disturbing mineral growth on clay pots

[neophyte]

thanks for all the feedback! since an RO system is a bit pricey, I was wondering whether one of those cylindrical water filters you can screw onto the tap does the trick. Are those any different from the water softening system, anyway?

---------- Post added at 02:29 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:28 PM ----------

hang on... I'm silly... if I'm screwing one of these onto the tap, it would be processing the softened water... I'm not sure if any of these could go straight onto the garden hose, lol. thoughts?

[Roberta]

Originally Posted by neophyte

thanks for all the feedback! since an RO system is a bit pricey, I was wondering whether one of those cylindrical water filters you can screw onto the tap does the trick. Are those any different from the water softening system, anyway?

---------- Post added at 02:29 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:28 PM ----------

hang on... I'm silly... if I'm screwing one of these onto the tap, it would be processing the softened water... I'm not sure if any of these could go straight onto the garden hose, lol. thoughts?

"Filtering" will not remove salts from the water. They may remove off-odors and particulates from water (assuming those were present in the first place) but will do nothing for the water quality from the orchids' point of view.

For very small amounts of water, something like the zero-water filters (which are actually deionizers) will take minerals out of the water. (Britta filters won't do anything) . For the amount of water it produces, really pricey - small RO units aren't all that expensive, beats killing plants. Or you could buy jugs of distilled water... again you will have to do the math to figure out where the "break even" point with an RO unit is.

[Dollythehun]

Or, you could catch rain water, which is what many of us do. There have been numerous posts on how to do this. I do filter my water when I can't catch rain water. I store my water in three gallon Kitty litter jugs. I've tested my hard well water against filtered and there was a difference, although it's still hard.

[Orchid Whisperer]

My 'redneck' rainfall capture system consists of a glass top patio table with 4 legs. When its not being used as a table, 2 adjacent legs are propped up slightly to tip in one direction. Rainfall runs off of that low side, you can catch it in some sort of plastic container 5-gallon bucket, plastic tote, whatever.

There are probably ways of doing the same thing with a tarp over a clothesline, or a deck rail.

I use empty clean 2-gallon cat litter jugs to store the rain water. I use one of those plastic 'permanent coffee filters' and a funnel to filter out leaves and other crud as I'm pouring the water into the jugs. You can eliminate an extra step by placing the filter and funnel into the jug and placing it under the low point of your collection system.

I realize in the Bay Area mostly means that rain falls in the fall, winter, and spring months. Collect what you can, when you can, use deionized, distilled or RO water at other times.

[Ray]

$52 and free shipping at chewy.com

[Dollythehun]

I learned to catch rainwater from the Orchid Whisperer! I don't want to waste water using an RO system. I try not to overuse our pump and well. Rain is free.

[Roberta]

Originally Posted by Dollythehun

Rain is free.

However, in this part of the world it's rare for most of the year. Nice to use when available... but even with lots of storage space, one needs a reliable source for the rest of the time.

[neophyte]

Rain water is not an abundant resource here, unfortunately (good thing it’s free haha). I’ve found the product Ray mentioned on Amazon so that’s good. also, forgive my ignorance, but is bottled water okay to use if it's spring water or says "added minerals ?" obviously that's not a sustainable solution but I suppose it is a short-term fix until I hopefully get the RO machine. Thanks for all your advice!

(Edited to fix typos)

Ps: I tried collecting rainwater once in December last year (it seems the rainy season is already almost over) and the water was weirdly foamy. It was running off the roof tiles and went through the gutter, but I didn’t see any organic detritus at the bottom of the jug (just some fine sand or silt), so I don’t know what was causing the foam. Next time it rains I’ll try using the Orchid Whisperer’s method.

[Roberta]

Originally Posted by neophyte

Rain water is not an abundant resource here, unfortunately (good thing it’s free haha). I’ve found the product Ray mentioned on Amazon so that’s good. also, forgive my ignorance, but is bottled water okay to use if it's spring water or says "added minerals ?" obviously that's not a sustainable solution but I suppose it is a short-term fix until I hopefully get the RO machine. Thanks for all your advice!

Bottled water (spring water, with or without added minerals) isn't going to be all that low in solids. You can get distilled water in gallon jugs at the grocery store. Then, if you use distilled water (which will have zero minerals), the easiest way to ensure that you 're not introducing a calcium/magnesium deficiency is to mix the distilled with maybe 20% tap water.

[DirtyCoconuts]

For what it is worth, for less than $100 you can have 64 gallons of water storage and a catch system

Uline Trash Can - 32 Gallon, Gray H-3687GR - Uline


Two of these w lids and two lengths of adjustable gutter extender and one gutter to route the water off of.
If your use is low enough (or you supplement a bit) you could probably make it through a dry three months....