Water Hardness The Problem:

The hardness of water is determined by measuring bicarbonate levels; the harder the water, the
higher the percentage of calcium carbonate and magnesium carbonate content usually found in
solution. When phosphoric acid is added to lower pH, the bicarbonates are burned off as carbon
dioxide and water, but the calcium and magnesium ions react with the phosphorous to produce
the acid salts calcium phosphate and magnesium phosphate. Calcium and magnesium phosphate
are about 95% water insoluble, so most of the salts precipitate out of solution. The calcium and
magnesium precipitates become unavailable to the plant, and over time they form lime scale
deposits that clog pumps, irrigation lines and emitters.

Amino Acids for Hard Water

By Easy Grow Ltd on Aug 19, 2014 | 0 comments
Water Hardness The Problem:

The hardness of water is determined by measuring bicarbonate levels; the harder the water, the
higher the percentage of calcium carbonate and magnesium carbonate content usually found in
solution. When phosphoric acid is added to lower pH, the bicarbonates are burned off as carbon
dioxide and water, but the calcium and magnesium ions react with the phosphorous to produce
the acid salts calcium phosphate and magnesium phosphate. Calcium and magnesium phosphate
are about 95% water insoluble, so most of the salts precipitate out of solution. The calcium and
magnesium precipitates become unavailable to the plant, and over time they form lime scale
deposits that clog pumps, irrigation lines and emitters.

Water Hardness in the UK

Most of the UK has hard water water with a high mineral count, this can be seen in the map
to the right.

The Commercial Solution

Commercially, the best solution for hard water problems is to use nitric acid to lower pH. Nitric
acid reacts with calcium and magnesium to form calcium nitrate and magnesium nitrate, which
are about 98% water soluble. The calcium and magnesium ions remain available to the plant, and
little precipitate is formed. Unfortunately, nitric acid is a very aggressive chemical and is
dangerous to handle, which makes it impractical for hobbyists and objectionable for many
commercial growers, as well. Special ventilation and handling equipment is required, and even a
minor accident can cause serious burns.
Another problem with hard water is high pH and buffering capacity. It is often necessary to use
many times the amount of phosphoric acid to lower the pH of well water as compared with city
water, sometimes resulting in a phosphorous toxicity. Although phosphorous toxicity has no
direct symptoms, it causes zinc deficiency, iron deficiency and magnesium deficiency as toxicity
increases. To prevent phosphorous toxicity, a reasonable compromise is to use a combination of

phosphoric and nitric acids, sometimes called phostric acid, to lower pH. But if the customer
has to mix his own acids, the handling problem becomes an issue once again.
Some hobbyists try to solve hard water problems by using a water softener. This is a poor choice
since most water softeners simply exchange calcium and magnesium ions for sodium ions.
Sodium is not an essential element for most plants and can become toxic to plants over time as it
accumulates in the plant tissue.

Another option for hobbyists is to use reverse

osmosis water. Reverse osmosis removes all of the calcium and magnesium carbonates from the
raw water, but it also reduces the waters buffering capacity. Wild fluctuations in pH are often
seen as the plants go through various growth stages, normally rising during high nitrate demand
and lowering during high potassium demand. A better choice is to use a 50/50 blend of RO water
and tap water. The tap water adds back a little buffering capacity to the solution and helps
stabilize the pH over time. The down side is that RO filters are relatively expensive to purchase
and maintain, and a lot of water is wasted in the filtering process.

The Indoor Hobby Gardener Solution:

The best solution for hard water problems is to use a hard water nutrient formula along with an
amino acid chelator. The hard water nutrient formula adjusts for the extra minerals in the hard
water, and the amino acids keep the minerals soluble and available to the plant.

Amino acids such as glutamic acid, aspartic acid

and glycine are intermediate chelators. They attach to the calcium and magnesium ions in hard
water, preventing them from reacting with phosphoric acid, thus eliminating the precipitation of
insoluble salts. No lime scale is formed. Instead, the calcium and magnesium ions are easily
transported into the plant and released where they are needed.
Amino acids also act as biostimulants. For example, glutamic acid stimulates root cells to open
calcium ion channels. Calcium is imported into the plant thousands of times faster than through
simple diffusion. Calcium not only remains available to the plant, it is taken up by the plant
much more efficiently. Since the calcium and magnesium salts of pectic acid, together called
pectin, is the substance that glues the cell walls together, the plant is greatly
strengthened.Water and minerals are taken up more efficiently and the plant cells are protected
against pathogen and temperature stress.