TerraForums Venus Flytrap, Nepenthes, Drosera and more talk
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I use tap water for my humidifiers. Is this a bad thing? My neps seem to be doing ok, but some pitchers turned black, but then again they are also growing new pitchers. So I kinda get mixed ideas. Help me out.
The mist created shouldn't be able to hold any of the minerals or other disolved particles so they wont be transmitted to your plants are their media in that manner. I know that ultrasound humidifiers can create splashes, so that could send some mineralized water in to your media. Also, ultrasound humidifiers may not like it, depending on the mineral content. You could eventually get mineral buildup on the membrane which wouldn't be good.
If you're going to use mineralized water: make sure there's no appreciable volume of water being splashed on to your media, make sure mineral contents don't get TOO high by replacing the water every now and then (as opposed to letting salts accumulate.)
Humidifiers work using one of two methods: 1) Evaporation or 2) Creation of small water droplets that rapidly evaporate.
There are four common types of humidifiers using these two basic methods: A) Steam, B) Wicks, C) Impeller or D) Ultrasonic. A and B leave minerals concentrated in the humidifier where it eventually gums up the works unless you change the water and or wick regularly and clean out the mineral build up. With C and D the minerals in the water are also in the water droplets. They eventually settle out of the air as a fine grayish dust on your furniture, TV screen, computer monitor and plant leaves.
Now you're probably wondering why I went into the details. It's so you could better decide which method would be best suited for your situation and see why using RO water in any humidifier is aften recommended. Something else to keep in mind is that a humidifier should be cleaned frequently not only to reduce problems with mineral build up but to prevent pathogenic and allergenic organisms growing in the water and eventually getting put in the air. This may not be a problem with steam humidifiers, but it is with all others.
Depends on your light source. If it's fluorescent lights, then I'd keep the leaves as clean as possible. You're wasting electricity($$$) producing light that is being blocked from the leaf by a layer of dust. If it's sunlight, then once a week or whenever the dust becomes noticeable or unsightly should work.
I use tap in my ultrasonic humidifier and I dont get "dust" on the leaves. Just try it for a few weeks and see if the dust forms on your plants. If it dose then you water is to dirty.
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