What is the best/ideal/optimal concentration of basic minerals in the bottled water?

What concentration in milligrams/per one liter of water, would be the best for these minerals:

Sulfate (mg/L)
Chloride (mg/L)
Fluoride (mg/L)
Calcium (mg/L)
Magnesium (mg/L)
Potassium (mg/L)
Sodium (mg/L)
Silica (mg/L)
Bicarbonate (mg/L)

+any other which you think is important.


For example water which I'm buying have these concentrations:

Sulfate (mg/L) 4.9
Chloride (mg/L) 17.2
Fluoride (mg/L) 0.3
Calcium (mg/L) 5.8
Magnesium (mg/L) 4.3
Potassium (mg/L) 8.5
Sodium (mg/L) 20.3
Silica (mg/L) 34.3
Bicarbonate (mg/L) 56.9

So I'm wondering if any of these values are to big or too small?
Then maybe I can go and look for different brand or I can supplement some of the minerals by adding them in to the water.

Thanks

That's a lot of chloride, it seems and a boatload of bi carb.

Spring water is usually very good, for bottled water.

Wet

Wetdog said:

That's a lot of chloride, it seems and a boatload of bi carb.

Spring water is usually very good, for bottled water.

Wet

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Thanks

That's way I'm asking what would be the best optimal concentration, maybe someone can point me to a website?

Or maybe somebody know what are the maximum and minimum values of minerals which should be in the water?

IDK, I just use tap water.

You are overthinking this just a tad.

Get a water report for your tap water and see what you've got. Just google *your city*+water system.

Wet

Wetdog said:

IDK, I just use tap water.

You are overthinking this just a tad.

Get a water report for your tap water and see what you've got. Just google *your city*+water system.

Wet

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The thing is, whatever your read, books like "Growing Bibles" for example by Cervantes he says:
"Keep calcium levels adequate and avoid excess nitrogen.
But how the hell should I know what is "adequate"(how many mg/L) he never mentions that...
The bottle will tell me that, even water company will tell me that, but why he or any other grow master can not.
And this apply to any other mineral.

You say that I'm over thinking things but I think in the long run, that this would be uncomplicating things by avoiding future problems with under, over mineralisation of water right?

I reed somewhere that calcium should be between 50 and 100 mg/L and that it's very important (as many others) for healthy grow, so if my water has Calcium at 5.8 mg/L that is way to low right? But maybe no, this advice could come from inexperienced grower.

So I wonder if somebody like industrial growers which want for their plants to grow tall and bushy did that kind of research: "What minerals at what concentration will be the best" after years and years of studying them? I hope so, or maybe they just using tap water? No seriously that can't be true.

So I hope for the best and maybe one of the gurus will come and enlighten us pls

I'm sorry for laughing, but it IS kind of funny. There is a reason ol Whore Hay doesn't mention that.

Only SOME of that comes from water and myself, I don't even really consider what's in my water. As you noticed, the amounts are minute.

Calcium-calcitic lime
Calcium+Magnesium-dolomite lime
All other trace+minerals-Azomite, Kelp meal, Greensand
Epsom salts-magnesium+some sulfur
Bottled trace elements and minerals
Dry fritted trace and minerals

That's a start, you need to read more.

Wet

Wetdog said:

I'm sorry for laughing, but it IS kind of funny. There is a reason ol Whore Hay doesn't mention that.

Only SOME of that comes from water and myself, I don't even really consider what's in my water. As you noticed, the amounts are minute.

Calcium-calcitic lime
Calcium+Magnesium-dolomite lime
All other trace+minerals-Azomite, Kelp meal, Greensand
Epsom salts-magnesium+some sulfur
Bottled trace elements and minerals
Dry fritted trace and minerals

That's a start, you need to read more.

Wet

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Ej hey don't laugh it's not a laughing mater "Their precious life depends on it"

OK I see that you have wrote a list of well known additives which can be used to supplement water, but again we are coming back to first question, how should I know what to add if I don't know which mineral and how much is required for optimal concentration?

For example my water have Calcium at 5.8 mg/L so my question to you is: Is it to much or is it to low? If it's to low than what is the correct amount so I could supplement it with calcitic lime? Or better I just go and buy a water which have exactly amount required, simple no? Because if I'm buying water anyway why not buy the best one and give plants what they really want?
Why wait for the Plant to show some signs of deficiency in minerals if we could avoid it in the first place? The plant will grow faster and stronger for sure if we full fill all her needs.
So please I just need those numbers and all will be clear for every one and for the plants as well

You mix the minerals in the soil, not the water.

The plant gets to pick and choose just what and how much it needs from the mineralized soil.

BTW, I'm doing organics. Chem ferts have these minerals and trace elements added in to one degree or another.

Plants outside don't get their mineral needs from rainwater, but from the soil they are growing in.

That 5.8mg/L of Ca for example. Another way to visualize it would be 5.8 (call it 6), pennies in $10,000 worth of pennies (1.000.000). Not much, eh?

Adding calcitic lime to water doesn't work too well. It's ground up rock, doesn't dissolve worth squat. But, if you add 1cup/cf (7.5 gallons), of soil mix, it not only provides calcium to the plant as it needs it, it also keeps the soil buffered to the proper pH range, ~6.8 or so.

The best part is, you only need to add it once for the entire grow. That's it. One application, mixed in before use works best, and your calcium and pH are taken care of, leaving you free to worry about other things.

You are really going in the wrong direction thinking of water to supply your plants mineral needs. Water is important of course, but it's really not where the plant obtains minerals and trace elements.

Wet

Just use tap water and nutrients. That bottled water is going to get expensive by the time you harvest. I really don't think that bottled will be benifical enough for the plants to justify the cost .

Wetdog said:

You mix the minerals in the soil, not the water.

The plant gets to pick and choose just what and how much it needs from the mineralized soil.

BTW, I'm doing organics. Chem ferts have these minerals and trace elements added in to one degree or another.

Plants outside don't get their mineral needs from rainwater, but from the soil they are growing in.

That 5.8mg/L of Ca for example. Another way to visualize it would be 5.8 (call it 6), pennies in $10,000 worth of pennies (1.000.000). Not much, eh?

Adding calcitic lime to water doesn't work too well. It's ground up rock, doesn't dissolve worth squat. But, if you add 1cup/cf (7.5 gallons), of soil mix, it not only provides calcium to the plant as it needs it, it also keeps the soil buffered to the proper pH range, ~6.8 or so.

The best part is, you only need to add it once for the entire grow. That's it. One application, mixed in before use works best, and your calcium and pH are taken care of, leaving you free to worry about other things.

You are really going in the wrong direction thinking of water to supply your plants mineral needs. Water is important of course, but it's really not where the plant obtains minerals and trace elements.

Wet

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You say that outdoor plants don't get minerals from the rain but from the soil, yes but plant can grow there because it is never root bound and can search indefinitely for food in the soil. But growing in pots is different because plants gradually take them out of the soil so apart from fertilizers and water there is no other way for them to receive new minerals.

I know that you are trying to tell me to not think to much about it, about this apparently low impact variable concentration of minerals, but my issue here is, do I buy water with 5mg of calcium per liter or do I buy one with 150mg of calcium per liter because something must be better than the other right? Or maybe even better would be 500mg? Because if there is not enough concentration of one of the minerals the plant will suffer and if it's to much of it, it will suffer as well. This is what I'm trying to find out here.
And the same goes for all other minerals: Should it be closer to 0mg or closer to 1000mg, do you know what I'm trying to say?

As you said in the first post that "That's a lot of chloride, it seems and a boatload of bi carb" so if you say it's too much, than what values should those minerals have ideally?

BTW I can't use tap water because is hard and for my two plants I will wait before buying RO, and the price of the water (8 liter bottles) will be a fraction of dealer price

Your tap water is hard because it's full of ca and you want bottled water that's full of ca?

I use spring water when I need bottled water, but this is usually for something other than watering plants. But overall, spring water is best.

You really need to do some more reading on mineralizing your soil, or the minerals and trace that's in nutrients/fertilizers.

There is a reason you can't find information on the 'proper concentrations' of minerals in water.

Wet

Wetdog said:

Your tap water is hard because it's full of ca and you want bottled water that's full of ca?

I use spring water when I need bottled water, but this is usually for something other than watering plants. But overall, spring water is best.

You really need to do some more reading on mineralizing your soil, or the minerals and trace that's in nutrients/fertilizers.

There is a reason you can't find information on the 'proper concentrations' of minerals in water.

Wet

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I never said that I want water full of ca. It was just an example as to what concentration there could be in the water and to ask question which would be the optimal, 0, 200, 1000mg..., blablabla. Are you actually reading my posts?
You are not answering any of my question, because as I can see you have no idea what to write right?

So please don't tell me there is no difference between 0mg and 100000mg of any mineral and just stick with tap water. There is absolutely no reasoning in that.
Not all water in the world is the same, so no plant in the world will receive the same amounts of anything.

When I ask, how do you know about chloride and bi carb that is to much, you say nothing?
It seemed to me at that point that you know something about at least these minerals which I have listed, but when asked about facts you say nothing? So how do you know that it is to much chloride? The magic number is....? Or you just imagined it?

All I asked for is for professional advice and not "tap water talk".
Tap water was OK in the sixties but now with all our technology, chemistry I'm amazed that there was no proper study as to what plants want.
Or maybe there was no one knowledgeable enough who saw this post?

You sir are absolutely right and I know nothing and obviously have been doing it wrong for the last 40 years or so.

Hope one of those knowledgeable people who have done a proper study come along and give you your designer water specifications.

Good luck on your quest.

Wet

Wetdog said:

You sir are absolutely right and I know nothing and obviously have been doing it wrong for the last 40 years or so.

Hope one of those knowledgeable people who have done a proper study come along and give you your designer water specifications.

Good luck on your quest.

Wet

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After 40 years of experience I would hope for far much more knowledge then that, but I think I hit the spot saying we are not in the sixties anymore

And still you have not answered any of my questions, even those which you have raised yourself (chloride and bi carb - what was the point of making this suggestion if you don't know what it suppose to be?), pity maybe I could learn something from these years.

So nobody knows with what you feed your babies Really?

I will try bump one more time