Watering

[PhalPal]

Hi myxoma! I am in Orange County too, Placentia. I use tap/hose water on all my orchids and they are just fine. The water company recently sent out a full report on our water quality. (it was in with your water bill) Ours is very hard (560 total dissolved solids) but I have too many orchids to do bottled water. Keep in mind that if you use pure water you need to use the correct fertilizer to make sure your orchids get what the bottled water companies take out.

[NicC]

The Brita-type filter is essentially activated charcoal as is the GE type refrigerator filter(the water by the way is not cooled more than passing through the door.) From what I understand activated charcoal is great from removing color and tastes (smells) and some heavy metals from water but does not add anything as do whole house water purifiers/softeners which add appreciable amount of salt(sodium chloride) especially if not properly adjusted and maintained.
Nick