Can You Use a Water Softener for Watering Orchids?

[james mickelso]

Ray, here at Camp Pendleton, Ca. where I am supervisor of wastewater, we have very hard water. 350-400 ppm manganese/iron. Whether magnesium, manganese, iron, or concrete, all of them make water hard. The sodium ions replace the other ions and make the water what we call soft. Why she uses a water softener I don't know but the water is not good for orchids.

[catherinecarney]

I would kill to have water at the 90 ppm range. Water out of the well here is similar to what james mickelso described--those of us with aquariums here in Ohio refer to it as "liquid rock." It's great for African rift lake (Tanganyikan and Malawian) cichlids, but not so good for most else....

I cut my well water 50/50 with rain water or melted snow when I have it and that seems to help.

Catherine

[AvantGardner]

We just had the local plumber install an RO system in our house today. Ray, I got it from you about 10 yrs ago and just rediscovered it a few days ago, after contemplating buying a new one for a long while. Great surprise! We've had a boil order thrice in the past year... Calcium deposits. MO water is loaded with it.

[NYCorchidman]

Use your water right out of tap. 90 ppm is nothing.
Mine is around 50ppm and my plants are all doing well for years.

James- Water hardness is measured by the concentration of calcium and magnesium, not all other stuff you mentioned. This does not change no matter where you live. lol

[james mickelso]

You are correct. That is how it is measured. But a softener takes out most of the other as well. We condition our process water this way. I wish I could have a place to install one of Ray's units. I have to buy my RO water from the machines in front of the grocery markets. But I dip all my orchids so only use about 10 gallons per cycle in summer here. Once a week. And I blend with our concrete water about 50/50. Ray, I need some more of your kelp stuff. And cal/mag fert.

[Ray]

Originally Posted by james mickelso

Ray, here at Camp Pendleton, Ca. where I am supervisor of wastewater, we have very hard water. 350-400 ppm manganese/iron. Whether magnesium, manganese, iron, or concrete, all of them make water hard. The sodium ions replace the other ions and make the water what we call soft. Why she uses a water softener I don't know but the water is not good for orchids.

You are right - a dissolved mineral is a dissolved mineral. Maybe I should have said the "common" ones are calcium, magnesium, and iron carbonates.

You might consider one of my "Counter top" RO systems - it connects to a hose outlet or sink (I provide an adapter for standard ones), you turn the water on and fill your storage jugs, then turn it off. It's rated at 50 gpd, but I use a low-pressure membrane rated at 20 psi, so if your water pressure is higher, you'll actually get more pure water out. They are also more efficient than other brands, producing - at most - 50% of the flush water that other systems do.