Does vinegar remove salts?

[Connie Star]

I'm not having much luck with semi-hydro. My well-water is very hard and I'm sure contains a lot of calcium. I am getting a lot of salt buildup on the LECA. I wondered if flushing the pots using a dilute solution of vinegar, to a pH of 5.5 (I can test the pH) would help?
Any thoughts?

[johnblagg]

Connie there are products designed for this in fact.I have never used any of them but here is a link.

http://homeharvest.com/hydroponicclearingsolutions.htm

[smartie2000]

I would not do it if you have plants potted in it. A change in pH would stress them out.

[Ray]

I would not use vinegar, as it can be used as a herbicide when concentrated, but will likely be of no value to cleaning if dilute.

Assuming the deposits are carbonates of calcium, magnesium, and iron - most likely with hard water - they really should not be an issue for the plants. They may look bad, but as they will be at the top surface only, they should be of little cultural impact on the submerged roots of an otherwise healthy plant. It is the buildup of fertilizer salts that are of more concern, and that's apparently not what's going on.

Those carbonate minerals can, however, cause new root growth to "shrink back", so all you need to do is dump that top layer and replace it with clean LECA. You can then treat the "carbonated" ones to remove the buildup.

Citric acid is stronger than acetic for that, but a lot of folks swear by soaking in a fairly strong solution of Epsom Salts.

[Connie Star]

Okay I'll try to take the top pebbles off. How do I know there isn't a build up of deposits lower down? I would really have to disturb the roots to find out, and I don't think I should do that unnecessarily.

[Ray]

It is less likely deeper - the vast majority of the evaporation is occurring from the top surface, so that's where the precipitation happens.

If you can water more often, or better yet, increase your humidity, the buildup will be greatly reduced.