Which is better for Plants; Bottled Water Or Tap Water
The_Emperor
18 years ago
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maineapples
18 years agoDrakens
18 years agoRelated Discussions
Watering sentitive plants with tap water.
Comments (24)Congratulations Gary, you discovered sliced bread Twice, no less! This is exactly how they grow in nature and I grow most of mine the same way. My Cattleya types are all mounted. This does not mean they are hanging on branches, it means the roots are exposed to air like the plant you described. 1) The classical mount, a tree branch. Stick the plant on it and never touch it again. I have some who have been on the same mount approaching 15 years and may well resemble the plants you saw. 2) Wooden or plastic basket. Difference between growing them ON a basket rather than IN a basket is that my plants are growing in EMPTY baskets. Works exactly like the tree branch except the wood has been rearrange to look like a basket. Again, once there, I never touch them again, may put the whole thing in a larger basket when it's time or just let them ramble on. 3) Plastic or clay pots. Mounting plants on our conventional plastic pots only requires you to refrain yourself from adding bark or coconut. Put the plant in a small pot without medium. Often I add a few large rocks, 1 1/2" to 2" size to stabilize it and give the pot substance to keep it from falling over. When the plant rambles over the edge, drop everything into the next size pot, also empty. The roots will fill all available space. I have a huge BLC which was last potted in 1988 by the previous owner which is about 2' x 2' x 1' in size. After 25 year, I suspect the bark in the 6" pot it's in, is probably slightly deteriorated but who cares. All of the above plants grow similar to what you are describing and cannot be over-watered. Never need to be repotted and offer a painless, satisfying and somewhat effortless way to grow them. During the heat of the summer, they need to be watered more often, once a week does not work for them. I usually water them every 2 to 3 days unless we get into the 90s in which case I water them every day. Tap water is all they ever get with a little fertilizer added every time. I do have a potting bench, but almost all of my epiphytes never need repotting. A variety of plants, Bulbos, cloud forest plants, terrestrials and a few others do better the conventional way and need to get repotted as the sphagnum moss deteriorates. Stanopeas, Lycaste, Angola for example, also don't like the empty pot treatment, they are in something. In the end, the best medium to plant most epiphytes in is air, that's what their growth media is in nature and you cannot go wrong with it. It also never deteriorates and you don't need to repot. We are so brainwashed that plants need to be in a pot with their roots covered with something, we don't give that method a chance. It works extremely well. Nick...See MoreBottled Water vs. Tap....interesting article
Comments (16)LOL, barnmom! Add me to the lsit of people who absolutely refuse to buy bottled water. Ice Mountain (the Nestle company) bottles water just a few miles from the farm. It comes right out of the aquafer and into their plant and gets bottled. Not filtered or distilled or anything else, just bottled. So a foreign company is pumping millions of gallons of water out of our own aquafers and selling it back to us, in flastic bottles that will then fill up the landfills. Sigh. And we're foolish enough to buy it. Not me. My city water here in town is high in sulfer and smells. I use it for coffee because I told the boss that coffee is brown and our water is brown, so it just skips a step, LOL. For drinking I take a 2 gallon thermos to the farm and fill it with that good old "Ice Mountain", right out of Dad's tap. In a pinch, I drink my own tap water, it's been tested as safe to drink even if it is a bit off color. (grin) I usually have a pitcher of iced tea in my refrigerator and I'll drink that instead of water, although I know water is really better for me. I have a thermos that goes to work with me for water or tea or Crystal Light. If I run out or forget my thermos I drink the water from the fountain and everywhere else I drink water from the tap. Heck, if I'm going to pay for a bottle of something I might as well make it juice or tea or Diet Coke, not my own water. Annie...See MoreUsing tap water, using bottled water for cooking & such
Comments (38)Not having a water dispenser isn't too tough to find but I searched a lot to find a frig without the ice maker. Very few don't have that wart. Though I really liked the 4 door Samsung with the option to make 3 compartments freezers, (and especially liked it being marked down from $2500 to $700) but it annoyed me that for the most part 1 full section was lost to the ice-maker and water dispenser. Yes, I know they don't have a tank in there for water, but I haven't seen any using copper pipes. Every one I've seen uses plastic tubing and a plastic tube to connect the water to the unit. Sooz, it's been a long time now, but basically take the thing apart as much as you can and wash that stuff away. He used his "miracle cleaner" that had this odor of... salad? Vinegar takes that crust off the stainless and plastic quickly and effectively. And I guess I should clarify, I DID drink water from a garden hose, but never the stuff that was sitting in the hose! I ran it a while to get the hosewater out of there and would have to do that with a refrigerator unit. Even my cousin, who was so proud of his new frig with icemaker quit using the ice for drinks. He agreed with me that bad water makes bad ice, just like bad water makes bad coffee. The only thing he used that ice for was to dump in the cooler when he headed to the lake. Annie, the only way I know to clean out the frig dispensers is to disconnect the water supply line, and these days most often they're those dang vampire couplers, then flush the system with bleach. And I highly doubt anyone ever has, or will. Triciae, too bad about the flood, but it reminded me of when a friend's place flooded from a broken washer hose. All the totes floating around in the basement and her little foo-foo dog on top of one of them. I wanted to call her Gilligan after that! :)...See MoreDo you use rain or tap water? How important is it to your plants?
Comments (29)Wow, very interesting everyone on all your views and what you all do. As for me I will answer my own questions too in the hopes it will help others also) I was wondering if many here uses rain water and consider it a very important to the success to your orchids? Yes, I do and when I do the roots always look more vibrant and healthy. When I use tap, it discolors my pots, roots to my orchids and seems to make many of the tips of my plants turn brown. Take for instant 'ptothos'. I can't use tap water. I can't use my tap water on my palms, carnivorous plants, ferns and mosses along with all of my orchids. How do you collect it? I collect water in a 30 gallon bucket from my roof from a roof gutter that pours it straight into it. Then I use a hose and sifon all the water I collect into my 30 gallon buckets in my basement. 6 to be exact. Enough to last me thorugh the whole year when I keep refilling. I do use tap water for all outside plants and baskets. Do you use bottled water? Not for plants , just for humidifer use along with bottled water. Tap water would destroy my machines. Do you use tap? Only for outdoor plants, and to flush out my orchids, which I will come right behind when I have time and rinse with rain water. Do you flush your orchid pots and how often? Yes, once a week at least. The roots always fatten up and turn a rich green . When I just water or use a sprayer, the roots seem to stay partially dehydrated anyways. Why do you you use rain water? It's cleaner, very low TDS (2ppm). Rainwater also contains a little nitrogen. Do you SOAK your orchids or just water them in? Both) Do you feel it's important to spray your orchids and why? I do this to wet everything near where my orchids sit, and top moisten the top layer of many of them while the bottom still dries out. It's easier for me to do this with mounted ones. those I can't reach in the green house, and to keep the spider mites in check and leaves clean. Do you use a humidifier? A BIG FAT yes!! I don't use one in my greenhouse or my sunroom that does not have a heating system in there. I do use one in my sunny warm heated room uspstairs where I sleep and where all my plants reside of the air in there would be bone dry and warm. Do you measure the moisture in the growin room? I use a standard humidity/temp meter. I have to know how much humidity I have in there to make sure there is not too much to prevent mold issues and too little to prevent plant issues. So I adjust my humdifier accordingly. Thansks for all the feedabck. I had no idea about water and the issues they can prevent like explained above. I wish I could afford to use a RO machine or I would do that too. Thanks everyone....See Morealbert_135 39.17°N 119.76°W 4695ft.
18 years agousername_5
18 years agoSunny_Sky
18 years agomaineman
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14 years agoKellie_Derum_gmail_com
13 years ago
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The_EmperorOriginal Author