Type of water?

[Bubblehead]

I read somewhere that filtered water should be used.

Is tap water OK?

[kmarch]

Originally Posted by Bubblehead

Is tap water OK?

It depends on the quality of your tap water and what orchids you are growing. Most of the orchids commonly grown by hobbiests will do well with good tap water. Unfortunately I can't tell you if you have good tap water or not. Do you have city municipal water or well water? Believe it or not city water is often better for orchids than well water because some well water is high in minerals. Some people are concerned about chlorine or flouride in city water. These do not harm orchids as a rule though if you are concerned you can let your tap water sit overnight and the chlorine will dissipate.

Now on to the orchids. Like I said most orchids Paphs, Phals, Onc, Den, Zygo, Phrag, Catts, etc., etc. will all do ok with tap water. It is frequently said that Phrag besseae requires RO water or rain water. This is not necessarily true. In Michigan i watered my besseaes with sity tap water without any problems. Here in Australia my Phrag besseae didn't do well with tap water. Disa is another genera that requires super fresh, clean water but most hobbiests don't grow Disa.

Can you tell us a little more about your water adn what kinds of orchids you're growing?

Some orchid growers collect rain water which works well too.

[Vivienne]

I agree with Kevin's points. Here in Colorado Springs our water is very good. I use it on all my orchids after it has been sitting in open jugs for 3-4 days.

[mbasden]

If you have well water and it is being treated via salt you will do best to use rain water. The salt in treated well water is not good for orchids or CP's because of the deposits left behind from the salt.

[kmarch]

To clarify, mbasden is referring to softened water. Water softeners use salt to soften the water and this isn't good for orchids.

City water or well water that does not go through a softening system may or may not be ok for your orchids as per my comments above but softened water should not be used.

[Hummer344]

I have used my cities water for year. I don't let it sit at all. My plants all do ok.

[articuno75]

I use tap water. My plants are alive Your orchids will "tell" you if they like it or not. I have plants that the tips of the leaves have blackend. (Oncidiums) They don't like the water, but the rest of the gang don't seem to mind.

[Vivienne]

Rain water would be my first choice if it were legal to do so. It's illegal to collect rain water here in Colorado. grrrr.

[kmarch]

Illegal to collect rainwater? To someone from Australia, that sounds so strange.... Why is it illegal?

[articuno75]

I never heard of such a thing. Is it really illegal to collect rainwater? In Indiana, there is a law where we can still hang people for taking a bath on Sunday.

[treyes111]

this was kinda on my mind the other day....

what do you guys think of aquarium water? I usually do the water changes in my fish tank on the same day as I soak the plants, and its about 15 ~ 20 gallons of water down the drain. If it could be useful....

there would be some bacteria in there that I don't know if they'd be good or bad. some fish poop, maybe food, nitrates, nitrites, and any other goodies I'm not sure

any ideas?

[jay]

I am going to go way out on a limb here, but if the water is illegal to collect in Colorado I would guess it has something to do with having enough run off to make it to the Colorado River. This river is essential for supplying water to many cities south of Colorado.

This is a wild guess.

[jay]

treyes111 - water from the fish tank could be bad depending on the tank. If it is heavily populated then it could have higher levels of ammonia. You would also want to check the TDS because of other dissolved solids that could be in there. Also, if you have treated them for any illness, there could be copper in the water which is bad for plants.

I wouldn't use it to be safe.

[treyes111]

good call.... I do use a copper treatment to prevent disease. That one totally slipped my mind

[Vivienne]

Jenny, Kevin - yes it really is illegal.
Jay - you are basically correct. I found the following on the Colorado Division of Water Resources....
Practically speaking, it means that in most river drainages, a person cannot divert rainwater and put it to a beneficial use without a plan for augmentation that replaces the depletions associated with that diversion.

[psyc1210]

I switch between using city tap water, and then the next watering I dilute worm tea with distilled water.

[Don1]

Originally Posted by Bubblehead

I read somewhere that filtered water should be used.

Is tap water OK?

You would do well to have your tap water tested first. In our area of Texas all tap water has almost 200 ppm of sodium. I know from experience that it will kill the roots on orchids. I have to use rain water or RO water.

[jerrymeola]

Well here is an answer that will shock everyone.

I was taking with my agricultural rep yesterday about optimizing growth with acidic injection (fertilizers work much better with a PH under 7), which costs about $300 a tank plus the equipment and installation.

He shocked me and said the cheap solution was to use water from my water softener. Just make sure you run the rinse cycle twice to be sure the salt is removed. It should be noted that a properly running softener should never have salt in the water. It is flushed out of the system. The double rinse just makes it doubly safe.

[tizzycat]

Vivienne, "illegal" that really surprised me at first, but I guess I can understand the logic now it has been explained. In the UK we're encouraged to collect rainwater (which I do in several water butts. I usually let it stand inside overnight to get it up to room temperature before watering my orchids with it.

[mbasden]

Jerry, did that man tell you what was in the water that was beneficial for the orchids? I'm kind of curious.

[jerrymeola]

It is not the water but that high PH and high dissolved solids make the fertilizers less effective.

Lowering the PH makes the fertilizer work better. This was just a cheaper solution than injecting acid into the system.

He is bringing me a biological fungicide later this week. I am big on getting rid of poisons and to use natural Bacillus instead is interesting. Doubly so since fungicides can run over $300 a gallon.