Water for plants

Should I use distilled water or regular tap water? I know I read something on this on here but I can't seem to find it. So, I thought I'd ask. I have been using distilled for them and they seem to be doing great.

plant growing rules:

rule #1 if it works... keep doing it
rule #2 always experiment

hope that clears it up for ya.

seriously tho, have your water tested, if it is ok to use, use it.

drew

Thanks drew, I know our water is hard. Most of the AV's I've had have never had a problem with tap water. I do have lots of other plants now though. I guess I'll just stay with the distilled since most of them only need watering once a week to once in a great while. I just didn't want to end up spending a ton in water.

If distilled water works for you, fabulous. Just keep in mind that distilled water has no nutrients in it. It is a pure as water can possibly be, which may, or may not be as healthy for plants as reqular drinking water. If you worry about your tap water, and distilled is getting expensive, you might try bottled drinking water (should be cheaper). Or you could try buying a Britta water pitcher, which should pull the yucky things out of the hard water, without removing the trace nutrients which will be good for your plants.

ive been wondering the same thing-- the water here is horribly soft and tends to leave a white residue on the outside of terra cotta pots and on the surface of soil of heavily watered plants (like my ferns or umbrella palm). i have a britta pitcher-- but should that help enough? i've never noticed a big difference between the britta-ed water and the tap.

Well, if you have a lot of salt in your water, and you are overly concerned about it, the best thing to get is an "R.O." unit. R.O. stands for Reverse Osmosis, and is the most healthy (as far as I know) way to get clean, fresh water. It takes a while to fill up the tank beneath the sink (usually about a gallon capacity) but the water is very good, and will remove all of the salts and chemicals that are in the water.

I had to break in here with a comment. My dh has been installing RO units for years, in boats, ships, Ft Jefferson in the Dry Tortugas, in South America, the Caribbean, everywhere except my kitchen sink. He just put in a regular filter system there.

I absolutely love the taste of RO water.

i have a 6stage reverse osmosis filter system I got for around $200. good deal really.
pure water planet I think was the seller.
he has a page, but we got it cheaper off of ebay from him.

on another note, hard water, or soft water can often be used if you have the plants outside and flush them regularly with fresh water (rain works too)
i could see a problem with it indoors.

best of luck
drew

ok- then maybe just regular drinking water until I get something to catch all the rain we've been having and then go with that maybe. I guess I will have to experiment a little and see which works out best. Most of the people I know that use our regular tap water have lots of problems with their plants dying or having a funny look to them.

I am not sure if you own a fish aquarium, if you do the water from the weekly water changes are excellent for houseplants, nice and conditioned and full of plant loving nutrients, I even water my outdoor plants with it on occasion.
Karen in NC

I water my plants with my aquarium water- but it sure isnt weekly! :) lol. More like a monthly basis when I get around to it.
Luckily we've had a week of rain and forecasted another week- so my plants are loving the natural water.

Maybe I'll collect some rain and flush my indoor plants with it, like Drew suggested. I would never have thought to do that.

I just love "free" fish emulsion! My fish get clean water, and my plants get pre-fertillized water.

So, maybe I need to go out and get some fish. :)