Shade room set up/ hose watering question.

[mykl]

I converted a small gazebo into a shade room, and now the fun begins! I am hand-watering with RODI water the stuff that is still inside the house (Read 'Blooming'); yet it would be more difficult to do this out on the patio, mostly because of where the RODI is set up. My tap water runs around 170 PPM TDS.
I am wondering if I can safely use the tap water when the rain doesn't cooperate.

We should be in our rainy season, (CENTRAL FL) but this season has been quite freakish as far as rainfall (and heat!)

I'm thinking that when it does rain it will dilute any solids in the tap water.
Thoughts?

[Roberta]

What types of orchids are you growing? Unless you're growing the more fragile cloud-forest types or miniatures , your tap water should be fine. A lot depends on what is contributing to that TDS. If sodium, could be an issue at that level, if calcium, totally no worry (mine is a lot higher than that and most genera don't care)

[estación seca]

I agree. I use tap water for most orchids, and mine contains at least twice what yours does most of the year.

[mykl]

This is good to know. I can get so caught up in the minutia with everything I read, it's nice to have someone who can talk you 'down off the ledge'.
I appreciate it, thanks.

[MateoinLosAngeles]

Originally Posted by estación seca

I agree. I use tap water for most orchids, and mine contains at least twice what yours does most of the year.

How do you feel about the chlorine present in tap water? I use RO and tap water. Generally mixing the two, sometimes using pure RO for flushing. If I treat with a product like Quantum Total or individual strains like Bacillus subtilis (protects against Erwinia), Bacilus amyloliquefaciens or Thuricide (for Fungus Gnats) I will use RO water.

I always wonder if the chlorine could have a negative effect on the microbial balance of the root zone, that’s why I use RO water when I treat with microbes, but I do wonder if this is overkill and the levels of chlorine found in tap water won’t be high enough to make a difference.

[Keysguy]

I use tap water in the Keys and I don't think it has a negative impact on my orchids and it's not the best tap water by any stretch.

Growing in a shade house in Florida sure has its advantages. One obvious one is a very defined "wet" season where there is abundant natural rainfall. When it rains, it usually pours and that frequent good soaking rain helps flush most of any accumulating "bad elements" away.

The quality of my tap water that is used purely as a supplement to nature is pretty low on my list of concerns about my orchid collection. Now, if you want to start a discussion on hurricanes and iguanas.........

[Ray]

Chlorine/chloramine, as far as I can see from first-hand experience and documented studies, is unlikely to have a tremendous effect on plants at the average levels used by municipalities. However, that can vary all over the map and because of that, my water, which is already quite low in solids content, goes through carbon filtration before use.

As to Mateo's comment about live microorganisms used to treat plants, yes, chlorine is harmful to them. It is added to water specifically to kill such things, after all. To some degree, increasing the dosing can help, if for no other reason than it "contaminating" the water more than the disinfectant can handle.

[Roberta]

You can get chlorine/chloramine test strips at an aquarium supply store or online at Amazon. Before worrying much about the issue, find out if you have a problem before you try to "solve" it.

Then, which orchids? Miniature cloud-forest species may be sensitive but the larger, commercial hybrids really don't care.