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Dechlorination - the simplest yield hack! · Hydroponics Daily

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  Hi growers, welcome back to Hydroponics Daily, your favourite stop for fresh
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  insights on soilless cultivation.
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  I'm Dr Russell Sharp and today we're diving into a critical topic that often
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  slips under the radar in hydroponics and that's dechlorinating your tap water,
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  if you're using tap water that is.
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  So let's look at why it matters a lot for both your plant health and the soil
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  biology, even in hydroponic systems.
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  So soil biology but also growing media biology shall we say.
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  So let's start with the stark truth in that most municipal tap water isn't just plain water.
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  It's treated intentionally with chlorine and chloramines to kill bacteria and pathogens.
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  It's also fluorinated in a number of places. However, fluorine is not an issue for plants.
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  It doesn't get absorbed through the roots, so we can ignore that.
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  It's chlorine that we're really concerned about.
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  It's good for drinking water safety because it kills off
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  all the bacteria pathogens but for your plants especially
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  in hydroponics or living soil systems not so much
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  so the problems it can cause it can damage delicate
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  root hairs it suppresses beneficial microbial life
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  it disrupts enzyme activity and it can
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  lead to chlorine toxicity in sensitive crops if
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  it's in really high amounts so some plants
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  that are especially vulnerable to chlorine exposure this is
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  a non-exhaustive list lettuce spinach strawberries avocados
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  grapes and many orchids and tropical
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  plants so but that's a non-exhaustive list so these crops may show signs of
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  stress even at very low chlorine levels so you get leaf burn slow growth in
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  extreme cases but the way you really find out whether your crop is sensitive
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  to it is just do a treatment with and without chlorine,
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  so you can treat it with either.
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  You've used RO water, that'll be free of chlorine, water that's been left for
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  24 hours, or water that's been dechlorinated.
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  So that's how scientists.
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  Look at the effect of with and without chlorine on plant growth and it's
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  it is significant so when the studies are done
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  they do see a significant effect which is
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  surprising really but it is geography matters
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  so in the united states las vegas and parts of southern
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  california are known for particularly high chlorine and
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  chloramine levels in the tap water up to four.
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  Parts per million or more which is enough stress to kill
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  microbes and sensitive plants and in australia.
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  Regions like perth and sydney are reported to.
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  Have elevated chlorinator levels while in the.
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  Uk the levels of chlorine are much lower but still
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  present we've got a lot of water in the uk because it
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  rains so much and also it's the
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  water in the system is lower temperature so the microbial
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  growth is less so we don't need to chlorinate our
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  water as much in parts of india southeast asia
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  heavy chlorination is sometimes used after monsoon season
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  to combat contamination which can linger in
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  storage tanks and so if you're growing in southeast
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  asia post monsoon you might have an issue with
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  chlorine so how can you get rid of
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  chlorine in your hydroponic grow the first one is
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  just to let the water sit for chlorine is simply
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  letting the tap water sit for 24 to 48
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  hours allows it to evaporate off that doesn't work for
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  chloramine though so if they're using chloramine in your in your
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  area that's not going to work to speed
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  that up you could use an air stone to aerate the water and accelerate the
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  off-gassing however sometimes you can't
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  wait 24 to 48 hours to allow it
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  for your water before it hits the plants so that that's another
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  reason why you might avoid that you can have activated activated
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  carbon filters so they filter out both chlorine and chloramine and then so look
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  for a carbon block or a granulated filter they also reduce heavy metals and
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  organic compounds like pesticides so always good to have a carbon filter even
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  if you're not in ro and there are a number of products based on vitamin c.
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  But they degrade over time so you'll see them
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  they'll turn purple orange or
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  dark brown as they oxidize because it's
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  an antioxidant vitamin c and so it
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  oxidizes over time and so that's why you can see it breaks down
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  when it turns that color you can use ro water and
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  you can use spring water as well rain water
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  but make sure it's clean because you'll get
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  things like pythium rot that loves to grow in rain
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  butts things like this where you collect rain water off your
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  roof and then the other option is to use a
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  dechlorinator and the great thing about gold
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  leaf or is it called in the uk liquid gold it contains dechlorination as part
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  of its nutritional package and its options so don't need to worry about chlorine
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  if you're using gold leaf or liquid gold and then if you are not using them
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  but you still want to look for a dechlorinator then Dr Hydro dechlorinator is a good one in the UK.
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  So why does it matter for soil biology? Even if you're growing hydroponically
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  some systems like aquaponics, living hydromedia like living soils they're going
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  to require a good population of beneficial microbes.
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  Think nitrifying bacteria, mycorrhiza, compost teas,
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  phosphorus liberating bacteria chlorine will
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  kill these and other alloys before they
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  get a chance to work so if you're using biofertilizers worm
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  teas microbial inoculants adding chlorinated tap
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  water is you know setting you back okay so you can test your tap water you get
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  a something off the internet you can get them off amazon they're called dpd
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  tablets not sure if any grow shops stock them if they do fantastic but they're
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  fairly cheap dpd tablets you stick them in your water if it goes.
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  Pink then you've got chlorine in the in your tap water use tap water that comes
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  straight out the tap so you know before it's gassed off and then if you add
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  a good dechlorinator it should instantly,
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  turn yellow or clear so if you add gold leaf liquid gold it'll go instantly
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  clear and if you add a dechlorinator it should do the same so that's a good
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  way to test it as i say you can air rate for 24 to 48 hours.
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  You could look at a carbon filter and be extra cautious of leafy greens,
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  tropical plants, fruiting crops that are more sensitive and check your local water reports.
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  Many local water companies will publish chlorine levels monthly so look out
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  for them especially in the US they do that.
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  Possibly in the UK. So there you have it. One small tweak to your hydroponics is to remove chlorine.
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  It can make a big difference to the health of your plants and the soil.
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  It's an easy hack. It's on top of anything like biostimulants,
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  additives, fertilizers, optimizing, fertilizers, optimizing in your grow room.
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  It's an extra bump to yield that you can get and it's the easiest one to do.
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  And if you look at some of the dechlorinating agents, make
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  sure they're sodium free that's another important point because you
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  can get a lot they just contain sodium they're based for where for
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  industrial uses so don't use them always make sure you're using
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  a sodium free one and it's an extra bump in growth growth for very little cost
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  so there's no reason why not to do it the only reason you wouldn't do it is
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  because you can't be bothered to so let me know if you think this is of interest
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  if you do dechlorinate if you've got anything else to add any other ways of
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  dechlorinating i think they're covered though,
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  obviously if you're in a recirculatory system you don't need to worry about
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  it as much it's only when you add fresh water but if you're running a run to
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  waste hand watering anything like this then you are going to have issues with
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  dechlorination even if you didn't know the chlorine was affecting your growth
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  could be that one thing that just takes you over the edge to produce an extra
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  special crop okay until tomorrow that's been hydroponics daily for today dechlorination.