Spring water to water orchids?

[OrchisAmor]

I've heard of RO, distilled, and rain water used to water orchids, but what about Spring Water?

[78Terp]

What I have read says distilled water is not good for orchids. There are no minerals in it. Rain water is ok especially if in a water challenged location. Some jurisdictions now prohibit rain water collection. I don't know anything really about reverse osmosis.

I would think spring water would be among the better choices.

[ksriramkumar]

Very good question Annette. from what I have been reading

1. Distill water is too pure and contains no nutrients. would possibly top-up with a 50-60 ppm balanced fertilizer that includes micro and macro nutrients. Distilled water if used standalone, does not contain Ca,Mg other vital trace elements and standalone does not provide any good and actually could be harmful for orchids in long term. I would possibly use pure distilled water only for flushing the media once a fortnight

2. Rainwater is best as it carries natural nutrients and i have measured the ppm in my area to be around 20-30 ppm. weekly and weakly feeding of balanced + micro + macro would be sufficient.

3. Spring water. there are lot of springs with lot of variations. I would possibly look at the TDS of the spring water to decide

---------- Post Merged at 06:58 AM ----------

What I have read says distilled water is not good for orchids. There are no minerals in it. Rain water is ok especially if in a water challenged location. Some jurisdictions now prohibit rain water collection. I don't know anything really about reverse osmosis.

I would think spring water would be among the better choices.

Interesting info Harvey. There are regulations here that mandate harvesting rain water. what would be the possible rationale that prohibits collecting rain water?. mosquito breeding or some other ecological imbalance?

[78Terp]

I live in a semi-arid environment. Denver Water claims all water that falls and runs off as theirs. They want it in the reservoirs.

---------- Post Merged at 06:38 PM ----------

Whether Denver Water pursues the average home owner that collects is doubtful. But if it was large scale and observable, I bet they wouldn't hesitate to take action.

[PaphMadMan]

Spring water is different from every spring, even if it is truly spring water and not just some filtered tap water with good marketing. Unless you have some way to know the quality of the spring water it is at least a bit of a gamble. Real spring water can be hard, or have pH problems, or be contaminated with just about anything. Rain water also varies in quality, and requires a way to collect and store it without it getting contaminated or stagnant, and getting enough of it is certainly a problem in some areas. Distilled water and RO water are both just purified water. They both vary in quality too, from very pure to extremely pure, and there is no difference between them. The whole point in using distilled water or RO water is that it is clean and consistent, but it can't be used alone. You must use appropriate fertlizer regularly to provide the minerals that plants need, but that is true no matter what your water source. If your tap water isn't good enough, a RO system is one way to generate as much good quality water as you need. Whatever your water source, there is no substitute for KNOWING the quality of the water, and planning your fertilizer and other culture appropriately.

[78Terp]

In the American west, water politics are very difficult. No water, no life here. In many places, if it isn't watered by irrigation, it is not green.

[OrchisAmor]

I'm in a situation here in Salt Lake City that my water is very hard (lots of salts )-if used, I've seen major salt deposits on plant leaves, edges of pots, and even house plants will have salt residue left in the soil as the water evaporates. I haven't got a specific water quality reading for my tap water, but since seeing this on other houseplants, I've been extremely hesitant in using any tap water for my orchids (whether I add fertilizer or not).

[ksriramkumar]

Annette, Would suggest you get hold of a TDS meter and pH meter and measure the quality of water and then take it fwd.

[raybark]

Sorry people, but I am going to have to disagree with a lot of what has been said here!

Rather than occupying lots of forum space to do so, I'll offer a link to an article published in the January 2014 AOS "Orchids" magazine on the subject, by one of my favorite sources of information: Water Your Orchids

[kspalding]

I can understand regulations applied seasonally like during droughts. guess wait til winter and stock pile snow, no regulation on that yet is there (and it has to melt into water right ).