We have indoor potted plants and trees and will soon have an indoor herb
garden, once I get off my lasy ass and build some shelving and wire some
lights.

Our water is softened and also charcoal filtered. I have since discovered
that miracle gro might not be suitable for potted plants because of the
residue it leaves behind. Therefore I am looking for a natural organic
alternative to feed potted plants with water form a water softener.

Winter is 5 months long with snow on the ground for 4 of those months so
grass clippings is not a year round solution. We have no compost bin
because our town collect food waste but is there food waste I can divert to
the pots? Coffee grounds, tea grounds, veggie scrapping from the plates?
Remember these are indoor pots so smells count, and our water source is
softened water.

Any ideas?

On Sat, 27 Feb 2010 22:17:05 -0500, "The Henchman"
wrote:

We have indoor potted plants and trees and will soon have an indoor herb
garden, once I get off my lasy ass and build some shelving and wire some
lights.

Our water is softened and also charcoal filtered. I have since discovered
that miracle gro might not be suitable for potted plants because of the
residue it leaves behind. Therefore I am looking for a natural organic
alternative to feed potted plants with water form a water softener.

Winter is 5 months long with snow on the ground for 4 of those months so
grass clippings is not a year round solution. We have no compost bin
because our town collect food waste but is there food waste I can divert to
the pots? Coffee grounds, tea grounds, veggie scrapping from the plates?
Remember these are indoor pots so smells count, and our water source is
softened water.

Any ideas?


Don't use softened water. Is your cold water supply softened too?
Rainwater or melted snow is ideal. (Fresh water) aquarium water is
another excellent water source for plants.

Coffee grounds, veg table scraps, leaves, etc go to the compost pile,
not into potted plants (why encourage knats, roaches, mold, mice?). A
good compost pile won't have a disagreeable odor, but it still needs
to be outdoors. Our city collects kitchen waste too, but mine goes to
the compost pile rather than the city dump.

Go easy with Miracle Grow. I found that it can be very harsh on some
plants. I dilute it more than recommended, especially for potted
plants.

I have had much better success growing herbs outdoors in the full sun.

On Sat, 27 Feb 2010 22:17:05 -0500, "The Henchman"
wrote:

Our water is softened and also charcoal filtered. I have since discovered
that miracle gro might not be suitable for potted plants because of the
residue it leaves behind. Therefore I am looking for a natural organic
alternative to feed potted plants with water form a water softener.

Winter is 5 months long with snow on the ground for 4 of those months so
grass clippings is not a year round solution. We have no compost bin
because our town collect food waste but is there food waste I can divert to
the pots? Coffee grounds, tea grounds, veggie scrapping from the plates?
Remember these are indoor pots so smells count, and our water source is
softened water.

Any ideas?

I seriously doubt the water at your outdoor hose bibs is softened.

"brooklyn1" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 27 Feb 2010 22:17:05 -0500, "The Henchman"
wrote:

Our water is softened and also charcoal filtered. I have since
discovered
that miracle gro might not be suitable for potted plants because of the
residue it leaves behind. Therefore I am looking for a natural organic
alternative to feed potted plants with water form a water softener.

Winter is 5 months long with snow on the ground for 4 of those months so
grass clippings is not a year round solution. We have no compost bin
because our town collect food waste but is there food waste I can divert
to
the pots? Coffee grounds, tea grounds, veggie scrapping from the plates?
Remember these are indoor pots so smells count, and our water source is
softened water.

Any ideas?

I seriously doubt the water at your outdoor hose bibs is softened.

Our kitchen cold water is softened as is all indoor taps. As was said
winter is five month long here. I'm not using outdoor taps because they
will freeze. There are no shut-offs from the inside to the outside taps, a
flaw in the original plumbing that I will address, once my list of 6000
other things is done.

"Phisherman" wrote in message
...


Don't use softened water. Is your cold water supply softened too?
Rainwater or melted snow is ideal. (Fresh water) aquarium water is
another excellent water source for plants.

I used softened water once in the past two months we have lived here. We
recently upgraded our softener and decided to put the kitchen cold on the
softener as well because of the filtering system we installed. Other than
that it's been bottled spring water from the grocery store.

Is there any type of organic fertilizer to mix with the softened water or is
that an idea best to be forgotten?

Coffee grounds, veg table scraps, leaves, etc go to the compost pile,
not into potted plants (why encourage knats, roaches, mold, mice?). A
good compost pile won't have a disagreeable odor, but it still needs
to be outdoors. Our city collects kitchen waste too, but mine goes to
the compost pile rather than the city dump.

Yeah I thought diverting scraps into indoor pots was a dumb idea.

On Sun, 28 Feb 2010 11:02:43 -0500, "The Henchman"
wrote:



"Phisherman" wrote in message
.. .


Don't use softened water. Is your cold water supply softened too?
Rainwater or melted snow is ideal. (Fresh water) aquarium water is
another excellent water source for plants.

I used softened water once in the past two months we have lived here. We
recently upgraded our softener and decided to put the kitchen cold on the
softener as well because of the filtering system we installed. Other than
that it's been bottled spring water from the grocery store.

Is there any type of organic fertilizer to mix with the softened water or is
that an idea best to be forgotten?

Indoor potted plants really don't need much fertilizer if any... it's
better to simply repot into fresh potting mixture once a year... if
you're concerned there are plenty of organic potting mixes on the
market, many contain organic fertilizer. And there are myriad organic
house plant fertilizers at any plant nursery.. just keep in mind that
with house plants especially less fertilizer is more. However I see
no reason not to water houseplants with softened water. In a hard
water area all water in the house should be softened, except water to
outdoor hose bibs (kind of stupid-dumb to pour softened water onto the
ground), however car buffs will often have a softened water hose bib
too for preventing spotting on their babies... they may even have
tempered water to that hose bib for cold weather washing. The most
critical areas not to have hard water is hot water heaters and hot
water heating systems... hard water wreaks havoc on plumbing,
especially hot water plumbing... hard water mineral deposits will
cause ones energy costs to go out of sight and before long those
pipes/mechanicals will clog to where they need replacement, a huge
plumbing bill. It probably doubles ones heating bill to have hard
water in heating units, will even cut a dish washer and clothes washer
life in half, ice maker too... you'll be changing faucet inserts much
more often and toilet tank hardware too. If on a private well and
your water stinks it's most likely due to too high a bacteria
count... for the price of a cup of ordinary laundry bleach you can get
rid of the bacteria by shocking your well... good idea to pour some
bleach into the hot water heater tank too, that bottom portion near
the inlet is the perfect environment for bacteria to thrive. First
time you may need to repeat in like a month... thereafter every two
years. Carbon and particulate filters do not remove bacteria, in fact
they harbor and concentrate bacteria. Do not use those Brita/Pur type
filters, they will make you ill. If on a private well for added
insurance install a UV lamp at the main inlet. Iron and sulphur
require specialized treatment, consult a hydro specialist

http://www.servicemagic.com/sem/cate...t _id=4653458

I have several plants & a tree indoors. I live in a place with off-the-scale
hard water, and I only soften the hot side - and then only with potassium,
not sodium. That's all I ever water with during winter. After 24 hrs it's
cooled, dechlorinated, doesn't leave mineral scale, and I don't worry about
upsetting soil pH. Before I moved to a place with a softener I used to melt
snow; and for me it was a far bigger pain in the ass than I was willing to
put up with. Especially for as many plants as I had. Whenever using bottled
water, I always used distilled.

With the exception of some orchids, I almost never fertilize plants indoors,
because that's when I'm enforcing dormancy. When they all go outdoors for
the summer they get an occasional, dilute feeding with stuff like fish
emulsion, or something that I think is made of beets(?).

I've added coffee grounds directly, but that was mostly just to fill in a
couple divots after repotting a Strelitzia.

There are table-top kitchen scrap composters available, too. No odors, so
they claim.

"Nelly Wensdow" wrote in message
...
I have several plants & a tree indoors. I live in a place with
off-the-scale hard water, and I only soften the hot side - and then only
with potassium, not sodium.

Most people only soften the hot side but our softener has built in charcoal
filter bed because our town has horrible chlorine issues, so we do the the
cold side at all taps as well. The water here is very very hard as well.

You mention dormancy: can you go into detail about this and please
remember I am a dummy so intorductory explanations please. I'd really
appreciate the lesson....

"The Henchman" wrote
You mention dormancy: can you go into detail about this and please
remember I am a dummy so intorductory explanations please. I'd really
appreciate the lesson....
I'm probably not the best person here to explain, but I'm sure I'll be
corrected.
Dormancy is a plant's time of rest, the most obvious example being what you
see during a temperate winter when everything looks "dead". (Some plants
have more than one dormancy.) They can go naturally dormant based on changes
in temperature, light, day length (or really, it's the length of night), or
amount of rain. With some tropicals the changes can be subtle. So it depends
on the plant.
Basically, by imitating whatever drives them into dormancy in nature you're
giving them their "beauty rest." To do this I always stop any kind of
fertilizing a few weeks before they're to come back indoors, and gradually
reduce watering once they're in. In the spring they eagerly bounce back
after getting the "usual" treatment. That's also the time they get repotted
if need be.
I do this every year because I read that to withhold dormancy from a plant
is stressful to it. Often the plant itself will give you clues when to
reduce watering. It's those clues that so many people miss, and they
mistakenly think it needs more water. I imagine this is how a lot of
houseplants get overwatered til they're dead.
HTH, and good luck trying to grow herbs indoors; it never worked well for
me. I guess they just needed far more intense light than I was willing to
pay the electric bills for.