Orchids & Nuvoh2O Water Softener System

[jkofferdahl]

Originally Posted by Ray

Currently, there are only four practical ways to "soften" water (removal of calcium-, magnesium-, and iron carbonates) - distillation, reverse osmosis, deionization, and chemical substitution. Your classic NaCl softener is the last, but I'd avoid that if you wish to use it on your plants.

I sell RO systems, and despite jkoff's insulting generalization, there are two things to keep in mind: 1) all orchids can and do benefit from the use of water that is very low in dissolved solids content, and that is a factor of evolution, independent of your grower status. 2) that does not mean that everyone must, or even should purify their water before use on orchids.

One should know their actual water chemistry and the sensitivity of their plants before making any such decisions.

First, MOST growers, growing on windowsills in their homes, have no need for reverse osmosis.

Second, it irritates me no end that every post you make, Ray, is an ad for your products.Your posts serve as proof of my generalization.

[Roberta]

Back to the beginning of the thread, the question related to hard water. First, I can say that many orchids grow just fine with southern California hard water (I have about 1800 plants, so have a bit of experience) There are some, which I don't grow very well (like Masdevallias and Draculas) that really do want better water than I have. But the proposed system would not help, may or may not harm, and sounds like pseudoscience. RO makes the water taste better - otherwise a bit "chalky' (I have a little unit under the sink, and do use it for the few orchids that want good water) But if a system doesn't lower the TDS and actually remove the calcium and magnesium, it's not doing much of anything useful for orchids, and probably not for anything else except for making money for someone.