DirtDigginChick
Active Member
OooooOoo
I like it when they give me dilution rates to play with! Thanks! I'll check it out before doing my side-by-side.
What is the PH of your distilled water?
- Thread starter Buba Blend
- Start date
OooooOoo
I like it when they give me dilution rates to play with! Thanks! I'll check it out before doing my side-by-side.
Buba Blend
Well-Known Member
I have been mixing a ratio of 1 part water to 1 part soil, 2 parts water to 1 part soil and 3 parts water to 1 part soil and with the drops and all 3 tests give the same results.
I have done the slurry test with two different soils, new ffof and my used ffof that has been amended with many things including dolomite lime and my amended soil tests in the 7 range were the ffof tests at about 6.
I was expecting my amended soil to have a higher PH than the new ffof. Dolomite lime was added to the amended soil and it was given 6 weeks to cook so I'm just trying to figure out if my slurry test results are accurate.
Here are results on the left are new ffof soil tests and two tests on the right are from my ffof soil that was previously used then amended. I use the hydroponic drops to test. I have done it also with the soil kit that comes with the powder just to see the results and the results were the same.
DirtDigginChick
Active Member
I have always mixed it 1 part water to 1 part soil. My lab geek friend was adamant about it. I use a digital meter and calibrate it daily.
Usually I don't pH the soils I'm growing in unless I see problems. (I know, stupid of me) I decided to test on my outdoor grow just to see. My happy little trees are growing in 8.2 right now. I was shocked that they were still taking up nutrients but after talking to a couple people I'm finding that in organics, pH is just a beginning, there are so many other factors that can negate a negative pH. I also had 10 ft tomatoes that produced some of the best fruit I've ever tasted growing in 8.7.
im4satori
Well-Known Member
theyre checking not only ph but also soluble salts and specific major and minor elements
that's why the distilled water is needed to make sure no additional elements are added to the test sample
distilled water had no ppm so it wont contaminate the test sample with additional elements from the source water
but that doesn't really have to do directly to the ph as far as explanation for needing distilled water to do a ph slurry test
I also wonder if doing the slurry test with the water you intend on watering your plants with wouldn't be more accurate than that of distilled when it comes to ph testing
after all... that's the water your putting into your soil so any affect it has would transfer into the soil
not sure im explaining myself very well here,,, and not stating this as fact, just thinking out loud
some of these comments are more questions than statements
im4satori
Well-Known Member
copy and paste;
You want to use distilled water since it has no ions/buffers in it that will screw up your pH test. For example, some tap water is very high in calcium carbonate which if used in a pH test would strongly bias the results to alkaline, even if your soil is in fact acidic. Bicarbonate ions, sulfate, sodium, etc, they will all mess up your pH test if using tap water. Distilled water has all those removed so it is looking specifically at what is extracted from your soil.
You want to use distilled water since it has no ions/buffers in it that will screw up your pH test. For example, some tap water is very high in calcium carbonate which if used in a pH test would strongly bias the results to alkaline, even if your soil is in fact acidic. Bicarbonate ions, sulfate, sodium, etc, they will all mess up your pH test if using tap water. Distilled water has all those removed so it is looking specifically at what is extracted from your soil.
im4satori
Well-Known Member
did a few searches to see what came up
the above statement made by another fits into what my theory is
its not about the EC/ppm of the water used for the slurry test
its about the potential for specific elements such as lime/calcium carbonate or sodium
hypothetically you could get an accurate test result with water that has a high EC/ppm provided little to none of the elements affect ph = sodium or lime as examples
so If I take my distille dwater and add some Epsom salt it shouldnt affect the testing, but if I add calmag it would affect the testing due to the calcium carbonate ..... again not sure if this holds water, just thinking out loud
these comments are partly in questions not statements
the above statement made by another fits into what my theory is
its not about the EC/ppm of the water used for the slurry test
its about the potential for specific elements such as lime/calcium carbonate or sodium
hypothetically you could get an accurate test result with water that has a high EC/ppm provided little to none of the elements affect ph = sodium or lime as examples
so If I take my distille dwater and add some Epsom salt it shouldnt affect the testing, but if I add calmag it would affect the testing due to the calcium carbonate ..... again not sure if this holds water, just thinking out loud
these comments are partly in questions not statements
im4satori
Well-Known Member
so having said that and assuming theres some truth to it
using purified (R.O.) water with almost zero ppm the test results I would think would be close enough to the same as using distilled water
while the distilled water has zero potential for liming elements... the purified water still has so little it likely wouldn't matter using a drop test kit
it my show up in fractions in a lab but not enough to affect a drop kit test
using purified (R.O.) water with almost zero ppm the test results I would think would be close enough to the same as using distilled water
while the distilled water has zero potential for liming elements... the purified water still has so little it likely wouldn't matter using a drop test kit
it my show up in fractions in a lab but not enough to affect a drop kit test
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Jimdamick
Well-Known Member
Call me stupid, but I never understood the desire to use distilled water for a grow.
Why?
Chlorine? It evaporates overnight if left in a container, which is what I do.
Minerals? As soon as you water your plants with nutes, you have re-introduced all the minerals that were left out.
Ph? My tap water comes out at 7.0, so I adjust which everyone should do anyway.
Then there is the cost, hassle of lugging around bottles, so personally, unless you get some really shitty water (Flint, Michigan?) save yourself the hassle, add your nutes, adjust PH, and your plants will do just fine.
This ain't brain surgery.
Why?
Chlorine? It evaporates overnight if left in a container, which is what I do.
Minerals? As soon as you water your plants with nutes, you have re-introduced all the minerals that were left out.
Ph? My tap water comes out at 7.0, so I adjust which everyone should do anyway.
Then there is the cost, hassle of lugging around bottles, so personally, unless you get some really shitty water (Flint, Michigan?) save yourself the hassle, add your nutes, adjust PH, and your plants will do just fine.
This ain't brain surgery.
im4satori
Well-Known Member
right
I don't know why anyone would used distilled water to water there plants either
but this is about the effect of distilled water in a ph slurry test.... not so much about watering plants with distilled water
Buba Blend
Well-Known Member
Welcome im4satori! Have a smoke!
Check out page 5 and 6 Here: I did that test in July, you were in the conversatation.
https://www.rollitup.org/t/help-cant-figure-this-one-out.945402/page-5
im4satori
im4satori
Well-Known Member
ya
I remember
to bad it ended up so far off topic, sorry for my part in that
so to refresh from your experiments back in july
what did you conclude from your findings?
Buba Blend
Well-Known Member
That I could probably use RO but feel more confident in the distilled, also that I can not use my tap.
Still unanswered is whether distilled water with a PH of 7 delivers the same or different result as distilled water with a PH of 6.
I imagine the same test can be done with two samples of RO water if both had the same ppms(or I should sbut had two different PH's IDK. If a chemical was used to alter the PH of the RO I don't know if that would be a valid test though.
I have a feeling I can collect RO over time with different PH levels and test the soils that I expect certain results from and see if the results vary.
Edit: When I say same level of ppms above I guess I mean same level of contaminants like calcium.
im4satori
Well-Known Member
ultimately you ended up being correct in the first, after some review I was wrong at the onset.
it is more about the ppm than about the PH of the water
the lower the ppm the less likelihood theres an element in the water that will affect the ph test results
im4satori
Well-Known Member
so I just took 3.5 oz of distilled water and added 0.5 oz of my well water to it
my well water is about 0.3 EC and ph 7.5
so whatever elements I added to the distilled it wont be much since my source water is pretty good to start
that's a dilution rate of 8:1 so the resulting ppm would be likely under 25ppm from a meter, but converted into active elemental ppm (like a water analysis ) its maybe 1/3 less which is about nothing
it now tests a perfect ph 7.0
what do you want me to do with it?
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Buba Blend
Well-Known Member
Maybe do a slurry test with it and compare it to the distilled water only slurry test to see if the results are the same.
Gquebed
Well-Known Member
The u.s. is a third world country. Unless you can afford it not to be. Meaning unless you're rich and you can buy the best of everything.
im4satori
Well-Known Member
done
the results are the same
ph 6.0 distilled water alone + soil = ph 6.5
ph 7.0 distilled water adjusted + soil = ph 6.5
ph 6.0 purified bottled water + soil = 6.5
ph 7.5 well water EC 0.3 + soil = 7.0
so apparently theres enough calcium carbonate in my well water to push the test results up
but not enough in the other test samples to make a change
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Kingrow1
Well-Known Member
Slurry tests are weak in some areas, if you know your ingredients and can do basic maths you can
Your country poor, mine rich.........
Buba Blend
Well-Known Member
Nice! That was what I was hoping.
I think I'm going to have to practice making batches of soil with less Dolomite Lime to see if I can get the PH down some and see the results.
The 1st soil I made I added 1 1/2 cups of DL to 30 gallons of soil. 2nd batch I added 2 cups to 38 gallons of soil. The PH stayed at a steady PH 7 the entire grow with the 1st batch. Healthy plants at PH 7, want to see results from a PH of 6.5.
Just started a new batch of seeds and I'm going to experiment with two soils each having a different PH. A no-till and an amended soil combo with two different PH's.
I'm only doing this with two seedlings to see how they react.
I have a 10" clay pot with my amended soil in it that was just harvested, it has a ph of 7. I'm going to transplant it into a 3 gallon plastic pot undisturbed and surround it with new ffof that has a PH closer to 6.
Starting the seedlings in starter pots, then put the seedling in the center in a no-till fashion.
Going to do the same with a 10" clay pot of ffof that was just harvested and has a PH close to 6, I'll surround it in a 3 gallon plastic pot with my newest batch of amended soil that has a PH of 7.
I think in both cases the Dolomite in my soil will increase the PH of the ffof by the time I harvest, if they make it to harvest.
