You may ask as many questions as you need. I did when I was in your spot and someone here answered them all.
The pH you use will be 6.5 for traditional soil. When you water to runoff and measure the pH of it, it should be between 6.2 and 6.5. This is indicative of your soil being able to set you plants up to success.
If you are in hydroponics or a soilless medium then you want a pH of 5.8 and a runoff range of 5.5 to 6.1. I use a soilless medium called roots organics., which is an amended coco and perlite based medium.
Commercial mixes and nutrients may recommend ranges too. So it’s good to understand the product you are using. I made this mistake my first grow
Do not get mixes with time release nutrients like most miracle grow products. A plant can survive in this, but it leads to all sorts of problems.
I use Roots Organics original potting soil in 5 or 10 gallon pots with ILGM Flower Power nutrients. I dosage at a 1/4 to 1/3 of the ILGM recommended dosage. I use the ppm meter to gauge the dosage. So if my well water has 180ppm, and the dosage calls for 1200ppm, I add 300ppm (1/4 dose) by adding small amounts and measuring until I get to 480ppm in my bucket. At this point, I have it figured out in teaspoons how much I add to my mixing bucket for a set amount of water.
Because I am in coco, I need to water frequently, so I water to significant runoff every 2 or 3 days.
With the ppm, the digital meter goes into the water or water/nutrient solution and gives a reading of how much “stuff” is dissolved in the water. It is called Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) and measured in parts per million. So, for example, my well water has 180ppms of “stuff” in it - whatever goodies and not so goodies are down there in the earth pumping up through my well like calcium. Different water sources will have different ppms. People who don’t have great water will buy filtration systems so that they can bring the ppms down to less than 30, and then add what they want so the plant is getting a good balance of nutrients and minerals.
There’s a lot to learn. The confusion will pass. If you haven’t already and have the time, download the grow bible and scan through some of the guides. It’s not an overwhelming read and there is a lot of good info.
Bottled water is usually similar to RO…i.e. 5-10ppm or so and possibly pH adjusted. My local grocery has 1 gallon or 2.5 gallon jugs of Purified water (0 ppm), Spring water (8 ppm), and Drinking water (40 ppm). All at slightly different pH.
But I use the water from the machine at the entrance. It is cheaper and is RO (same thing).
Just use the meter and vinegar to get PH to 6.5 for watering. Soil look up Foxfarms, they have soil and nutrients that are well known and used by a lot of us.
Before going to route of using bottled water or a filtration system, it is worthwhile testing the TDS/ppms of the tap water you have. Do you have a well or town/city supply?
OK. Town/city water is chlorinated. If your tap water comes from the city/town (do you get a bill from your town for your water and/or sewer?) then you will want to let it sit for a day for the chlorine to evaporate, before pH’ing and adding nutrients (if any to be added).
If your tap water comes from a well, it isn’t chlorinated, so no need to wait for the chlorine to evap.
When you get the TDS/ppm meter, measure the ppms and pH and we can use this to determine if your water is in decent shape for your plants
The wash. According to the growers bible, this is only necessary when there is a burn (or some other) problem that makes it necessary to wash out the soil. Risky as it oversaturates the soil. Is this the same as flushing? Really confusing since I thought I saw somewhere that this should be done regularly. Can someone elaborate on this?
Nutrition: I am planning on using Dyna Gro grow and bloom. I read in a post here that every feeding someone was adding cal mag at every feeding. Should I be doing that? How much? Only during grow stage or also during bloom stage? ME <= Dazed and Confused.
Some folks do flush at regular intervals. for example, some folks flush in between a change in nutrient schedule (grow to flower nutrients). Some people flush a week or so before harvest to minimize the amount of nutrients in the buds when you cut them down (supposedly reduces smoking harshness)
I have only flushed when I have a problem (high ppms in my case) or at the end of the grow as a harvesting technique.
Many places now use Chloramine instead of chlorine in tap water. Chloramine takes days to evaporate and will kill off good bacteria in soil during that time. You can slowly carbon-filter it out tho…just go slow.