RO water

[Ejmiller444]

I have two questions considering RO water. I’m about to start a new grow and I’m going to be using RO water my question one is , do I or can I use just pure RO water to start my seedlings and use on young vegetative growth considering it has been stripped of everything or does it also need calcium and magnesium and my second question is once my nutrients are being added to my waters which I know I’m only adding nutrients every two or three waters I would like to know is my waters that are not using nutrients do I use just pure RO water or do I add calcium and magnesium I’m not sure exactly how to use the RO water properly because it’s stripped down to nothing and I don’t want to over add nutrients

 

[Emilya Green]

I have two questions considering RO water. I’m about to start a new grow and I’m going to be using RO water my question one is , do I or can I use just pure RO water to start my seedlings and use on young vegetative growth considering it has been stripped of everything or does it also need calcium and magnesium and my second question is once my nutrients are being added to my waters which I know I’m only adding nutrients every two or three waters I would like to know is my waters that are not using nutrients do I use just pure RO water or do I add calcium and magnesium I’m not sure exactly how to use the RO water properly because it’s stripped down to nothing and I don’t want to over add nutrients

Hi Ejmiller, and welcome to the forum!
You appear to be overthinking this. RO is needed for hydro operations so that a grower knows exactly what is in their mix, but not so much needed in soil. Even chlorine is not harmful to a grow unless you are growing organically using microbes. Tap water is usually fine, especially if you are using synthetic nutes and then you get all the extra mag and calcium and other minerals that come in with the water.
You should feed/water/feed/water all through the grow in soil... soil is designed to let you do that and this method keeps the soil as clean as possible. On the water only pass, just give water... ro or tap, and don't add anything extra to it. when you do give nutes, give them at the full recommended rate, because you are essentially feeding twice, because the extra is saved in the soil for the water only pass.

 

[Ejmiller444]

Hi Ejmiller, and welcome to the forum!
You appear to be overthinking this. RO is needed for hydro operations so that a grower knows exactly what is in their mix, but not so much needed in soil. Even chlorine is not harmful to a grow unless you are growing organically using microbes. Tap water is usually fine, especially if you are using synthetic nutes and then you get all the extra mag and calcium and other minerals that come in with the water.
You should feed/water/feed/water all through the grow in soil... soil is designed to let you do that and this method keeps the soil as clean as possible. On the water only pass, just give water... ro or tap, and don't add anything extra to it. when you do give nutes, give them at the full recommended rate, because you are essentially feeding twice, because the extra is saved in the soil for the water only pass.

Thank you very much for the information I was definitely trying to get a grasp on Ro water and whether it is needed or not