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Tap or distilled water?
- Thread starter JMurphy97
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I haven' tried it, but I think it's safe since neps don't go on the tray system, so the water drains anyway.
Yep. You can consider them as a regular house plant
That is totally not true, especially if you have filtered "soft tap water"!
I.e. the filter uses salt pellets to change hard water to "soft" which actually makes it sodium laden water. This soft tap water is actually worse than hard water which at least has minerals the plants can use. If it was fine to use I'd never have spent the money on R/O setup! Infact I've forgotten to replace my R/O setup last summer and after six months of using old cartridges my plants are visibly unhappy with my water quality and just now starting to comeback around after about a couple weeks of getting their cartridges replaced.
A "brita" or "pur" charcoal filter will not do anything to purify your water. It might make it taste better for you and me but as far as changing the properites of the water it doesn't do anything but change the color or pull out odd smells/flavors. Taking out what you can see/taste doesn't mean it has neutralized the PH or pulled out all the sodium and sediment, which a plain charcoal filter can not do, charcoal is stage one or two of an R/O unit.
Why is tap water bad? As sodium water dries on plant roots the minerals crystalize on their surface and then the next time you water the roots will not be able to uptake as much water and eventually the plant will dessicate no matter how much water you continue to pour on it. Houseplants will die off like that using the same tap water so don't use it longterm unless you're growing an annual or a bulb type of plant who'll loose it's roots in a year anyway.
I.e. the filter uses salt pellets to change hard water to "soft" which actually makes it sodium laden water. This soft tap water is actually worse than hard water which at least has minerals the plants can use. If it was fine to use I'd never have spent the money on R/O setup! Infact I've forgotten to replace my R/O setup last summer and after six months of using old cartridges my plants are visibly unhappy with my water quality and just now starting to comeback around after about a couple weeks of getting their cartridges replaced.
A "brita" or "pur" charcoal filter will not do anything to purify your water. It might make it taste better for you and me but as far as changing the properites of the water it doesn't do anything but change the color or pull out odd smells/flavors. Taking out what you can see/taste doesn't mean it has neutralized the PH or pulled out all the sodium and sediment, which a plain charcoal filter can not do, charcoal is stage one or two of an R/O unit.
Why is tap water bad? As sodium water dries on plant roots the minerals crystalize on their surface and then the next time you water the roots will not be able to uptake as much water and eventually the plant will dessicate no matter how much water you continue to pour on it. Houseplants will die off like that using the same tap water so don't use it longterm unless you're growing an annual or a bulb type of plant who'll loose it's roots in a year anyway.
Like I say, hard water is better than the softened apartment water as the plants can use the minerals in the hard water they can not use sodium for anything. Sodium filters are plant killers! Your brita was merely making the water taste good for you (my dad has one of these) it wasn't doing much else for the water. I'm glad to see you've gotten on the boat and got a R/O. Make sure you never take a nap while making a pail of water! That's courtin disaster!
I use our tap water on all my cps. Our water has a very low TDS today it was 34 ppm.
Thanks
-Jeremiah-
Thanks
-Jeremiah-
Sodium actually poisons a plant so water softeners are bad bad for plants. Hard water, ie water high in calcium and magnesium, has different issues. While these minerals are indeed needed by the plant, in excess they can burn/inhibit root growth.
What happens when you water a plant with 200ppm water and then half the water is transpired/evaporated from the potting mix? Is the remaining water 200ppm? You bet it's not! The water around the roots is now 400ppm! What happens to the root hairs and fragile cells on the roots growing tips when they hit water with a high osmotic potential like that? They get the H2O sucked right out of them and burn (die).
Can you use tap water? Maybe... depends on your tapwater. Quality can vary vastly. Some plants can handle higher mineral concentrations better. Nepenthes for one. Other factors can play a roll too. Are the plants overhead watered and allowed to drain freely on an almost daily basis? Do they sit in trays where minerals will continue to collect? Do you repot frequently to remove mix that has become loaded with minerals? Don't forget that even high quality water 25ppm or less will eventually cause a problem if a plant is on the tray method, rarely flushed from above and repotted very infrequently. Naturally the better the water the less likely and less frequently problems with minerals will occur. So everyone needs to be aware of the POTENTIAL danger when watering and the long term care of their plants and how they are all interrelated with type of watering method, potting mix composition, frequency of watering, any use of fertilizers etc.
Tony
What happens when you water a plant with 200ppm water and then half the water is transpired/evaporated from the potting mix? Is the remaining water 200ppm? You bet it's not! The water around the roots is now 400ppm! What happens to the root hairs and fragile cells on the roots growing tips when they hit water with a high osmotic potential like that? They get the H2O sucked right out of them and burn (die).
Can you use tap water? Maybe... depends on your tapwater. Quality can vary vastly. Some plants can handle higher mineral concentrations better. Nepenthes for one. Other factors can play a roll too. Are the plants overhead watered and allowed to drain freely on an almost daily basis? Do they sit in trays where minerals will continue to collect? Do you repot frequently to remove mix that has become loaded with minerals? Don't forget that even high quality water 25ppm or less will eventually cause a problem if a plant is on the tray method, rarely flushed from above and repotted very infrequently. Naturally the better the water the less likely and less frequently problems with minerals will occur. So everyone needs to be aware of the POTENTIAL danger when watering and the long term care of their plants and how they are all interrelated with type of watering method, potting mix composition, frequency of watering, any use of fertilizers etc.
Tony
DerbyCityNeps
Always a newbie- Previously glider14
just use rain eater! rain water is P-U-R-E and plus it is naturally more acidic than distilled/RO water so that could be a plus. Besides rain is free!
swords, do you think this happens in the wild anyway? i mean not the tap water but the salt/minerals content in the wind and salt/minerals in the ground? i think they already had some time to adapt to take higher than normal salt/mineral content in the ground/water that they are in or along with rain.
and another question, do you think rafflesiana is pick about the water you give it?
are you sure its P-U-R-E?! do you really think that neps need acidic soil?
and another question, do you think rafflesiana is pick about the water you give it?
[b said:
are you sure its P-U-R-E?! do you really think that neps need acidic soil?
Hi all:
I am with you Santos, i still don't understand why we have to generalize these issues!.
I bet that the neps from kinabalu or Mulu may love RO or rain water because they live in higher altitudes and the water may be very pure, so these plants have adapted to that type of water. if they get water with minerals they may get sick and die as Tony elegantly mentioned earlier, but what about N. Viking which lives near the ocean or Northiana living in limestone cliffs?. it is very possible that some neps are sensitive to minerals in the water, but others may be very resistant to hard or softened water.
Gus
I am with you Santos, i still don't understand why we have to generalize these issues!.
I bet that the neps from kinabalu or Mulu may love RO or rain water because they live in higher altitudes and the water may be very pure, so these plants have adapted to that type of water. if they get water with minerals they may get sick and die as Tony elegantly mentioned earlier, but what about N. Viking which lives near the ocean or Northiana living in limestone cliffs?. it is very possible that some neps are sensitive to minerals in the water, but others may be very resistant to hard or softened water.
Gus
The frequent downpours of rainwater from the sky flush the minerals from the soil, moss or whatever the plants are growing on. Even on the limestone dwellers and those from ultramafic and serpentine soils such as those N. rajah occurs on are subject to rainfall almost every day. The water on the forest floor is very acidic (low Ph) and very low in nutrients (see Neps of Borneo Ampullaria case study for soil mesurements)
I did a test a few years back growing some N. rajahs potted in home made serpentine and ultramafic soil recipes. At first the plants doubled in size quickly but eventually about a year later they died but they also did not get flushed on a daily basis. Had I watered them through daily they may have done swimmingly as the nutrients would not have a chance to buildup.
It is the buildup that Tony talks about that is the deadly part. Of course you can water with Tap water if you HAVE to one time but if you do it on an ongoing basis you will poison the plants with too much nutrients (or sodium). Other than outgrowing a pot the reason you have to replace the soil around the roots when you repot is because the soil becomes nutrient laden which is toxic to the Nepenthes (as well as orchids). These plants come from rain soaked and low nutrient environments don't blame me and my generalizations, blame the rainforest! Why not get that guy selling the N. vikings to o some water tests done in their environment and post them here. Even when I use nothing but R/O water I have to replace the soil after a couple years because even it eventually becomes poisonous to the plants.
I did a test a few years back growing some N. rajahs potted in home made serpentine and ultramafic soil recipes. At first the plants doubled in size quickly but eventually about a year later they died but they also did not get flushed on a daily basis. Had I watered them through daily they may have done swimmingly as the nutrients would not have a chance to buildup.
It is the buildup that Tony talks about that is the deadly part. Of course you can water with Tap water if you HAVE to one time but if you do it on an ongoing basis you will poison the plants with too much nutrients (or sodium). Other than outgrowing a pot the reason you have to replace the soil around the roots when you repot is because the soil becomes nutrient laden which is toxic to the Nepenthes (as well as orchids). These plants come from rain soaked and low nutrient environments don't blame me and my generalizations, blame the rainforest! Why not get that guy selling the N. vikings to o some water tests done in their environment and post them here. Even when I use nothing but R/O water I have to replace the soil after a couple years because even it eventually becomes poisonous to the plants.
ive been using tap water for about a year now going onto two. and i do use tray method. i guess nothing really happens to them because i do over water them to dain any minerals or salts and i do clean the bottom of the pots and trays constantly, may seem like a chore but i dont mind and its a part of my life or a daily/weekly routine. if someone says there will still be minerals/salts/whatsoever left, what about the plants in the wild? even though it rains frequently and flushes all the minerals/salts, will some mineral still be left in the ground where the plants grow? dont forget that wind also carries minerals and other stuff that neps really wouldnt like. some people that know me here on the fourms know that i do water frequently for the fact of using tap water. i dont think my tap water is that perfect and i do understand that tap is different everywhere.
BTW, neps so adapt to their environment as in the wild. some might be hardier than other, but they can always adapt.
BTW, neps so adapt to their environment as in the wild. some might be hardier than other, but they can always adapt.
Have you noticed any of your plants growing worse than others?
Also, I don't know if I would call your method the tray method. You have the pots in the appropriate size saucer and allow the water to collect there, but there is never more than a 1/2" of water under a 6" pot and it probably evaporates pretty quickly.
I'm keeping my plants a bit dryer this winter but still haven't produced a Nep cactus,... yet.
Also, I don't know if I would call your method the tray method. You have the pots in the appropriate size saucer and allow the water to collect there, but there is never more than a 1/2" of water under a 6" pot and it probably evaporates pretty quickly.
I'm keeping my plants a bit dryer this winter but still haven't produced a Nep cactus,... yet.
yeah i guess your right steve... anyone else agrees? its always less than 1/2" and really less than the amount of water when the pot isnt on the saucer...
i still havent see any demise to any of my plants yet after one year or less. i have that raff for about a year and the copelandii for about 10 months or more... nothing really. i have changed the medium on some plants or put them in larger pot size. the moss seems ok after 6months...
i still havent see any demise to any of my plants yet after one year or less. i have that raff for about a year and the copelandii for about 10 months or more... nothing really. i have changed the medium on some plants or put them in larger pot size. the moss seems ok after 6months...