We've been in this house 4 years and I'm a city gal, new to wells, softeners and septic tanks/field. We first used the salt whose backwash killed a big swatch of grass. The neighbors put their salty backwash into their CONCRETE septic tank, not a good idea I was told. So we switched to potassium chloride and every week I have to use wink to remove the brown stain in the toilet and my skin smells awful after a shower because of the high iron content in the water. The potasium chloride did not do a good job removing it and the softener guys have come out twice because the water keeps getting worse. But the grass area did not get worse. So after 6 months, we are going back to the salt-too bad for the grass-although the quack grass doesn't mind the salted water. So as I remove the quack grass from the flower beds, I transplant it into the run-off area. LOL. and all of you thought quack grass had no value.

Hi Gesjenn, Welcome. Which cross did you get? My orchids are indoors in MN in dry conditions (humidity from 15%-50%), and the Phals are in NZ sphag and plastic pots. They get repotted in the spring. What works for me is to soak the sphag till it's sopping wet, then squeeze out a lot of the moisture before wrapping the plant. The ideal is for the sphag to be somewhat fluffy and damp but not wet. I could still squeeze out more water, but not a lot. The repotted Phal goes in reduced light for a week, several feet away from the window and artificial light. It doesn't get watered, which allows any raw root ends to harden off. The sphag may get dry - even crunchy - before the 7 days are up, but I tough it out. :) This method's worked with Phals that are new or stressed or both, plus those in spike, bud, and bloom. My one concern would be if you had any raw root ends in completely wet sphag and a plastic pot. If I'm not going to repot a brand new orchid for some reason - in spike, etc., and it's not a Phal - it goes in reduced light for a week too, esp. if it was shipped. Hope your Phal does well. Let us know how it goes.

I'd love to believe that these no-salt water softeners work as it is a chore to lug salt to the water softener but none of them have an understandable scientific basis with solid controlled experimental evidence to support it. While conventional water softeners work on a clearly understood and easily confirmed chemical process. When we move to our present home, it was clear our water had unacceptable levels of calcium in it. We're on a neighborhood well and well water in many regions has this problem. We have both a front loading washer as well as a continuous melting ice maker. Both had problems with our water immediately. Continuous melt ice makers don't tolerate scale at all. The deposits on the freezing plate interfere with the sheets sliding off and cause the unit to jam up. I was having to clean the freezing plate on ours monthly. Front load washers also have all sorts of problems with hard water. The soap forms scum deposits which quickly become smelly. I was running two packs of washing machine cleaner through ours every month to try to combat this. Plus I had the usual scale on the dishes and bath fixtures, plus the soap scum buildup in the showers. I installed a basic Whirlpool water softener from Lowes and this immediately solved all our problems. I clean the ice maker about once a year which was the same frequency I had done it in our previous house on city water. And occasionally I run a washer cycle with washing machine cleaner but no longer does our washer continuously get smelly. This is also a good place to point out that the science behind calcium removal using resins with salt or potassium salt is the same across all brands. I won't argue that $3,000 water softeners have a lot of extra features that you will not find in a $400 Whirlpool one. BUT the way the remove calcium is exactly the same. They ALL use an ion exchange resin that substitutes sodium for the calcium. Periodically the resin is flushed with super saturated salt water to unbind the calcium, dispose of it, and replace it with more sodium for a new cycle. Note, it is a myth that water softeners add salt to your water, they add sodium, not salt. For those that are concerned with sodium intake, for a little more money, potassium chloride can be used instead of regular salt in just about any resin based water softener. As a plus with potassium, those with gray water systems can have a water softener and still use the waste water on plants and the lawn.

In general all ion exchange softeners can be used on municipal water and well water BUT the qualifier is the exact conditions of the water and what needs to be treated. The negatives regarding the (Sears, GE, Whirlpool, Morton, Waterboss, et al) pre-built box store softeners are ... Lower quality materials in the control valve, mostly ABS which ages and becomes brittle. ABS does not do well with really hard water. On 3 gr hardness city water most any softener will give a decent service life BUT harder water than that seperates the pre-built box store softeners from the quality ones. Most of the parts are proprietary and only available from limited sources and they tend to be expensive. The pre-built softeners are "cabinet" (all-in-one) designs and are much harder to work on. The cabinet design puts the resin tank inside the brine tank. Cleaning the brine tank is more difficult and takes a lot more time than a conventional design softener but the Sears type does take less floor space (the ONLY advantage in it's design). A common misconception is that pre-built BOX store softeners are less expensive than the industry standard softeners. The Sears softeners around 40000 hardness capacity generally run a little under $500. For the same price you can have a Fleck 5600 on demand metered softener delivered to your home including shipping. You'll need to assemble it (takes less than 30 minutes) and install it. You can have a plumber assemble it and install it (you'd need a plumber to install the Sears softener also or DIY). If buying from a local water treatment pro the same softener will be more expensive but will include delivery, installation, and service after the sale. You'll get a control valve that has proved it's reliability over 20+ years, is made of state of the art materials (Noryl) which does not turn brittle and is totally inert. You'll get a 5 year warranty on the control valve and ten year warranty on the resin tank. You can buy parts for the Fleck control valve locally or all over the internet. Complete parts and service/repair manuals are available for download and there is always someone everywhere who can service Fleck control valves as they are the long established industry standard AND they are as easy OR easier to program than the pre-built softeners. They tolerate very hard water with no problem. Real softeners generally last 20+ years EVEN on ludicrously hard water while the service life on a pre-built softener seems to be under 5 years (if you're lucky) on really hard water and lasting longer than that is a rare exception. Sears, GE, Waterboss, Morton and the like are the most commonly complained about water softeners on this forum and all over the internet. Fleck based water softeners just work and work and work and work and work ... Why buy a lesser quality water softener for more money?. Have the seller deduct the price of the softener from the selling price and do this... Get a water test from an independent lab. An independent lab has no agenda and won't be trying to sell you water treatment equipment. Go to http://www.epa.gov/safewater/labs/index.html to locate a certified lab near you. This is a MUST DO because without it everything is a guess. A quickie water test from Sears or a water softener company won't be as accurate (and possibly not as competent) as from a certified independent lab. Living on a well will usually require water treatment, routines tests for nitrates and bacteria, and some maintenance to the water treatment equipment cause you are not just making the well water nice you are making it safe also. Hit the Yellow Pages and call at least three local water treatment pros. Make sure you call at least one of the big dogs like Kinetico or Culligan for comparison and at least a couple independent pros. DON'T TELL THEM YOU HAD YOUR WATER TESTED. Give each an opportunity to offer suggestions and provide you with a quote to meet your water treatment needs. IGNORE ANY THAT DON'T TEST YOUR WATER THEMSELVES as they can't speak intelligently to water treatment without knowing what needs to be treated. Ask lots of questions. Softening the entire house or just the water heater (not a smart idea)? Warranty, parts & labor or just parts, how long and on exactly what? Install, permits required, licensed plumber? Routine maintenance and costs? Do they stock parts? Response time for emergency (water leak) calls? If they don't explain things to your satisfaction that is a good indicator of how you'll be treated after the sale. After they've gone use your water test to compare with theirs. Are all your treatment needs being addressed? Ask your neighbors if they have any water treatment experience. They might tell you who's good or who to avoid. Come back here and post the specific recommendations and hardware components with the costs and we'll give you our opinions.