pH?

[wgama]

I have been growing catts in s/h for almost three years now and some of them thrive and some of them...don't
Anyways I was wondering if i should be doing something with the pH...What is the proper pH? I have hard water is there anything i should be doing?

[silken]

Most orchids like a pH around 6.5 give or take a bit. If the water is too hard, the minerals build up and can damage the roots. However using water softened by a water softener is bad for plants too. Collecting rain water is one way to get around the hard tap water problem. I started to use rain water last year and noticed a big difference very quickly with the one phrag. I have. I do think some of the other orchids are growing better roots now too. If you must rely on hard tap water, the MSU fertilizer for tap water is made to take the higher pH into account.