How critical is water type?

[AmandaTom]

Hi all
I have been growing orchids for about 3 years and water them with water straight out of the tap. Where I live, the water is very hard. I soak the plants as needed--about once every couple of weeks depending on type. I recently read that RO water can make a huge difference. Does it?

I have stans, bulbos, dendros, catts, and oncids, most of which actually bloom. I haven't killed a plant yet.....

Thanks!

[snow]

i use aged tap water or aquarium water
i haven,t had any problems.
hard water on the other hand might be a different story

[Ray]

Some plants, notably phrags, are really sensitive to the amount of minerals dissolved in the water. The ones you mentioned are actually quite tolerant.

The biggest problems you will run into with hard water is the buildup of the minerals on the medium, pots, and plants. It dulls the color of the leaves, but over time can make the medium really crappy, sometimes to the point that it won't absorb well or can actually begin damaging the roots.

My water is not particularly hard, but I did notice a difference when I switched to RO. Be aware that you have to do more than simply switch water supplies, as the fertilizer you currently use will not be appropriate for the pure water, as-is, and you will need to feed more often (the plants are currently getting some nutrition from what's in your water alone).

[katfemme89]

What's RO water?

[Pippin]

RO= reverse osmosis

[katfemme89]

Ahhh, I see. Thanks. So there's water you can buy that's been put through reverse osmosis? Intriguing. I'd like to hear more. What does it do to the water?

[Ray]

Reverse osmosis is a purification process in which water is passed through a membrane containing pores so small that only the water molecules can go through, leaving the dissolved minerals behind. While not quite as effective as distillation or deionization, the cost-per-volume is much lower, and in a good system, only differs by a scant few ppm.

I think you are more likely to find distilled water to purchase, but if you want to produce pure water at home, you're likely better off with an RO system.

[katfemme89]

That's very interesting, thank you for the info.

A question I had about water that hit me the other day--I was told by the local supermarket florist that distilled water is good for flowers because it lacks the normal impurities that regular tap water does, but then I was wondering that since it has been distilled, doesn't that take some of the oxygen out of the water? and shouldn't plants have water that has more oxygen in it?

[kavanaru]

while boiling the water for the distillation prcess, most (if not all) the disolved oxygen will be "taken out" of the water. However, when the water cool down, oxygen from the air will dissolve again in the water (provided, there is enough water surface in contact with the air!). If you want to accelerate the process, you can just aireate it by beating.

as per your plants... I would never use pure distilled water on them. Please note that distilled water has no dissolved salts. Per osmosis, the concentration of salts in the plant cell and the surrounding water will tend to be equal, and therefore dWater will take out salts of your plants (and I mean all minerals needed by your plants for normal and healthy growth), resulting in demineralized unhealthy plants. Of course, plant cells have special mechanisms to avoid some salts leaving the cell, but if you use pure dWater, these mechanisms can collapse and become ineffective. Furthermore, due to the same osmosis process, water will enter in the plant cells in such a quantity that the cells will just literally explode. This will not happens if you use dWater once or twice, but if you use it frequently. The way to avoid this, is (like with RO Water) to add minerals, controlling the ppm you want your plants t be exposed too.

[CoolPhrog]

I used tap water for my cids for years - I would feed once a month and was able to keep everyone alive but no one ever bloomed....

I started reading some of the posts as a guest on this site - changed some of the thing I was doing but was still using water from my tap - now bear in mind, the tap water here is HORRIFIC at best - I could smell the chlorine when I turned on the faucet!!

I read a post by Ray one afternoon where he polled the members here about wheather or not he should include an extra part on the RO unit he offered on his site....having heard about these for years, I did some research on my own - bit the bullet and bought a large RO unit (50 gal per day - I bought a large one because I also have an 80 gal saltwater seahorse reef setup). The difference I've noticed in my cids has been AMAZING (not to mention the tank AND the taste of my coffee and iced tea... ! I use a pure water fertilizer as there aren't any minerals in pure water - I have new growth on everything - seriously - everything....There really is a difference!

There's my