How is my raw well water for no till?
Hi funkyg..don't know much about the subject.
If you go to the growers forum, inside the sub sections in there is organic gardening, there's a thread started by 420 member sweetsue called. Building a better soil.
They discuss things like this, if you post on there you'll maybe get a good answer.
Scientific
New Member
You have 110 parts per million total dissolved solids, the vast majority of which is CaCO3, also known as calcium carbonate, also known as plain old blackboard chalk.
That CaCO3 is making your water slightly alkaline (pH 7.5).
7 grains of CaCO3 per gallon is right on the edge of being considered "hard" water, but it's not bad. The good news is that you won't need to supplement calcium.
If I were you, I'd try just going ahead and using the water as is (i.e. not deionize it or go buy RO water), adding the nutrients (assuming you're going to use something like a three-bottle fertilizer, like General Hydroponics FloraSeries), letting it sit overnight to equilbrate (i.e. let the minerals in the water and the buffers etc in the fertilizer interact and stabilize) and then adjust the pH down as desired.
General Hydroponics does make a special version of their FloraSeries fertilizer for hard water, but that's recommended for 250 PPM TDS or higher, so at 110 you should be able to get by with the standard formulation.
By the way, if there's a particular brand you're interested in and you have questions, you can always call or email them. I have had good luck with that with GH and Advanced Nutrients. Since you are one of the rare people who actually has the data on his water, I'm sure they'd be able to give you a really solid recommendation.
But again, moi, I'd just jump in with what you've got. I'll bet it works fine.
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I'm just using no till enzyme teas, kelp teas, coco water, aloe water, etc.. no bottled fertz.. just wanted to make sure my water wasn't going to kill them
sounds like i'll be good to go!Scientific
New Member
Personally, I doubt that kelp, aloe, or coco have any more magic than the stuff the marketers are selling, I have no idea what an "enzyme tea" might be, and I suspect that the organic grower's usual ingredients from the barnyard and slaughterhouse would work better, but that's the fun of growing your own--you can use anything you please!
In the absence of modern, scientifically formulated nutrients with buffers and chelation, you will probably want to do something to lower that pH to improve nutrient uptake. Taking the pH of a slurry of your soil and your well water will tell you. Vinegar would probably be the cheapest alternative to pH down.
I just got a plot in our community garden, which is strictly organic, so it looks like next spring I'm finally going to have learn about organic growing after a lifetime of using mineral salts, which seem a lot easier and more predictable--more science, less art. I wish us both luck with our organic pursuits!
In the absence of modern, scientifically formulated nutrients with buffers and chelation, you will probably want to do something to lower that pH to improve nutrient uptake. Taking the pH of a slurry of your soil and your well water will tell you. Vinegar would probably be the cheapest alternative to pH down.
I just got a plot in our community garden, which is strictly organic, so it looks like next spring I'm finally going to have learn about organic growing after a lifetime of using mineral salts, which seem a lot easier and more predictable--more science, less art. I wish us both luck with our organic pursuits!
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