I would vote for B, adjusting the pH downward to the 6.0-6.5 range via
fertilizer alone, or other pH-adjuster additions. The fact is, there's not
THAT much difference.

The HCO3 content may be due to carbonates in the water source's geology, but
can be somewhat affected by gases absorbed from the atmosphere, so may
change. The µS/cm (microSiemens/cm) is a measure of electrical
conductivity, which is related to the dissolved ionic species, hence the
TDS, and both seem fairly high.

--

Ray Barkalow First Rays Orchids
http://www.firstrays.com
Secure Online Ordering & Lots of Free Info!


"Wendy" wrote in message
news:kOJza.52826$MJ5.47347@fed1read03...
----- Original Message -----
From: Reka
Newsgroups: rec.gardens.orchids
Sent: Wednesday, May 21, 2003 10:54 PM
Subject: Water quality


Hi, folks! I am looking for some help from the "scientists" out there. I
have two sets of water data and would like to ask which one is better for
orchids and why, plus what simple things I could do (obviously not RO or
anything spendy) to make it better.

Here are the data:

A B
pH 7.8 8.14
µS/cm 420 353
°D 15.26 12
°F 27.3 21.5
mg/l HCO3 296 250
Nitrate mg/l 7 5.5
Chloride mg/l 2 1
Fluoride mg/l 0.1 0.1
Sulfate 12 6

Am I correct in assuming B is generally better? Any help will be
appreciated.
--
Reka
http://www.rolbox.it/hukari/index.html
"A fanatic is one who can't change his mind and won't change the subject."
--Winston Churchill


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