Jim,
Why is distilled water no good? It doesn't have any minerals,
but I
assume rainwater doesn't either. Just curious.
John Carnes

Rainwater is FULL of minerals. Water is called the "universal
solvent." It dissolves almost everything that it touches, and as
it floats as vapor in the clouds, then passes through the air as
it falls, rain picks up everything it finds -- good, bad or
indifferent. Rain in the country (usually) is better than rain
in the city -- or rain that falls downwind from an electrical
power plant, paper mill, or chemical factory. Most rain in the
USA is slightly acid. In parts of Canada and in Scandinavia it
can be quite acid.

Jim Lewis - - Tallahassee, FL - Our life is
frittered away by detail . . . . Simplify! Simplify. -- Henry
David Thoreau - Walden

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Jim Lewis wrote:

Jim,
Why is distilled water no good? It doesn't have any minerals,
but I
assume rainwater doesn't either. Just curious.
John Carnes

Rainwater is FULL of minerals. Water is called the "universal
solvent." It dissolves almost everything that it touches, and as
it floats as vapor in the clouds, then passes through the air as
it falls, rain picks up everything it finds -- good, bad or
indifferent. snip

Jim Lewis - - Tallahassee, FL - Our life is
frittered away by detail . . . . Simplify! Simplify. -- Henry
David Thoreau - Walden


For myself, I couldn't afford to use distilled water anyway. I use about 10
gallons a day to water my approximately 65 trees in pots and growing boxes. I have
rainbarrels at two corners of the house, and that usually keeps me going unless we
have a dry spell. Right now I'm using tap water (from a well) until we get rain
again.

Craig Cowing
NY
Zone 5b/6a

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So I gather that these minerals in rainwater are good for trees, or the
lack of minerals in distilled water is bad? I have been using distilled
water because my tapwater results in white deposits (calcium
carbonate, I think) on pots and trunks. I don't think they're harmful, just
unappealing to look at. Any way to get rid of the calcium carbonate in
tap water? I wonder if rainwater picks up anything nasty from shingles
on the roof?
Cheers,
John Carnes

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So I gather that these minerals in rainwater are good for
trees, or the
lack of minerals in distilled water is bad?

Assuming the rainwater you get doesn't fall directly through the
Dow Chemical smokestack plume, the stuff rainwater picks up is
generally beneficial. Distilled water is simply wet. And
expensive.

I have been using distilled
water because my tapwater results in white deposits (calcium
carbonate, I think) on pots and trunks. I don't think they're
harmful, just
unappealing to look at. Any way to get rid of the calcium
carbonate in
tap water?

Not that's inexpensive enough to be worth it; water softeners
will do the job, but the chemicals used in the ones I know of
(and I'm probably way out of date now) are not good for the
trees. Intuition would seem to indicate that a small amount of
vinegar (or maybe Miracid) added to your water as you do your
trees should reduce the Ca deposits, but intuition is SO often
wrong . . . A toothbrush will take it off trunks. Pots are more
difficult.

I wonder if rainwater picks up anything nasty from shingles on
the roof?

Depends on what's hanging (or nesting) over your roof. ;-) If
you JUST shingled your roof, and if you used asphalt shingles,
I'd hold off collecting runoff for a few months.

Jim Lewis - - Tallahassee, FL - Our life is
frittered away by detail . . . . Simplify! Simplify. -- Henry
David Thoreau - Walden

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Jim Lewis wrote:

Not that's inexpensive enough to be worth it; water softeners
will do the job, but the chemicals used in the ones I know of
(and I'm probably way out of date now) are not good for the
trees. Intuition would seem to indicate that a small amount of
vinegar (or maybe Miracid) added to your water as you do your
trees should reduce the Ca deposits, but intuition is SO often
wrong . . . A toothbrush will take it off trunks. Pots are more
difficult.

I fill water in a barrel for convenience. The water here is pretty hard
but I always turn the softener off when filling the barrel. I have found
if you fill it in a barrel lots of calcium will fall down to the bottom.
I have not much problem with calcium deposits, a good hard rain now and
then during the summer probably cleans some off.

Henrik Gistvall, Uppsala, Sweden

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John,
I use reverse osmosis water, as well as several of my friends. This is
essentially distilled water with no minerals.
The plants do great. Minerals are not needed in your everyday water.
Fertilizer is needed as for all potted trees.
Jerry Meislik
Whitefish Montana USA
zone 4-5
http://www.bonsaihunk.8m.com/
So I gather that these minerals in rainwater are good for trees, or the
lack of minerals in distilled water is bad? I have been using distilled
water because my tapwater results in white deposits (calcium
carbonate, I think) on pots and trunks. I don't think they're harmful, just
unappealing to look at. Any way to get rid of the calcium carbonate in
tap water? I wonder if rainwater picks up anything nasty from shingles
on the roof?
Cheers,
John Carnes

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**
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************************************************** ****************************
**
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+++++ Questions? Help? e-mail +++++


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