[Athens Growers - tap water and salts]

HI! My tap water is over 550ppm (parts per million) TDS.! VERY HARD! If you don't have a Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) meter you need one. As well as a PH meter for measuring feed water. Less than $40 for both. As a first-timer, your plants can only eat so much after which they suffer from overeating in what we call "Locke out ". Your water has residual solids (rainwater in the single digits up to like my tap water at over 550ppm. Cannabis needs little food provided to seedlings then progressively more thru the veg cycle and even more at flowering. You will find suggestive charts easily. I blend rainwater with filtered aged tap water to make what we call "constructed water". Then add whatever fertilizer/food to that until I'm at the appropriate level of Total Dissolved Solids for that stage of the plant's evolution. The "salts" you mention are dried solids from the mist, evocative of HARD water. Hard water limits the supplements you can add before you reach "lockout" where the plant can eat no more and suffers. Keep you mist water and feed water to within the TDS levels appropriate and you won't see residue on the leaves. Instead, you'll be maxing out your plant's possibilities!