what water?

[journorchid]

So I know I'm supposed to be watering with my tap water (calcium deposits on the pots of my other plants), but I saw another post where Cynthia said spring water and bottled water are bad, too. People make refs to their water softeners, but my house has none.

So here's the question: Starting from scratch, how can I get/produce the right water for my orchids?

[Fabolusus]

Fill an open container with tap water and let it sit for at least 24 hours. Most, if not all of the chlorine and heavy minerals should evaporate by then.

[journorchid]

i had heard about this method, but then had some doubts because i read about pouring it back and forth between things, etc etc. i'll just use an old pot and always have some water at the ready.

but a question: would there be a problem with using bottled water? i called their customer service -- probably i'm the first one in history -- and the mineral contents they quoted were incredibly minimal.

There shouldn't be a problem using bottled water. It depends on what kind you use. First, there's spring water which can be from any spring anywhere in the country. The mineral content (TDS or total disolved solids) will vary from brand to brand. Second, there's purified water or reverse osmosis water (R/O) whch has most of the impurities filtered out of it, and last there is distilled water, which is absolutely pure.

Spring water will have minerals in it, and a regular fertilizer would be okay to use with it. But the purified water may have barely a trace of minerals, and the distilled water has none at all. With the last two, minerals would have to be added back to them to make them useful for plants. Fertilizer that has all the trace minerals in it should be used with them.

My tap water is very high in minerals (TDS), even higher once I add fertilizer to it, making it too high for orchids, so I use half rain or r/o water and half tap water, and that seems to work okay for me. Your water might be okay to use as it is, if you could learn the TDS of it. Then fertilizer will have to be factored in.

[Pconch]

I spray my orchids with the garden-hose. Ants fertilize them. hehe. perhaps you need an orchid that likes calcium; mount it on a rock.

very interesting though. I shall think on this. Perhaps some would enjoy a splash of milk or fish chum?

Does anyone by chance know of something to heal a mended evergreen type fruit (tamarind) tree limb? I cut a piece out of it and bent it together but it is not progressing and mending as well as I had hoped for it.

Random Bonus topic free of charge! Thanks everyone

[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?

[Willc73]

I have had very good luck with R/O water that fills a 70 gallon tank and I add MSU Fertilizer for Pure Water. The R/O is also run through the mister system. Things have been working out well.

[duclay99]

I just wanted to say that only chlorine and other gases in the water will evaporate, but minerals and heavy metals will not.

Originally Posted by Fabolusus

Fill an open container with tap water and let it sit for at least 24 hours. Most, if not all of the chlorine and heavy minerals should evaporate by then.