Safe water for orchids.

[estación seca]

The least expensive reverse osmosis water I can get is from a large aquarium shop not far from one of the places I work. I bring my own 5 gallon bottles and pay either 3 or 4 cents per gallon. I collect rain water when I can into a 30-gallon plastic barrel and a 300-gallon Rubbermaid stock tank.

[Ray]

Originally Posted by PlantTeeth

What about bottled water? Like the gallon jugs of Spring, Distilled, or Drinking water?



Are any of those safe to use?

Often, bottled spring water is as high-, if not higher in dissolved solids content than local water supplies. Distilled and RO water may also be available, but it'll still end up being more costly than a simple RO system, and you don't need to lug jugs home from the store!

The two things I like best about using RO are that it allows me to control exactly what chemistry my plants are getting, and since I'm starting with very low dissolved solids, I can also keep that content very l ow, which is what they see in nature.

[BPinPS]

I’m brand new to this website and somewhat of a novice at growing cattleya orchids, so regarding this which water to use issue..... normally I would use rainwater that I’ve collected outside, but since that’s rather difficult to accomplish living here in the desert, would using store bought bottled purified drinking water suffice? Thanks!!!

[Subrosa]

Originally Posted by BPinPS

I’m brand new to this website and somewhat of a novice at growing cattleya orchids, so regarding this which water to use issue..... normally I would use rainwater that I’ve collected outside, but since that’s rather difficult to accomplish living here in the desert, would using store bought bottled purified drinking water suffice? Thanks!!!

Without knowing at least TDS (total dissolved solids) of the purified drinking water there's no way to intelligently answer that question. However distilled water which is available in gallons at supermarkets and drug stores is perfectly suitable, as is the ro water many stores manufacture on site. Do you have any analysis data on your tapwater? I use my nearly 200 ppm tapwater on many of my orchids, including Cattleya with no issues.

[Ray]

“Purified”, as Subrosa said, can mean distilled or reverse osmosis water. Both are fantastic for orchids, but you’ll need to provide everything they need via the fertilizer, including calcium and magnesium.

You municipality should be able to provide a water analysis of your tap water, although most desert locales tend to have hard, alkaline water.

If your collection is large or growing in size, you might want to consider purchasing an RO system. It’ll save you money in the long term and lots of hassle lugging jugs home right away.

[Roberta]

Like Subrosa, I have had no problem with watering Cattleyas with city water either - sometimes the TDS is 180 ppm (on a really good day), sometimes 350 or more (bad day in summer) and I have orchid friends in inland areas where it is higher like 500-600 ppm. There are orchids that are picky about water quality, but Catts are very forgiving.