I'm really at my wits end.
Phil Angove
Phil,
For the best results possible, do not compromise your choice in nutrients due to water quality. Hard water-specific nutrients are like a band-aid; they help, although they don’t cure the problem(s) associated with your water quality. For this, and other important reasons, it is recommended that you RO filter (reverse osmosis) the water you use to reduce and remove the impurities that make your water less suitable for high yielding hydroponics crops.
As a rule of thumb, it’s typically your base nutrients that will react more with the impurities such as carbonates, iron precipitate, etc. in your hard water source. The additives and beneficial inoculants will typically be less affected, although there are exceptions to that.
Besides making your water better suited to a wider choice of nutrients, RO-treated water will have many impurities including heavy metals removed before it is applied to plants through the filtration process. Once you RO treat the water, it is then re-mineralized with a calcium magnesium supplement preferably containing a full spectrum of chelated trace elements to make it less re-active and stable with nutrients and growing mediums. In some areas, rain water can be an excellent and relatively pure source of water for hydroponics crops. It can be pre-treated with hydrogen peroxide several hours before adding any nutrients to ensure that it is free of pathogens that can infect your plants. Plus it falls from the sky for free!
Cheers, Erik Biksa
