Rainwater Substitute

[Roger Tonkin]

Having just moved house, I have no immediate source of
rainwater for watering the orchids - apart from putting buckets
outside and hoping it will rain!

[It does not rain in Wales :) ]

I know that I should not use tap water, but what about bottled
water? Hopefully for only one or two waterings!

Thanks


--
Roger T

700 ft up in Mid-Wales

[Stephen Wolstenholme]

On Fri, 24 Jun 2016 12:16:26 +0100, Roger Tonkin
<pwll...@hotmail.com> wrote:

>Having just moved house, I have no immediate source of
>rainwater for watering the orchids - apart from putting buckets
>outside and hoping it will rain!
>
>[It does not rain in Wales :) ]
>
>I know that I should not use tap water, but what about bottled
>water? Hopefully for only one or two waterings!
>
>Thanks

Bottled water is often hard and alkaline. Most orchids prefer soft and
acid water.

Steve

--
Neural Network Software for Windows http://www.npsnn.com

[Jeff Layman]

On 24/06/16 12:16, Roger Tonkin wrote:
> Having just moved house, I have no immediate source of
> rainwater for watering the orchids - apart from putting buckets
> outside and hoping it will rain!
>
> [It does not rain in Wales :) ]
>
> I know that I should not use tap water, but what about bottled
> water? Hopefully for only one or two waterings!
>
> Thanks

I have very little experience other than with phalaenopsis. All I can
tell you is that for years I have been watering them with cooled water
from the hot water tap when rainwater wasn't available (which was fairly
often until a year ago). We are in an area of very hard water, and it
does not seem to have bothered them too much. I have one paphiopedilum,
and that similarly doesn't seem to mind too much.

--

Jeff

[Spider]

I also use tepid water from the kitchen tap and also have had no
problems. You could always use a *tiny* drop of acid plant food just to
alter the ph, rather than as a feed, but I've never needed to. We also
have very hard water, so you may find you can manage.

--
Spider
On high ground in SE London
Gardening on heavy clay

[Janet]

In article <30frmb5jomc73m58a...@4ax.com>,
m...@address.invalid says...

> We use tap water, but here there is no chlorination of tap water.

Chlorinated water can be de-gassed by just letting it stand uncovered
for a few hours. There may still be other chemical additives in the
water.

Roger, do any of your new neighbours have a garden pond or a water
butt collecting rain? If so I'd beg a can-ful for the orchids; could be
a nice ice-breaker to meet other gardeners.

Janet.