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  #1  
Old 12-03-2007, 06:12 AM
Spider Spider is offline
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Default RO water

I use RO-water with a weak fertilizer. I also spray my plants with this water every day. Is it possible to spray the plants with RO-water without fertilizer
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  #2  
Old 12-03-2007, 06:42 AM
FinnBar FinnBar is offline
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i mist my plants with R/O several times a week. i don't see a problem with that.

i remember some source saying you shouldn't use R/O water for tillandsias but that's a different story..
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  #3  
Old 12-03-2007, 06:56 AM
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So you mist yours without fertilizer?
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  #4  
Old 12-03-2007, 08:10 AM
FinnBar FinnBar is offline
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both. i soak with fertilizer and sometimes use the same water for misting but most mornings i mist with pure r/o
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  #5  
Old 12-03-2007, 08:57 AM
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cb977 cb977 is offline
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I use rainwater for misting and for fertilizing my mounted 'chids and vandas. Here in Florida, we go for weeks without rain sometimes and at those times that the rainbarrels are empty, I use the RO water from the sink. It's perfectly fine to use it with or without fertilizers.
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  #6  
Old 12-03-2007, 11:14 AM
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Thanks. The leaves get spotted when I use ferilizer in the water that I use for spraying
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  #7  
Old 12-03-2007, 11:19 AM
smweaver smweaver is offline
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The only thing I spray my plants with is RO water, which rarely has fertilizer added to it. I haven't had any problems with it; in fact, I can't imagine why there would be any problems spraying it on orchids. It's about as clean a water source as you could want.
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  #8  
Old 12-03-2007, 01:46 PM
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Misting with RO should not be an issue. Watering with it is something else.

Keep in mind that when we eat, we suck up food, whether our bodies need it or not. A plant, on the other hand, is to a great extent, at the whim of the concentration of the chemicals ionized in the solution, and much of the driving force for absorption is due to the fact that the ions are in stronger concentration outside- than in.

If you water a lot with RO, which has no dissolved minerals, that gradient is reversed, and you can actually pull nutrition from the plant.

I don't believe it's an issue for the occasional flushing, but don't make a habit of it.
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  #9  
Old 12-03-2007, 03:08 PM
smweaver smweaver is offline
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Very interesting, Ray. Thank you for providing that information. So, if I have an RO unit that is the sole source of water for my orchids (well, barring summer rainstorms when all of the plants go out into the back yard for five months of the year), I should be fertilizing them every time I apply water? That concerns me because, many years ago, I had the weakly/weekly adage drilled into my head regarding the proper (or maybe just safe) amount and frequency of fertilization. Even though I switched to RO water two years ago, I've still been sticking to that old rule of thumb. Now I'm feeling that I need to go out to the sun room and offer my poor starving plants an apology. In truth, they don't look like they're suffering for nutrition. And, in fact, the vast majority of them look very healthy and have flowered regularly. Still, the idea of fertilizing them so often is something that would (for me) take a lot of getting used to. In the summer that would mean that some of them--the Aerides and Vandas mostly, which I grow in containers that don't have much media and therefore require frequent waterings--would get fertilized every day. Ugh, now I've got a lot to think about... Okay, I'm going to go out to the sun room to say that I'm sorry.

Steve
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  #10  
Old 12-03-2007, 04:09 PM
Ross Ross is offline
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Steve, just as one example, last year I did as many folks here do now, watered with rain water, or whatever and once a week fertilized. My Dendrobium anosmum typically grew 18" pendulous growths. This year it grew 26" growths simply from using the recommended regime on Ray's site (nothing else changed.) Appears my old regimen was starving it.
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