Niall FM Posted June 29, 2015 Report Share Posted June 29, 2015 I've been using the same old bag of peat moss since starting the hobby. But last week it ran out just before I got in an order of Plants... So based on advice seen on this forum I went out and got Shamrock branded peat, but I now think I've done something wrong, like get the wrong bag or something. My plants arrived in the post this morning and were all potted up and stuck in a terrarium with high humidity (instead of using a bag) and they all got top watered. But out of curiosity I checked the TDS of the water that collected in the bottom of the terrarium and it had gone from 7ppm to 62ppm. So I'm just wondering is this normal for peat to change the water parameters so much? Could it be the sphagnum, sand or perlite doing this? Have I bought the wrong peat, it says all natural on the bad(picture of bag below)? If this is normal should I just keep watering until the parameters come back within 30ppm? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Anderson Posted June 29, 2015 Report Share Posted June 29, 2015 (edited) Hi, this is the same peat I've been using for ten years and it's always been great, never had a problem with it. I would assume the 7ppm to 65ppm is nothing to worry about. Hope this helps. Mark Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk Edited June 29, 2015 by carni grower Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corky Posted June 29, 2015 Report Share Posted June 29, 2015 7 ppm is very low , just tested the water butt and its 62ppm, water in my sarr tray is 72ppm , are you used to testing RO filter water? You'll be fine in my opinion Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Niall FM Posted June 29, 2015 Author Report Share Posted June 29, 2015 Thanks, that puts me at ease. But corky I would suggest recalibrating your TDS meter as those results sound worryingly high for rain water (unless acid rain is common wherever you are) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corky Posted June 29, 2015 Report Share Posted June 29, 2015 (edited) It may need recalibration , I put it down to the water coming off a house slate roof and running through dirty gutters, when I used an RO filter it read really low ,don't think it came with recalibration liquid I shall look into that cheers Edited June 29, 2015 by corky Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel G Posted July 2, 2015 Report Share Posted July 2, 2015 Couldn't help but chuckle at the random foot in the original picture 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blocky71 Posted July 2, 2015 Report Share Posted July 2, 2015 My rain water comes in at around the same as corkys, collected from normal roof tiles and through dirty guttering too most likely!. If I'm remembering correctly 130ppm is about as high as your water should read for regular use so anything under that should be fine. The water collected in the trays of growers plants often gives higher readings than the water being used. I've just tested some rain water collected in a clean bucket, same result as from the guttering... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Niall FM Posted July 18, 2015 Author Report Share Posted July 18, 2015 That is bizarre, I collect water from the gutters of my greenhouse which are squeaky clean and that water always comes out from 7-11ppm. But I recently tried water coming out of the houses gutters(off the slate roof and dirty gutters) and it came out at 130ppm. That seems like a huge amount of variability! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ada Posted July 18, 2015 Report Share Posted July 18, 2015 i've never measured my rainwater,ever and its made no difference to my plants growth in 25 years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FredG Posted July 18, 2015 Report Share Posted July 18, 2015 Measuring it doesn't alter it I'm guessing ada 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ada Posted July 19, 2015 Report Share Posted July 19, 2015 No Fred,its still wet! and the plants can't tell either. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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