Telling soft from hard water
 

I've been reading that soft water is bad for orchids (salt is used to make it soft). My house has a water softener. I think the outdoor faucet is untreated hard water. Is there an easy test?

Yes, go to where the water pipe comes into the house and follow it all the way to the softener. If you see the outside line coming off that main before the softener, then you are good-to-go as for unsoftened water. The softener companies almost always do this because running lawn watering through a softener means an early death of the softener (besides the lawn.)

Ross is right, remember back in the day when I was questioning my watering system as well. An easy visual. I determined my outdoor water was bypassed but still went down to get the water tested. Now a days, being an indoor grower, hard or soft, I let my water bottles 7 1/2 gallons set out for 3 or so days before watering.

You can buy an aray of inexpensive (usually) water testers at any aquarium or pet store. I would imagine you could find one at a large nursery as well, though Ive never tried. Another easy test is to wash your hands with soap! If the "soapy feeling" comes off quickly, then you have hard water. If it seems to linger and you have to keep scrubbing to get it off, you have soft water! Of course, this second technique is not nearly as acurate as the first one, but its free!!

My parents have a water softener, and there are dials on the softener that turn in order to bypass the softening system. Maybe yours does too.