Question regarding RO systems

[TassieTurtleman]

G'day y'all
So I have absolutely no knowledge and the info on the Web is extremely overwhelming!
Was wondering if someone could give it to me simple.
I'm doing an outdoor soil grow very soon so I'm not sure if I even need RO water, though I am using synthetic nutes, not sure if that makes a difference at all??
I'm a bit of a perfectionist, so I want to do absolutely everything in my power to get the biggest harvest possible!
My main question is, what is the pH of the water coming out of the RO system and does it vary from product to product?
I've read on a few sites that the systems they offer produce alkaline water at a ph of 8.5-10, obviously that's useless for growing and I want to avoid having to stock up on ph up+down constantly!
Also is it fairly straightforward to install myself (i am pretty handy) or will i need a plumber?
Thanks in advance for any help/advice anyone could offer!
Cheers,
TTM

 

[Roy Growin]

Hi Mate - there is absolutely no need for RO water, don't over think it
You water the rest of the garden with the hose, right? A cannabis plant is no different

 

[Sativa1970]

The minerals in your water are the same as the minerals in your soil. IE if you have iron in your area soil you will have trace iron in your water. Removing it is pointless in a soil grow assuming the levels are not toxic. High micro nutrient levels are a concern in hydro but not relevant in soil. Letting the tap water sit and dechlorinate is most likely way more than you would ever need to do. Again just dechlorinating would still be excessive.

 

[TassieTurtleman]

Hi Mate - there is absolutely no need for RO water, don't over think it
You water the rest of the garden with the hose, right? A cannabis plant is no different

The minerals in your water are the same as the minerals in your soil. IE if you have iron in your area soil you will have trace iron in your water. Removing it is pointless in a soil grow assuming the levels are not toxic. High micro nutrient levels are a concern in hydro but not relevant in soil. Letting the tap water sit and dechlorinate is most likely way more than you would ever need to do. Again just dechlorinating would still be excessive.

Thankyou legends, you've put my mind at ease.
I will say I'm planting in an organic super soil I've made, not sure if that makes a difference
So is there anything I have to do to the water or when I mix up my nutrient water?
I have gone all out on the nutes, got every additive in the green planet line (12 different products lol)
There is an ec level recommendation on the feed chart, but they are synthetic nutes so maybe that's for hydro, I do have ph testing devices and strips, also have an EC/TDS meter?
Sorry for all the questions, when I used to grow photos back in the day, I never even used to worry about anything, just gave em plain water and a bit of nitrosol or bloom here and there, nowadays there is so much information and nutrient lines out there, it is so overwhelming.
TTM

 

[bluter]

i run RO. you don't need RO outside. i have an outdoor bottom fed hydro garden and i feed it my indoor weed runoff water, maybe add some nutes, and mix it with garden hose water.

 

[bluter]

Thankyou legends, you've put my mind at ease.
I will say I'm planting in an organic super soil I've made, not sure if that makes a difference

if you've mixed a super soil it should be a water only grow. is it a subcool type recipe ?

 

[TassieTurtleman]

if you've mixed a super soil it should be a water only grow. is it a subcool type recipe ?

No it's not a subcool type bluter.
I guess I'm stretching the meaning of supersoil a bit. It's comprised of seagreens organic potting mix, a manure mix and pearlite/coco. I'm still gonna feed it with synthetic nuts.
Sorry for the confusion
TTM

 

[Sativa1970]

OK , several red flags here. If you are an analytical perfectionist personality, I would not recommend any organics. Organic has natural tendencies to meander and flow. You give organic gentle nudges, then watch and wait. If you push too hard or too often it will go out of control. It's like herding ducks. You can do it with patience and accepting a bit of chaos. Organic gardening is not controlling a plant, it is nurturing an ecosystem. You are tending to pet microbes that in turn take care of the plant roots for you.

Your plant roots need air, water, macro nutrients; nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, magnesium, sulfur. and micro nutrients; Boron, Zinc, Manganese, Iron, Copper, Molybdenum, and Chlorine. There is no other magic ingredient the plant can take up or make it grow better. Every additive is just a combination of a few of the same 13 elements. Major under feeding has just a minor loss of yield. Just a minor over feeding has a major loss of yield.

Microbes don't eat any of the 13 but instead feed on the carbon bonded to them. Once most of the carbon is off, the plant can eat it. Organic food has a lot of carbon for microbes, that is hard to break free. Good for microbes but useless to plants. So they chew on it for a long lime slowly releasing the nutrient. Synthetics have vary little carbon and it is loosely bonded. Microbes feast on the sudden easy food and reproduce. This spikes the available food to the plant. The microbes mass reproduction eats all the easy food. Soil now has toxic levels of nutrient for the plant and not enough food left for the microbes. The mass population is now all feeding on organics slowly driving the nutrient toxicity higher. Vary small doses of synthetic will boost the plant and the microbe colony. Large or frequent dosing can kill the ecosystem.

If your water is at or below .3-.4 EC (200-300PPM) I would leave out the manure and just run a sterile drain to waist hydro system with the equipment and synthetic nutes you already have. You will have immediate direct control of the plant. A healthy pant is the foundation of yield but light is the determining factor of yield.

 

[TassieTurtleman]

OK , several red flags here. If you are an analytical perfectionist personality, I would not recommend any organics. Organic has natural tendencies to meander and flow. You give organic gentle nudges, then watch and wait. If you push too hard or too often it will go out of control. It's like herding ducks. You can do it with patience and accepting a bit of chaos. Organic gardening is not controlling a plant, it is nurturing an ecosystem. You are tending to pet microbes that in turn take care of the plant roots for you.

Your plant roots need air, water, macro nutrients; nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, magnesium, sulfur. and micro nutrients; Boron, Zinc, Manganese, Iron, Copper, Molybdenum, and Chlorine. There is no other magic ingredient the plant can take up or make it grow better. Every additive is just a combination of a few of the same 13 elements. Major under feeding has just a minor loss of yield. Just a minor over feeding has a major loss of yield.

Microbes don't eat any of the 13 but instead feed on the carbon bonded to them. Once most of the carbon is off, the plant can eat it. Organic food has a lot of carbon for microbes, that is hard to break free. Good for microbes but useless to plants. So they chew on it for a long lime slowly releasing the nutrient. Synthetics have vary little carbon and it is loosely bonded. Microbes feast on the sudden easy food and reproduce. This spikes the available food to the plant. The microbes mass reproduction eats all the easy food. Soil now has toxic levels of nutrient for the plant and not enough food left for the microbes. The mass population is now all feeding on organics slowly driving the nutrient toxicity higher. Vary small doses of synthetic will boost the plant and the microbe colony. Large or frequent dosing can kill the ecosystem.

If your water is at or below .3-.4 EC (200-300PPM) I would leave out the manure and just run a sterile drain to waist hydro system with the equipment and synthetic nutes you already have. You will have immediate direct control of the plant. A healthy pant is the foundation of yield but light is the determining factor of yield.

Thanks for all the info sativa, it was very informative and I read everything twice. I would love to run a hydro setup, but the problem is that I can't grow around my house due to neighbours and other factors that are out of my control, therefore my only option is a guerilla grow with soil.
Surely there is some type of soil grow that I can do with the synthetic nutes that I have on hand

 

[bluter]

Thanks for all the info sativa, it was very informative and I read everything twice. I would love to run a hydro setup, but the problem is that I can't grow around my house due to neighbours and other factors that are out of my control, therefore my only option is a guerilla grow with soil.
Surely there is some type of soil grow that I can do with the synthetic nutes that I have on hand

hiking nutes into a guerilla gets old super fast. it's best to do them direct in ground and try a water only as much as possible. i used to dig holes and prep the holes.

 

[TassieTurtleman]

hiking nutes into a guerilla gets old super fast. it's best to do them direct in ground and try a water only as much as possible. i used to dig holes and prep the holes.

I wasn't thinking of completely hiking the nutes, maybe going at about 1/4 of the manufacturers recommendations, or would that still be too much?
I won't be able to do the direct inground as the soil at the site would be impossible to dig, but I do have some 5 gal fabric pots

 

[Sativa1970]

Far too familiar with gorilla growing. That is an entirely different world. A complicated system only creates complications in gorilla grows. Am I right to assume you are down under the equator since you are starting a plant outside this time of year? Your first concern is stealth and then water. Hauling water is heavy and sucks! If you are in the woods stay near a creak or pond. Fill your pot with your organic mixed soil and plant. At 4 weeks top dress the soil with more manure mix and a light dose of veg nutes. 2 weeks before flower and again in the 4th week of flower top dress bone meal and light flower nutes. When the soil gets dry, water. Keep an eye out for any signs of pests, predator's and poachers near your plant.

1/4 to 1/2 strength nute is enough to give the plant a quick boost and more important the microbes get a boost. They will move in and munch on the top dressing to sustain the plant. Water will carry the nutrient to the roots.

 

[TassieTurtleman]

Far too familiar with gorilla growing. That is an entirely different world. A complicated system only creates complications in gorilla grows. Am I right to assume you are down under the equator since you are starting a plant outside this time of year? Your first concern is stealth and then water. Hauling water is heavy and sucks! If you are in the woods stay near a creak or pond. Fill your pot with your organic mixed soil and plant. At 4 weeks top dress the soil with more manure mix and a light dose of veg nutes. 2 weeks before flower and again in the 4th week of flower top dress bone meal and light flower nutes. When the soil gets dry, water. Keep an eye out for any signs of pests, predator's and poachers near your plant.

1/4 to 1/2 strength nute is enough to give the plant a quick boost and more important the microbes get a boost. They will move in and munch on the top dressing to sustain the plant. Water will carry the nutrient to the roots.

Hey sativa, yes you are correct, I'm in tasmania (the island below Australia) I've got the stealth part down pat, it's not in the woods, it's an abandoned nature reserve coming off a beach, no one goes down there ever. It's about 2 minute walk from my house, so getting to and from won't be a problem. Also because there no trees around, my plants will get full sun all day.
It's strange, the green planet site says these nutrients are suitable for a soil grow, so I don't see why they wouldn't be. I was only going to lower the dose because I'm growing autos.
I'm not a complete novice, I used to grow photos constantly for about 8 years, I only stopped a couple years ago. Back then all I used was a bit of nitrosol and bloom here and there. Since I've got back into the game, there is so much more going on now, so I thought I'd invest in a proper nutrient line, maybe I'll have to consider a coco grow instead

 

[Sativa1970]

You can do solid organic, liquid organic, synthetic or mix them. Mixing them is the most complicated method so generally avoided. There are common ways you can use both.
1)Organic as the primary food and synthetic as supplement.
2)Start with light N organic soil then grow with synthetic in the soil. No adding more organics.

With synthetic you need to slowly water until it runs out the bottom of the pot. You keep watering until 20% of the total water volume runs out the bottom. So you are hauling 2-3 gallons (7.5 to 11.5 liters) of water every couple days. Organic would need closer to 1 gallon (3.5 liters). Even if the labor isn't a problem, trying to explain what you are doing if spotted, may be a problem. Taking your pet water jugs for a walk may raise suspicion. A camel pack, The water back pack that hikers use, should not look unusual at all.

With gorilla growing you want as little time with the plant as possible. Every time you walk to the plant you create a path that others can spot and fallow. Any equipment you are carrying, time tending to the plant, could incriminate you with law, tip off any Karen's or poachers. You are just out for a nature walk.

The place I deer hunt is 900 acers with major rivers on 3 sides. Posted private property, locked gates, and 30 minutes drive to the closest village. I find at least one person trespassing every year. Never assume you are alone.