Is PPM of water an issue when not using nutes?

[Badfinger]

I'm only coming up on week two of my grow. So my seedlings are young.
I am using purchased spring water that PH's at 6.2, but the PPM is 170. Is that high of a PPM an issue at such a young stage, should I switch to distilled water, or a 50/50 mix?
My pots are presumably a month away from adding any nutes.

 

[GreenBean]

By the start of week 2, I'm personally beginning to feed at around 25% of my nute strength. But I'm growing in mostly coco/perlite/vermiculite w/ a little soil mixed in.

If you're using a precharged soil, then somebody else may be of more help. But I do not believe that your water PPM is an issue. Is there a reason in particular that you're using spring water?

 

[Badfinger]

By the start of week 2, I'm personally beginning to feed at around 25% of my nute strength. But I'm growing in mostly coco/perlite/vermiculite w/ a little soil mixed in.

If you're using a precharged soil, then somebody else may be of more help. But I do not believe that your water PPM is an issue. Is there a reason in particular that you're using spring water?

Yes I'm in precharged soil, so no nutes for 6 weeks, supposedly.
As for the spring water use, it was supposed to make things a little hassle free, no chlorine to deal with and the ph is a constant 6.2 were my tap water is between 8.5-9.2, but I was never expecting the PPM to be twice my city tap water.

 

[GreenBean]

I've grown a multitude of plants for years and I've never been particularly concerned about chlorine, personally. YMMV/IMHO, etc. But you can get a water filter pitcher, a sink filter, and even a garden hose filter to help with that a little. I do use a garden hose filter, but not specifically for chlorine, but more for washing out my screens when I'm done printing.

I just hate the hassle of buying water. Actually I hate buying water period, since I already pay for it. But PH'ing is a hassle too I guess. Damned if you do, damned if you don't I guess. Anyway, personally, I would not be very concerned about your PPM in the water.

 

[Badfinger]

I've grown a multitude of plants for years and I've never been particularly concerned about chlorine, personally. YMMV/IMHO, etc. But you can get a water filter pitcher, a sink filter, and even a garden hose filter to help with that a little. I do use a garden hose filter, but not specifically for chlorine, but more for washing out my screens when I'm done printing.

I just hate the hassle of buying water. Actually I hate buying water period, since I already pay for it. But PH'ing is a hassle too I guess. Damned if you do, damned if you don't I guess. Anyway, personally, I would not be very concerned about your PPM in the water.

We always drink bottled water. In my area kidney stones are of major concern. Calcium is a pain on plumbing fixtures, and it aint no fun trying to piss out a ball of calcium the size of a BB with spikes on it

 

[DCLXVI]

How high is the ppm of your tap water? You may get more mileage out of mixing your tap with distilled water. Gallon jugs of distilled from the grocery are usually less than $1 and should be 0 ppm.

 

[Suki]

I've found that with my soil (OF) adding nitrogen is not at all necessary, I'm 7 weeks in and have only given one flower feed and my girls still haven't looked anywhere near hungry.

 

[Badfinger]

How high is the ppm of your tap water? You may get more mileage out of mixing your tap with distilled water. Gallon jugs of distilled from the grocery are usually less than $1 and should be 0 ppm.

PPM of tap water is around 80. We always have a shelf full of distilled water on hand to run in our humidifiers during the winter, due to our tap water having a crazy amount of calcium, we almost never have to clean them.

 

[GreenBean]

We always drink bottled water. In my area kidney stones are of major concern. Calcium is a pain on plumbing fixtures, and it aint no fun trying to piss out a ball of calcium the size of a BB with spikes on it

Ha! I would've imagined that pushing out a BB through would be a hot time. I'm kidding. Sorry I got confused. You mentioned the PPM of 170 in the spring water, and that it was higher than your city water. I would have imagined the majority of that was calcium. And 170 PPM, to me, is not high. So lower would be even lower. Our tap water is around 200 PPM out of the tap, and mostly calcium in that PPM. So if your tap PPM is lower than 170 I figured that was pretty good. If I recall the average PPM in the USA for tap is around 300-400PPM.

 

[Badfinger]

Ha! I would've imagined that pushing out a BB through would be a hot time. I'm kidding. Sorry I got confused. You mentioned the PPM of 170 in the spring water, and that it was higher than your city water. I would have imagined the majority of that was calcium. And 170 PPM, to me, is not high. So lower would be even lower. Our tap water is around 200 PPM out of the tap, and mostly calcium in that PPM. So if your tap PPM is lower than 170 I figured that was pretty good. If I recall the average PPM in the USA for tap is around 300-400PPM.

I just always assumed my area was worse then others for hard water, apparently that is not the case. I may try a 50/50 mix of tap water and distilled water.