I once discussed something very much akin to this with Dr. Joseph
Arditti, who is well-known in certain circles for his work in (amongst
other things) orchid biology.
He passed along an anecdote about how one chap in Europe was
flasking orchid seed, and suddenly his luck changed: the plants were growing
very well for him at first, but after a few batches, he had some flasks
go sour on him.
To make a long story short, what he discovered after some forensic
work, was that the plants were dying from a lack of molybdenum (Mo); midway
through his flasking work, they had changed out something like 3" of stainless
steel tubing for plastic in the supply line for distilled water. It was at
this point that his flasks, which were made up with such DI, started going
bad on him (plant growth vigorous at first, then ceasing at about 1/2" to 1"
height in vitro).
After switching back to "contaminated" water, his production
was once again successful.
Beware of ultra-pure water; sometimes I wonder what my neice and
nephew, who subsist on RO water almost exclusively due to groundwater and
surface water contamination, are going to go through with their teeth
and bones, as they only encounter fluoride in the water when brushing
their teeth (instead of systemically).
After all, it was naturally-occurring fluoride in the water
that led dentists to recognize the power of fluoridated water. Now... if
we can just prove it doesn't cause cancer...
Sorry this is so off-topic; but it IS interesting.
-AJHicks