Date: Tue, 7 Jul 1998 10:37:11 +0200 From: David.Williams@charnwood.gb.astra.com To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com Message-Id: <aabcdefg2264$foo@default> Subject: Re: Water
>One very interesting point he made was that using distilled water was
>bad for plants. He said it is similar to people drinking sea water,
and the
>water in our tissues being drawn out by the high salt content in sea
>water. Because distilled water has no minerals or solids in it, it may
>draw the minerals out of the plant tissues. I explained that most of
the
>plants are left sitting in the water rather than flushing the water
through
>the soil, and he said that might be okay, but he still didn't think it
was a
>good idea. He said RO water should be fine, but still recommended
>watching the plants closely when using either. He suggested that I get
a
>test kit from a local science supply store and check the water after
>boiling it, and maybe compare that with my collected rain water.
John, I think your source is probably mistaken. I work in analytical
chemistry and specifically I do a lot of HPLC which requires very pure
solvents. Distilled water is nowhere near pure enough for us (
although this is mainly due to dissolved organic compounds) and we use
RO water which has a conductance of 18.2 mega ohms per centimetre. My
point is that a high conductance means that there are very few dissolved
ions in RO water and certainly less than you would find in distilled
water. I use RO water for all my plants with no ill effects thus far,
although I have a small enough collection for them to be repotted
regularly.
Dave Williams
Any opinions stated above are solely mine and do not reflect the opinion
of Astra Charnwood.
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