[Cynthia, Prescott, AZ]

Trace minerals are not the problem, or the solution. It is the macro minerals that you are missing out on when you go to RO, rain, distilled, and DI water, like calcium, magnesiun, and sulfur. So buying ferts with trace minerals is not enough when using this 'good' water. I am concerned with the use of bottled water in that you will not soak the mix thoroughly enough, and reusing water on more than one plant, is, in my opinion, a no-no. Sure, I have hanging plants in my greenhouse, that drip into other pots, but this is small scale sharing, not like every plant sharing water with every other plant. Too many bad possibilities there. Mineral wise, tap water is just fine if you drench the pot well everytime you water, flushing out the residue from the last watering.

If you are worried about chlorine, get a charcoal filter attachment for your faucet, then water to your hearts content. I used chlorinated Colorado River water (Los Angeles area) for 20 years with no trouble, but I realize that times change, and so does the type of chlorine used, so there is no guarantee that tap water is perfectly fine. The mix that 126 does for fertilizing, half tap and half 'good' water, is a highly recommended practice if your are using 'good' water on your plants and negate the need for any added minerals. But for most people, fertilizer added to tap water is not high enough in TDS to be a problem unless you are growing the most sensitive plants to TDS and your water is very hard. But for these plants, you would probably already have changed to 'good' water, and should use the 50-50 water for them too when fertilizing.

Think of 'mineral water' or 'spring water' as tap water without chlorine. Do you really want to pay for that?