Is Tap Water OK??

hey yall. My tapwater pH comes in at appx 7.0-7.2, which wouldn't take much to adjust. I've heard of a lot of people using straight tap water for feeding; is this viable? I thought tap water was chlorinated, and assumed that hard water, chlorine and flouride would be awful for plants. Anyone want to throw in two cents? Poland Springs gets expensive.

It's fine.

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Also my GO nutes advise against using pH up or down, as it can interfere with the organic nutrient's chemical structure etc. Which makes me further question using tapwater, especially organically in a soil medium. Anyway, thats my two cents.

vectorforever said:

hey yall. My tapwater pH comes in at appx 7.0-7.2, which wouldn't take much to adjust. I've heard of a lot of people using straight tap water for feeding; is this viable? I thought tap water was chlorinated, and assumed that hard water, chlorine and flouride would be awful for plants. Anyone want to throw in two cents? Poland Springs gets expensive.

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You're fine, my tap comes out at a little over 8.0, and I use white vinegar to bring it down.
Remember though, check your PH if you are a real stickler, AFTER nutes, as they usually bring the PH down a touch.

Tap water is totally fine. I let mine sit out 24 hours before my plants get a go at it.

I have always used tap water, its fine. GW

Your tap water may or may not be OK. PH is just one issue with tap water; chlorine, chloramine, and other additives can be issues as well as the mineral content of the water. I don't worry about PH since I grow organically but chlorine and chloramine are BIG issues for growing organically. Minerals can end up collecting in your soil and causing lockouts as well.

I purchased a sediment and two active charcoal filter units (Pure Water Products) which have effectively removed the chlorine and chloramine. RO can be nice too but is more expensive (not terribly), requires more maintenance and unless you bought a really big RO, the speed of water being produced can be an issue. I'm also enjoying having this water run to my kitchen cold tap and I'm not buying bottled water for me any more either. With RO water, you'll need to add back in some minerals - GO calmag is fine. I don't remember the recommended amount right now - the Rev talks about it in his book True Living Organics.

If money is an issue, I can say that before I purchased the filters, I used large old food containers to hold water. The chlorine and chloramine did dissipate after a few days. I've heard that chloramine won't dissipate with time, however, I believe what happened is that organic materials (from sitting outside) got in the water and bound with the chloramine. I don't really know the mechanism but since I purchased a test kit, I can say that sitting out for days can get rid of both. It really depends on your water supply and what is in it and your style of growing, how much the factors will play.

Tap water since day 1. I'm organic and my plants have been pretty much ALL green! Like they few ppl before said you have to sit it out for a day or 2.

I fill all my water jugs back up right after I use them, so I get a good 5 days of letting my water sit before I use it. My water PH tested at 7.0

The purpose of letting the tap water sit is to help evaporate the chlorine that in the water. There's also chloramine in the water which doesn't evaporate as easily and some ppl say it's an issue when gardening organically, but there's been no issue here, so I'm not buying it.
You also wanna set the water out so that it can be as close to room temp when you water..You DON'T wanna use cold water..Def. not hot water..Both will shock the plant somewhat..

If you're goin hydro tho....You might need to do some work on that water...7.0 is what mine reads and I haven't had a prob

You can also get info from your local water department's website usually about how they treat your water. It's not a static commodity. Goood Luck!