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Is tap water ok for orchids?

The topic says it all. Is it good or bad? Should I tell my girl to use it or get distilled?
 
Depends on the tap.
 
i have water that is about 161ppm. thats probably not very good for most CPs but i wonder if neps can take it? orchids also? it would make my life so much easier to be able to use water from my tap on orchids.
Alex

EDIT: let me add what exactly we have
pH-8.2 SU
Calcium- 46 mg/L
Hardness(as CaCO3)-145 mg/L or 8.5 grains/gallon
Sodium-23mg/L
Magnesium-12mg/L
Alkalinity-(as CaCO3)-77mg/L

anyone have any thoughts on those readings?
Alex
 
How can I find out the ratings for my water?
 
I think you can find out your area water quality on a certain website, but I think you'd have to google it, I don't remember. You could also buy a fish water testing kit, and there are several tests like chlorine and water hardness.

-Ben
 
JM: just checked yours and your water hardness is about 134 ppm. if you can grow your plants with your tap then i will be able to...but lets get one of the pros in here to decide if we can first.
Alex
 
IIRC, 100 PPM is good. 134 isn't THAT bad. I'd be more worried about the sodium and PH levels. You can add some vinegar to bring the PH down and flush with RO water to leech out the sodium. Mexican Pinguicula can take, nay, benefit for some added minerals including calcium, and some nepenthes can take higher mineral/nutrient content aswell.

It's so much simpler to just buy water or better yet by an RO filter.
 
I've been using tap for a long time on neps and orchids with no problem. Not sure what my PPM is but Sarra's and VFT's HATE my tap while neps and orchids love it.
 
CopcarFC your water has about 119 ppm. im surprised your other plants dont like it.
Alex
 
  • #10
Where did you find this out at? Could I use the tap for my neps?
 
  • #11
[b said:
Quote[/b] (glider14 @ Sep. 30 2006,2:33)]CopcarFC your water has about 119 ppm. im surprised your other plants dont like it.
Alex
Yeah me too. I've tried a few different times to use tap on sundews and VFT's and they all died or got really close. It seems that I can use tap for short periods of time but not long term.
 
  • #12
yea...when in dobt of your plants drying out completly use tap.
Alex
 
  • #13
It all depends on the species of orchids your trying to grow. Many of the common hybrid do fine with tap water as long as you do regular leeching of the pot or flush water like I do. Some species like Masdivalia's, Dracula's, and Phrag's to name a few do better with out the deposits. So a little more info is needed instead of just Orchids. You guys must not realize that the genus orchid is the largest group of flowering plants in the WORLD. Having more then 25,000 different species occurring all over the world all the way into the Arctic circle. Not to mention the infinate number of hybrids that have been created. So a broad statement like "can orchids take tap water" would be like asking if every human was allergic to peanuts or something like that. A little more specifics are in order. Like what the basic genera of the plants at least. There is not a blanket answer that covers all when it comes to Orchids.
 
  • #14
Just about any orchid will be fine with water in the 130 - 150 ppm range. Disa orchids probably won't, but not many people are growing them. By the way, they'd be great companions for Sarrs. Cyp. acaules might not be happy either, but they wouln't be much happier with straight RO water either.

The key is that the harder the water you use the more conscientious you have to be about not letting plants get too dry, about watering copiously each time, and about adding fertizing dilutely.
 
  • #15
I thought Disa were primarily (if not totally) cool growing.
 
  • #16
Disa are cool growing. I have seen a guy growing them in Ky. I think it was KY. He uses a chest freezer to cool water that circulates up into the top that acts as the lid for the chest freezer and keeps the roots cool. He grows some fabulous Disa too.
 
  • #17
Ooops ... then it must be Darlingtonia or maybe Heliamphora.  I was just rememberring a photo I saw several years ago of pitchers growing among Disas in someone's bog garden.  It was a cool combination, but it was before I was into CPs and I would have considered any upright pitcher to be a Sarracenia.
 
  • #18
Bruce: i know what you talking about. i saw that pic too. they were disa orchids.
yay KY!!
 
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