Watering with hot water?

Hi. Someone recently told me that she was told to water her peace lily (spathiphyllum) (sp?) with very hot water.

I've never heard of this and it doesn't sound very good for the roots. Anybody know anything about this?

Temperatures above 140* F. kill almost all roots instantaneously, and root function is impaired in most plants at temperatures much above 90*. That instruction makes no biological sense at all. Water with room temperature water (cold water can have deleterious effect on a large % of plants, too). Even water that feels slightly warm will be near 100*, and that is too warm.

Al

I had a primrose (one of those disposable flowering plants from the grocery store) fall into very hot dishwater I had just filled the sink with. I fished it out immediately, and what I had looked like undercooked spinach!
Don't use hot water on your plants. Room temperature is just fine.

Why would someone water any plant with hot water? I've never heard of such a thing. If it doesn't kill the roots immediately, I'm sure it will put the poor plant into such a shock it would spiral downhill fast!

In the winter, I sometimes warm water in the microwave for a few seconds so that I'm not pouring cold tap water onto the warm soil. But, I only warm it for a few seconds, just to take the chill off. I always test it by sticking my hand down into the pitcher of water to be very sure it's not too warm. If it seems too warm, I add a bit more tap water. It might not even be necessary for me to be heating the water at all - I've just always felt bad about watering nice warm plants with cold water in the winter time. LOL. Yeah, I know ... I live in Florida, so how cold could the tap water actually be!

Firstyard: Can you ask your friend what they feel the purpose is behind using very hot water on that plant? I am real curious as to why they think it should be done.

Someone told my friend to do this - don't know if a reason was given.

I did research it on the net and found 2 articles dated in the 1800's I beleive about using hot water. Also found the results of a middle school class experiment comparing the results of using hot, warm or cold water to water plants. Believe it or not, the plants watered with hot water were just fine, tho I don't recall if they gave the temp of the water.

Anyway, I'm glad to know I'm not the only one who thought this was questionable advice. Thanks!

I guess if it didn't shock or kill the roots, the hot water would maybe kill any critters that might be in the soil!

I was told to use hot water to kill gnats, but it ended up killing the plant instead. I do believe that the gnats were still alive though LOL

I would think that hot water would be just as bad as using cold water,
I always use room temp. water that has been sitting out at least a day

Hot water's worse than cold water...cold water might not be as good as room temperature water, but at least it won't kill the plant.