One of the most important aspects of growing cannabis is making sure that you’re providing your plants with high quality water. There are a number of different options when it comes to water, including tap, well, treated and osmosis filtered.
Knowing the effects that these different types of water have on your plants is crucial to making sure they’re thriving. Here’s everything you need to know about the different types of water and how they affect your cannabis grow.
Temperature
Choosing the right water for your cannabis grow is a critical step to get the best results possible. Depending on where you live, different types of water can have a huge impact on your results and your plant’s overall health and development.
Whether you’re growing indoors or out, temperature is an important factor to consider when selecting a water source for your cannabis. Temperature affects how much water a cannabis plant needs as well as its ability to absorb nutrients.
Cannabis plants require a wide range of temperatures to thrive. They can be quite sensitive to high temperatures and even a few degrees too hot or too cold can have negative consequences for growth and quality.
In fact, many experienced growers prefer to use a thermometer when watering their plants to ensure that the water is at the appropriate temperature for their specific crop. This way, they can adjust the water accordingly to prevent nutrient lockout.
However, the temperature of your grow room will only be one factor that determines how much water your cannabis plants need. It’s important to also consider light intensity and other factors, including general plant health and vitality.
The ideal temperature for vegetative growth is 76 to 78 degF during the day, with a cooler range of 65 to 68 degF at night. These conditions support a low-stress environment while giving your plants more resources to encourage robust leaf and stem development.
Temperature plays a key role in determining the rate at which cannabis plants photosynthesize. Plants that are in the ideal temperature range will photosynthesise at a faster rate than those grown under higher or lower temperatures.
Another factor that influences how quickly a cannabis plant will take up nutrients is the pH level of its water. If the pH is too high or too low, the plant will not be able to take in nutrients and will not grow as well.
A plant’s roots system will cease to function if the water’s pH is too high or too low, meaning it won’t be able to absorb essential nutrients like calcium and phosphorus. This can be particularly true for a plant that is undergoing flowering and will need to take in plenty of potassium to help it produce high-quality buds.
pH
Having a proper pH is vital to the growth of cannabis. In the wrong pH range, nutrients can bind together and be unable to penetrate the plant’s root system. This can result in stunted growth, wilting, and brown or yellow leaves.
Keeping an eye on the pH of your growing medium, nutrient solution, and water is essential to keeping your plants healthy. The easiest way to do this is by using a pH meter.
The pH scale, which spans from 0 to 14, reflects the ionic concentration of hydrogen ions in a substance. The lower half of the scale is acidic, while the higher half is alkaline.
When you grow cannabis indoors, it is important to keep the soil pH between 5.5 and 6.2. This range is a good place to start and should be maintained at all times throughout the grow.
This will help ensure your plants are absorbing the right amount of phosphorus and iron. In addition, it will also help avoid nutrient lockout, where plants are unable to absorb the nutrients they need.
In order to maintain a correct pH, you should test the soil or substrate at least every week. This can be done with a simple color testing kit that is easily available at most garden centers.
Once you have the pH reading, it is important to make any necessary adjustments to your growing solution or substrate so that it remains within this range. This will ensure your plants receive the right amount of nutrient so that they can thrive and produce high-quality buds.
A large swing in the pH value of your growing solution can have a major impact on the health of your plant. This is why it is important to make changes gradually and slowly if possible.
If you want to get more advanced with your monitoring, you can consider investing in a portable pH meter. These are easy to use and can be used in both hydroponic and soil-based grows.
As with all things related to growing cannabis, a little bit of trial and error can go a long way in helping you find the best pH for your grow. You will also be able to use the results to determine whether or not your nutrient solution or substrate is too acidic or alkaline. Regardless of the type of grow you are doing, maintaining a stable pH is essential for optimal growth and flowering.
Alkalinity
The pH of your cannabis grow medium has a big effect on the health and growth of your plants. Maintaining a proper pH will prevent nutrient deficiency and help you produce the highest quality buds possible.
The ideal pH range for cannabis plants is in the slightly acidic range of 6-6.5. Keeping the pH of your growing environment at an optimal level allows your marijuana plants to absorb available nutrients from their medium and nutrient solutions, which can lead to healthy, vigorous growth that produces high yields of buds with high cannabinoid and terpene content.
When a marijuana plant’s pH falls outside of its ideal range, it will show symptoms of nutrient deficiency that include yellowing or browning of leaves, dropping of leaves, and stunted growth. This is due to a lack of access to essential nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium, which are required for normal plant development and flowering.
To measure the pH of your water, you can use a simple pH test kit. This includes a pH probe and paper pH strips that you dip into the soil or mix with neutral water.
You can also buy pH meters that you can use to check the pH of your water and nutrient solution. These will be a bit more expensive than the pH probe, but it’s worth getting one of these if you’re planning on keeping your pH levels at an optimal level for optimum cannabis crop performance.
Another way to keep the pH of your water and nutrient solutions at an optimal level is by avoiding overly aggressive mixing. Overly vigorous mixing will add oxygen to the water and will temporarily raise the pH of the solution.
Depending on the type of cannabis grow you’re doing, your cannabis plant might need an even lower pH than if it were grown in soil. The optimal pH range for cannabis that’s grown hydroponically is typically in the range 5.6 – 5.8.
Alkalinity is the ability of water to resist the lowering of its pH by acid. The amount of alkalinity in water can be measured by measuring its calcium carbonate equivalent (ppm). When alkalinity increases, it will take more acid to lower the pH of the water. This is because there are more components in the water that can resist the lowering of the pH such as hydroxides, bicarbonates, carbonates, and magnesium.
Dissolved Oxygen
Dissolved oxygen is a key factor in cannabis production and should be taken seriously by all growers. It has a profound effect on plant growth and will have a significant impact on the quality and yield of your harvest.
The amount of dissolved oxygen in water varies according to temperature and salinity, and some other factors, including the pH and alkalinity of the nutrient solution. When used in conjunction with other water characteristics, the dissolved oxygen content in water plays a critical role in the success of indoor cannabis cultivation.
If the dissolved oxygen content of water is too low or too high, the root zone won’t be able to uptake sufficient water and nutrients for growth. This can result in anaerobic conditions, which can lead to the death of plants.
There are many different methods for adding oxygen to water. One popular method is to inject a dissolved oxygen gas (e.g. hydrogen peroxide) into the water, which can cause phytotoxicity and may also inhibit plant growth.
However, there are also more efficient ways to add dissolved oxygen to water, such as mass transfer or bubbleless systems. These methods produce a highly stable, oxidized oxygen solution, which will be easier for the roots to uptake.
These dissolved oxygen solutions also help maintain water balance and prevent clogging. They can also improve nutrient uptake through the root zone by enhancing microbubbles.
For example, a study done on cucumbers found that lower dissolved oxygen levels reduced water uptake through the stem and depressed root growth. In contrast, higher dissolved oxygen levels promoted optimal uptake and helped the buds grow larger.
Similarly, the addition of dissolved oxygen to water can also be beneficial in hydroponic and aeroponic growing systems. This helps prevent the formation of anaerobic bacteria, which can result in rotting or dying roots.
The amount of dissolved oxygen in water can be measured by using a dissolved oxygen meter and probe. The meter measures the concentration of oxygen in a sample of water and reports it in units such as milligrams per liter (mg/L) or percent saturation, which corrects for temperature. The percentage of oxygen saturation is the ratio of the maximum amount of dissolved oxygen that could be dissolved in water at a given temperature to the amount actually dissolved.
