Is Using Reverse Osmosis (RO) Water Useful In Growing? - Overview & FAQ

Reverse Osmosis and the modern high-tech Cannabis garden. Today on Lex’s World we discuss RO Water Purification and whether or not it has a place in your garden. You must do a cross analysis of both the water quality you’re dealing with out of the tap and what you’re hoping to achieve in your grow.

[ryanzutell]

I love how you've become the myth buster of weed tips

[samheadz]

Lex I wanted to take second and tell you thanks so much for all you do I've learned more in the past two or three years watching your videos then I have in the twenty plus years of growing. Lots of growers love cheers.

[davesterchele]

Our tap water is about 375 ppm so I use rainwater with a PPM of about 10 or less. I just leave a storage tub along the dripline of my shed and fill 1 gallon containers for use on the plants. Once in awhile I'll get a gallon or two of tap and let it sit for a couple of days and use it just to get some of the minerals from there into the soil as well. I generally keep about 20 gallons total of the rainwater depending on how much we have outside.

For our drinking water and cheap RH meters, I purchased a couple of Zero water pitcher filters that come with a meter. They take the water down to 0 PPMs. The filters are good for about 30 gallons before they need replacing. We go through a filter in about 4 weeks.

[agentsancho]

Came here to learn about a walter filter system for my faucet. Then I left with tips on how to grow the dankest weed. 😂

[frostygenetics]

Hello from flint Michigan!! I've been growing with ro for almost 10 years now, I test my water from tap and get a 800 reading. So I sent in a test to home depot to see what they say and they get a reading of 600+, after my ro I have 0 ppm. I am not the only one in the states who has this problem either, like southern states have fracking problems and when I lived in texas I had flammable water coming out of my sink so I would say many people everywhere have many of good reasons to run ro.

[noonek]

RO takes out chlorine too. If you use tap water, be sure to let the water evaporate the chlorine out.
I live remote AK and though we have 'city' water, its quality fluctuates too much to trust. A heavy rain here can wash lots of sediments into our reserve. I do have plans to capture rain water, but it will still be filtered close to an RO standard anyways.
I think you should definitely do research on your water supply as a grower, even if you are not a remote Alaskan.
Thx Lex, always a pleasure to watch your stuff.

[jamesbond-uowv]

we're in USA my rain barrels ppm at 0-6 depends on dust, dirt, etc. our tap water is 250-400 ppm. Anyhow anything over 100 ppm water wise you'll need reverse osmosis and micro nutes etc. Indoors you have the power over the light, temp, air, etc. And with RO the water. Fast tip he didn't bring up you can ad one cup of tap water into 50 gallons of RO and get those micro nutes back with a ppm of 0-5 depends on how much you ad to tank.

[justinmaseda]

2 seconds into his videos and I am talking like him all day

[steve-.-monroe]

When referring to PPMs, it is important to indicate which scale you are using, (500 or 700).

[justinl]

Distilled water is 0 PPM, rainwater is 1-2 PPM from airborne dust, and RO water is 20-30 PPM as you said. All are considered low ionic strength waters. Distilled water is pH 7.0 in theory, but when it comes into contact with CO2 in the atmosphere, carbonic acid forms. Rainwater is naturally acidic for this reason as well. RO water will be alkaline because tap water is alkaline. The problem with distilled water, rainwater, and RO water is twofold: (1) They lack micronutrients as you said, and (2) they lack a bicarbonate buffer to stabilize pH. Adding a small amount of humic acid solves both problems, and chelates iron as well.

One thing you mentioned in your video was that tap water is what plants naturally receive. Tap water is actually very different from rainwater. Rainwater is essentially distilled water which contains whatever it fell down through (atmospheric gases, dust, air pollution) and whatever bird droppings or organic material were on the roof before running into a rain barrel.

[leftofyou]

My RO tests at around 30 ppm. Gave myself a magnesium deficiency first time using it. Now I just flush with it or add micro/cal-mag if I'm using it. Usually use irrigation water and melted snow.

[cheezytaco]

I was thinking about RO water for hydro, but after seeing this I’m thinking I’ll try without. My water comes out of the tap at 110 to 125 ppm and 7.1 ph. Thanks bro!

[justadbeer]

Bang on Lex. We tried using RO for about a year and found no up side (except it does make awesome coffee and you will never need to buy distilled water again if you have a C-PAP machine) Aside from the price of a good RO unit (installed by myself) We found ourselves buying expensive chemicals to add to the RO water that was being filtered out, as well as having to make and store large amounts of RO for an indoor hydro grow because it doesn't just spew out of a tap (it takes about 2-3 hrs to fill my 3 gal tank with RO), which is a PITA, and on a side note, many people don't know, an RO filter unit wastes about 4 gal of water for every 1 gallons of RO made .

[buckaroo]

Excellent video Lex! You just answered my question. I have a well and my water is about 380 ppm out of the ground. Thanks for the info!

[SimpleEarthSelfReliance]

This was so well presented and explained, and it helped me into a direction of thinking that's been bugging me for a while.
Thank you. I don't want to use finite/valuable spring water for my growing here in this arid region, and have been thinking about RO for the well water (high in sodium).

[remylebeau]

Cool bro
I am a grower with the passion to eliminate waste so naturally I would have questions.
We live in a disposable world.
Thanks lex I love your videos, they're very informative.

[dozzer]

Another great info video Lex, your work is helping me a lot (I'm currently adding malasis because of you) Big big thanks.

[HogdaddyGlenn]

Fortunately Lex I live in an area with some of the best water in the US....24 hours later I use it but always ph it....girls love it. Love your vids brother and have for years.

[voidremoved]

there is R.O that, after the filter and membrane strips the water, another canister will add things to the water that's good for the plant.

[judgetk]

Well put young man. I have worked with water all my life.