Questions about using a Brita water filter

[butt0n]

I have been using distilled water for watering my Neos when I got this idea. Would a Brita water filter be enough to cleanse tap water? I have a small enough collection that this wouldn't be difficult, but I was wanting other ideas or input. What do you think?

[YardMeat]

I Was just about to start a thread asking about Boiling water to cleanse it... i have been doing that for all my orchid life
But i have heard that the water filter adds minerals that are good for humans but detrimental to orchids...but i would wait to get advice from the top dogs

[fred]

this topic was covered some time ago I hope one of our wonderful geeks might find the thread and post a link to that in this thread.

[YardMeat]

I dont know if i inserted the link right, but i bet this is the one Fred is speeking of.


http://www.orchidgeeks.com/forum/new...=Water+Quality

[butt0n]

Yeah, I'm searching around too...hmm...

[kmarch]

Originally Posted by butt0n

Would a Brita water filter be enough to cleanse tap water?

What's wrong with your tap water that it needs "cleansing"? Most tap water, unless very hard or softened is perfectly fine for orchids.

I would not use distilled water unless you're also using some type of fertilizer regularly. Distilled water doesn't contain any (or contains only trace) nutrients.

[fred]

good advice there Kevin
also YardMeat thats the link thank you

[myorchid]

I have a Pur water filter on my faucet and I have used that and regular tap water to water the orchids and I have noticed no difference in the plants.

[butt0n]

Originally Posted by kmarch

What's wrong with your tap water that it needs "cleansing"? Most tap water, unless very hard or softened is perfectly fine for orchids.

I would not use distilled water unless you're also using some type of fertilizer regularly. Distilled water doesn't contain any (or contains only trace) nutrients.

I'm using distilled water with worm tea. As for wanting to use a filter, I guess I wanted to see if I could do that rather than buying distilled water for the worm tea. My other orchids (catts, dens, etc.) are doing fine with the tap water. However, the Neo culture sheet I've gotten from Dr. Lehr says to use preferably, rain water, distilled, or RO. I also guess I just wanted to see if this could be a cover all so to speak for my orchid needs at the moment. But thanks for everyone's input thus far.

[YardMeat]

so is bolling water then letting it go back to room temp, is thet good or am i just wasting my time?

[fred]

myself I would not go to that trouble of boiling the water.
I have used normal tap water and for some time.
I am now using rain water as I have a water tank set up just for the orchids.

some members might not agree with this but I look at the orchids in the wild they do not get tap water so for me my choice is Rain Water.

[Hummer344]

I use tap water. The tap water around here is notoriously hard but it doesn't seem to bother the chids.

[patticake]

Originally Posted by YardMeat

so is bolling water then letting it go back to room temp, is thet good or am i just wasting my time?

Boiling water will kill bacteria, but it doesn't remove any of the minerals etc. If anything, it would make them more concentrated. Distilled water is boiled and the steam is collected back into water with out the minerals, etc. So I think it's kind of a waste to boil the water unless you have well water or some kind of water with contaminants in it.

[risa59]

We installed a reverse osmosis tap in the kitchen since our water is hard (we use a water softener) and acid (we also have an acid neutralizer). I do warm the water a bit especially in the winter when it is too cold from the tap for the orchids.

[janet_a]

i have used

straight tap water aired off (as did the big commercial grower down the road for some 40-odd yrs)
instapure filtered water
rain water


i have noticed no difference among them. (however, the plants outside in pots in potting soil definitely like rainwater better than the tap water. of course, they get more of it more uniformly through the pots... maybe that's it.)

[jerrymeola]

Water filters like Brita are just paper to filter out dirt particles. Some have carbon added to remove an occasional bad taste. Neither use is necessary for orchids.

A carbon filter will, when it is new, filter chlorine. However, the carbon filter is saturated so fast it stops removing chlorine. A problem with these filters is that people think they are doing something long after they are dead.

Worm tea does not need anything special as to water. You just do not use chlorine water since chlorine is put in the water to kill microbes, which we want in worm tea.

The easiest way to rid chlorine is to put the tap water in a bucket and stir it. Then leave it over night and use it the next day free of chlorine. There are chemicals like Sodium ThioSulfate that will remove chlorine immediately, but overnight is fast enough for orchids.

If you were going to do anything to tap water, it would be best to do acid injection. High alkaline water prevents plants from being able to absorb the micro-nutrients in the fertilizer. Here in Florida nurseries that use automatic acid injection have a much better growth rate. I have never tried manually acidifying a small amount for home use. Consistency could be a problem.