Moon's Graden

> TDS ( Total dissolved Solids ) are not needed.  Its fine to water plants
> with a TDS approaching zero, such as you'd find in distilled water.  The
> solids that need to be there are the macronutrients, and the trace
> minerals.  There are dozens of products on the market to add the "needed'
> dissolved solids.

> > TDS ( Total dissolved Solids ) are not needed.  Its fine to water plants
> > with a TDS approaching zero, such as you'd find in distilled water.  The
> > solids that need to be there are the macronutrients, and the trace
> > minerals.  There are dozens of products on the market to add the "needed'
> > dissolved solids.

> Well, yeah, but these things don't exist in a vacuum. We measure the TDS
> in PPM when mixing a batch of fertilizer for injection. We then test
> again after addition to see what we've done, ie, how much we've added.
> It's not totally useless, Steve, you have to know how to utilize it. We
> then cross check against pH, shooting for 5.8-6.0. Usually if I start
> out with tap water with a TDS of 40 PPM, add fert to raise it to 125, my
> pH will be right on the nose. 125 is a bit low, but we also use the same
> water for misting. The plants are getting fed to some extent every time
> the water comes on, be it for watering or misting. -Rod-

> Rod & Susan Venger, Venger's Orchids
> http://www.vengers.com/

> Our IRC (Chat info) http://www.vengers.com/page.htm
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

> Rod:
> Sorry...Sounds to me like you missed the original question, so , of course, you
> misunderstood my answer.  His question was :  Do I need higher TDS to use the
> water.  My answer was NO.
> Yes, you may use a TDS test to see if you screwed up your measurement ( don't
> suggest it as an afterthought to much of chemistry measurement, though.)  And I
> did add that if he uses purified water, he might add fertilizer to it, but that
> was an aside to the point that low TDS is not harmful per-se.