Easy ways to make hard water softer

[Vanda lover]

Originally Posted by vjo

I think a lot of pet stores now carry RO water, you might want to try one close to you....Jean

I would be willing to bet it would be more expensive in a pet shop. Some towns have water depots where you can buy it fairly cheap, but a wine making place would be your best bet if there isn't one where you are.

[moonsful]

Thanks everyone i will try and get hold of some RO water. Freezing water seems easy and cheap but how would you filter it?

[Vanda lover]

I don't bother filtering the water. If it is fresh rain water it is pretty clean.

[Ray]

Brita filters do absolutely nothing to remove the dissolved minerals that make water "hard".

Freezing may reduce the amount of dissolved minerals, but not by much.

Collected rain water, dehumidifier or air conditioner condensate, RO, DI and distilled are all pretty much mineral free, and they do not extract nutrients from the plants. As was stated, you will be adding fertilizer, so that should be no issue whatsoever.

One thing to consider though - if you use a pure water, you cannot use "standard" fertilizer formulas as-is. Mixing them with unbuffered water results in a severely-low pH, so you'll either have to add something to increase it to the 5.5-6.5 range, or use a fertilizer that is designed for use in mineral-free water.

[RosieC]

Originally Posted by moonsful

Thank you sithwitch . jen.kirsten distilled water is bad apparently because it takes away calcium and magnesium and adds sodium to the water which is actually worse..thats what i heard. I just use bottled water but its becoming expensive and getting the reverse osmosis filter fitted in is with too expensive. I read that boiling water isn't all that good because it gets rid of oxygen and can only help if water is temporarily hard. Hmmm does anyone know if hard tap water can be tolerated by Bellatulums? since they like calcium in their soil...this is hardddd

You are thinking of softened water not distilled water. Softened water replaces calcium with sodium and is not good for orchids. However softened water as the input of an RO unit apparently gives a cleaner water than non-softened water as the input of an RO. RO removes the sodium more easily than it removes the calcium.

Distilled water uses evaporation, catches the water vapour and re-condenses it. The minerals are left behind when it evaporates. Distilled water is the purest water you can get.

Boiling it is not good, as that is effectively the same as the residue from distilling. It boils off pure water leaving more concentrated minerals behind.

Bottled water can often be high in minerals as it often comes from springs which have seeped up through rocks and absorbed minerals on the way. Unless it is bottled distilled water then tap water may be better.

[RosieC]

Originally Posted by moonsful

I live in England and the water here is hard so when i had one orchid i would used bottled water to water it in combination with fertilizer however now i have a few more orchids and its starting to get expensive. Is there any cheap ways to make the water softer :S...i try collecting rainwater but funnily enough it hasn't rained properly in some time. I NEED WATER NOW please any advice

Where in the UK are you? I have medium hard water here in the UK and most of my orchids do fine with it. UK water is generally good quality and unless it's really hard and unless you have sensitive genera of orchids you may be fine. (Phals, Paphs, Dens, Oncidiums all seem fine with my tap water).

For a short time, and if you pour water through the pots rather than standing them in it, then your tap water might be fine even for sensitive orchids.

Bottled water can often be higher in minerals than tap water as spring water is high in minerals (makes it nice to drink, not so good for orchids).

You can get RO units from UK orchid suppliers if you are interested. I haven't but when I saw them for sale at a show they were cheaper than you might expect.

I use rain water here... we've had a lot of rain in my part of the UK recently. For long term, this is probably the cheapest method.

[RosieC]

Originally Posted by Ray

One thing to consider though - if you use a pure water, you cannot use "standard" fertilizer formulas as-is. Mixing them with unbuffered water results in a severely-low pH, so you'll either have to add something to increase it to the 5.5-6.5 range, or use a fertilizer that is designed for use in mineral-free water.

Ray is right. Masdyman here on the Orchid Board sells 'Akerne's Rain Mix' fertiliser which basically the European version of MSU that Ray sells in the USA. It's great stuff for any pure water. I use it will all my rain water. Here's his website. BUY HERE-Akerne

[Magnus A]

There is good information above but to summarize it up:

Destillation and Reverse Osmosis (RO) is two purification methods that "remove" minerals and ions from the water. The water contain less ions after the treatment than before.

Destilled and RO purified water have no or VERY low capacity to buffer the pH, and using normal fertilizer lower the pH to dangerous levels. I used to mix 9/10 of RO water with 1/10 tap water to increase the "buffer strenght" and "save" the pH.

The hardness of water is mainly decided by the amount of Calcium and Magnesium, soft water can contain VERY large anount of Sodium and other ions and are still not good for orchids. Hardness is not a good messurement as it is the TOTAL amount of minerals and ions that need to be low. Conductivity is a much better measurement than soft/hard water.
Your water company should be able to tell you what your tap water in your region contain!

[Ray]

I will add that an RO system is quite economical to use over time.

Using my own pricing, considering replacing the sediment filter every 6 months, carbon every 12, and membrane every 24, the typical cost is about $0.04/gallon. Even using the costliest water in the US, and doubling it on the assumption that that's the sewerage charges, it still was around $0.13 - far better than most would pay for it or distilled water.