Quote Originally Posted by sewcrazy64 View Post
I don't have access to RO water but I do have a distiller. Should I use distilled water for everyday watering & fertilizing?

If so, then I have two questions. 1. Since distillation removes everything from the water, will my orchid fertilizer provide everything my orchids need? (It contains: 20-14-13 no urea, Magnesium, Boron, Copper, Iron, Manganese, Molybdenum, Zinc.). 2. I noticed calcium is not listed. How do I provide calcium?
Great you have a distiller ! I plan to install a solar distiller once I am back in India. Good that you noticed that your fertilizer was lacking Calcium (Ca). There are four ways to go about this.
1) get a fertilizer that has Ca like excel Cal-Mag 15:5:15 or any other one which has all micro and macro nutrients (the easiest way out)

2) As you mention your water is hard, you could do a simple test (one of the DIY kits from the aquarium store) and find out the calcium content (GH general hardness test, will tell you about ppm Ca and Mg in your water). You could then simply dilute your tap water with distilled water to get around 150 ppm (mg/L) Ca.

3) Ca is generally supplemented to plants in the form of Calcium nitrate Ca(NO3)2 or Calcium ammonium nitrate Ca(NH4NO3). You could buy these and supplement your distilled water to again 150 ppm Calcium.

4) Buy common Ca supplement tablets from health stores CaCO3 and put a tablet or two in each pot. When you water each time with your soft, slightly acid water, some of this Ca will dissolve and be absorbed by the roots. Many people like to supplement their Paph medium with limestone chips (CaCO3). May be this is a good option for you.

Regards Amey