water problem...

[calek]

Hey everybody!!!

Where i live it hasn't been raining lately, and I water my carnivorous plants with rain water. I will probably need to water my plants very soon and i don't know what do do. My mum won't let me boil the water in a kettle and then put a plastic box over the kettle and wait for it to fill up with the vapor. My dad told me to get tap water and leave it in a plastic box without a lid and leave it alone for around 24 hours, then its alright to give to the plants...is this right? if it is not, what shall i do?

thanks!!!

bye!

[Amar]

do you know the how hard your water is? or how soft?

A high mineral content in the water will kill your plants, and following your Dad's advice will not help, all that will do is reduce the chlorine content in your tapwater, but not the lime (CaC03).

As written in a previous post, the only water suitable for these plants are rainwater, reverse osmosis water, de-ionized water, and distilled water.

I don't think you have too many plants yet, so what you could do is go to the shop and buy some distilled water, most shops have that.

[jesse]

My dad told me to get tap water and leave it in a plastic box without a lid and leave it alone for around 24 hours, then its alright to give to the plants...is this right?

Does your tap water contain chlorine? Here in Europe, tap water is usually unchlorinated. Chlorine may be the only thing you can remove easily from tap water.

Besides of chlorine: The minerals in the water remain the same, no change.

if it is not, what shall i do?

Watering your plants one or two times with tap water will be OK, but using it for weeks will kill your plants.

You can use rainwater and deionized (distilled) water, which here in Europe can be purchased in 5 litre plastic canisters in many do-it-yourself stores.

If you generally need more water than you have rain water, you could purchase a small reverse osmosis system for aquarists and make your own deionized water from your tap water. Such system i.e. as item number 260379429105 at ebay.co.uk (or comparable that can be shipped to your country).

[Mags]

I had a similar problem before i bought my water butt.

I just chanced my luck and took water from a local river/stream that i knew to be relatively clean

In hindsight it probably wasn't the best solution to the problem but my plants managed fine until my water butt began collecting water.

I dont see the point in buying a RO unit when rain water can be easily collected and stored in a large container.

[Guest andy c]

I have used pond and aquarium water in the past with no problems.

you may be able to get a cheap RO unit if you search the web. You only need a basic unit, nothing fancy.

Andy

[calek]

at the worst i will have to go to a shop, thanks. Another question:

in the place where i live there are some horse stables, the water they give the horses is from a well, could i give my plants that water?

[Amar]

That would be ground water, perhaps it had passed through stone previously? Most likely that water is enriched with minerals. But go to an aquarium shop, buy a kit to measure water hardness (they're very cheap), and check the well-water yourself...before giving it to your plants.

Edited April 19, 2009 by Amar