TerraForums Venus Flytrap, Nepenthes, Drosera and more talk
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Kate
Far too old to grow up now.
Hmm I will try and answer your question on water but feel I must also give my opinion on misting..
Generally speaking sodium is the more problematic ion since it is more poisonous to the plant. Any dissolved solid can cause problems though in high enough concentration.
Light misting with tap water should not cause a problem as long as it not into an enclosed terrarium and runoff into the potting medium is avoided. Expect to see some calcium buildup even if you periodically mist with distilled water. As the tapwater evaporates the calcium carbonate ions form calcium oxide which is very insoluable. (this is why calcium buildup is so hard to remove and often takes an acidic solution to dissolve).
Personally I don't see much point to misting for humidity purposes. It is fairly ineffective as the moisture dissapates very quickly so any benefit to the plant is gone in very short order.
Hope this helps,
Tony
Generally speaking sodium is the more problematic ion since it is more poisonous to the plant. Any dissolved solid can cause problems though in high enough concentration.
Light misting with tap water should not cause a problem as long as it not into an enclosed terrarium and runoff into the potting medium is avoided. Expect to see some calcium buildup even if you periodically mist with distilled water. As the tapwater evaporates the calcium carbonate ions form calcium oxide which is very insoluable. (this is why calcium buildup is so hard to remove and often takes an acidic solution to dissolve).
Personally I don't see much point to misting for humidity purposes. It is fairly ineffective as the moisture dissapates very quickly so any benefit to the plant is gone in very short order.
Hope this helps,
Tony
Kate
Far too old to grow up now.
Actually it was misting for tempurature purposes in my greenhouse. Need to bump down the peak temps by about 10 degrees.
In the near future I am putting in an R/O system, so the minerals won't be a problem soon, in the mean time my tap water is all I have available.
Thanks for the answer though, it helped.
In the near future I am putting in an R/O system, so the minerals won't be a problem soon, in the mean time my tap water is all I have available.
Thanks for the answer though, it helped.
Misting for temperature control sounds fine. The plants shouldn't be getting wet if your running misters for this purpose. You might have problems with excess water and disease on the plants if they do. I use well water through underbench misting and it does a good job for keeping the temps down. The fine mist just floats around the greenhouse but the plants don't get wet.
Tony
Tony
Tony (and Maehem! )
There is a lot of dissolved calcium in the water here, so much so that you can see white marks on the leaves after spraying the plants just one or two times. After a little experimentation I found a HUGE difference in the health of my Nepenthes when I use water from a deep well which has much less dissolved calcium. They grew better and generally appeared much more healthy.
Maehem if the water you are using runs down into the plant media I would recommend you try and use RO water or similar.
Cheers, Troy.
There is a lot of dissolved calcium in the water here, so much so that you can see white marks on the leaves after spraying the plants just one or two times. After a little experimentation I found a HUGE difference in the health of my Nepenthes when I use water from a deep well which has much less dissolved calcium. They grew better and generally appeared much more healthy.
Maehem if the water you are using runs down into the plant media I would recommend you try and use RO water or similar.
Cheers, Troy.
