No really, what kind of water?

[timbuck]

Hi there,

I got various venus fly traps about seven months ago. They came through the mail in Sept. in healthy condition. I bought a Brita pitcher and have been using that water all this time. The plants seem to be doing okay. I have a dente, a common, and a green dragon.

Are they getting sick? Should they have gotten sick by the water by now? They were kinda sluggish recently but I figured it was because of the dormancy stage. Now, they've begun to grow again. Only this time, the green dragon's leaves are very long with healthy, open traps, the dentes seem pretty healthy, too, and the common plant has huge, stubby leaves with small traps. Again, I figured it was due to the dormancy stage (and it's still about 50f out right now). Is the water hurting them? Each plant has at least seven sprouting leaves with traps and the soil for each plant seems to have a light green-like moss lightly growing (I've sprayed them all with fungicide). So, the question is, what kind of water is good for the plant and bad? I've been reading distilled from various sources. If that's the case, why are my plants doing okay on this Brita stuff? Do the boiling water or leaving the water sit for days tricks work? Thanks everyone.

 

[Redtail]

Well, like a lot of things, there is no black and white answer. Obviously, distilled water is the best. Now, I am no expert, but I'm taking a guess and that your tap water does not have a lot of existing minerals in it to begin with. For me, I get my water from a well and there is a lot of calcium and lime in it. Another part of the country will have a totally different mineral content...maybe you live in a place with low mineral content and the Brita is able to handle it...like I said I'm no expert, but's its the closest guess I can make.

 

[timbuck]

Hi there Redtail,

Thanks for your reply. Hmmm, I'm in NYC, and I did notice that the water here is different than when I was living in Ohio. I hear the water is treated again and again...Thanks for your opinion. I figure that as long as they look pretty good now, things should be fine...Otherwise, why would they have lived through dormancy? I did try to raise a common fly trap bulb and it died, I think.

 

[BigCarnivourKid]

The Brita filters don't remove much if any of the dissolved minerals found in most tap water. The do remove many of the chemicals that are put into the water like chlorine as well as removing some of the heavy metals like lead.

As to why your plants haven't been bothered by your tap water, it could be a couple things. You could have tap water that is naturaly low in TDS (Total Dissolved Solids) or it has affected you plants but the symptoms haven't shown yet. Also, if you water your plants by flooding them and pouring off the excess water, this will prevent the minerals from building up in the soil too fast by rinsing them out.

I would not use boiled water. Boiling removes chlorine but concentrates disolved minerals. The minerals in the water are left behind when the water evaporates as it boils.

Keep an eye on them and if the traps start dieing for no apparent reason then it may be time to transplant them.

 

[Ozzy]

A good rule to live by is if it works for you don't change it.
But like BCK said Keep an eye on them. One thing you can do to prevent mineal buildup is to flush the pots about once a month with distilled or rain water. That will wash out any minerals before they build up enough to become harmful.

 

[Darcie]

The moss sounds like Sphagnum, but watch it.

 

[Goldslinger]

Hello,

Just remember this; a 'contained' or potted VFT (or any plant, for that matter) will have an accumulation of minerals and salts in the growing medium over time even with R.O.

The only way around this is using distilled water, which is kind of impracticle if you have alot of plants for the amount of water that is required. I don't like trips to the store.

Unless you are catching the steam, (which is distilled) boiling only concentrates whats in the pot.

The idea of R.O. water is that the accumulation will be so slow because of its high purity, that you will need to repot the plant anyway before levels reach toxicity, say within 2 to three years.

'Brita' is not Betta, at least for VFT'S

Be careful on the water issue, because 'watching' them until something does show up may be prove to be too late, and transplanting them at that point at their weakened state may prove too much for them. Water 'poisoning' has a way of sneaking up on them; appearing fine for awhile and then going 'South' on you in a hurry.

I have never seen BigCarnivoreKid give poor advice and this
is no exception. I agree with him 100%

 

[BigCarnivourKid]

Thank you Goldslinger!

 

*BCK's head starts to swell slightly*

 

*BCK now needs some asprin 'cause his swelling head has given him a headache*