Re: watering nephs and CP

From: dave evans (T442119@RUTADMIN.RUTGERS.EDU)
Date: Mon Jun 09 1997 - 17:13:00 PDT


Date:    Mon, 09 Jun 97 20:13 EDT
From: dave evans                           <T442119@RUTADMIN.RUTGERS.EDU>
To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com
Message-Id: <aabcdefg2261$foo@default>
Subject: Re: watering nephs and CP

Hi Adwait,

> nephs with hardwater and they seem just fine. I have noticed, however, that
> hard water leads to a rapid deterioration of the long fiber sphagnum.

Yes, it does.

> Since I live in the country and access to soft city water is difficult,
> I also hard water my Sarr and drosera. For the first couple of months I
> waited to watch for any signs of decline, but neither my S. purpurea ssp.
> purpurea, my S. flava or my D. capensis seem to be suffering any adverse
> effects. I am beginning to wonder wether hard water is really poisonous to
> CP????

I use hard water all the time. It does age the soil quicker, but it
needs to be replaced anyway. RO units or distilled water still cost
way more than re-potting once a year. I have been using hard water on:

VFT
Drosera (I'm not having much luck with tubers, but that doesn't
         seem to have anything to do with the water)
Drosophyllum
Sarracenia
Heliamphora
Nepenthes
Cephalotus (they do just drop dead, but even outside with rain)

Can't really say much about Darlingtonia, but I doubt my water would
harm them if all these other are fine.

The water is sent once through a Brita water filter. I fill it up a
couples times (it makes about a quart at a time, but they do come in
gallon sizes) in the morning to fill the trays and water anything else
that looks on the dry side. The filters last about four months and
cost under ten $ US.

Dave Evans



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