I've got 3 Rosemary plants in pots, indoors. I fully expect them to drop
dead sometime soon, even though I read the recent thread in which many of
you contributed good ideas. Two reasons for my pessimism, one
comical/imaginary (maybe), and the other....who knows?

1) The plants are on a table right near where my son drops his sneakers when
he comes into the house. I can't prove it, but I think this could be
contributing to the plants' demise. I can smell those sneakers across the
room. I can't imagine how the plants must be suffering.

2) The important issue: Along with all the other things that make Rosemary
unhappy indoors, there's quite a bit of crust on the soil's surface. Built
up minerals from tap water, obviously. I always age the water for a couple
of days before using it, although this addresses the chlorine issue. We
won't have especially hard water here - the water authority data says we're
sort of in the middle. But still, I wonder if that the buildup is bad for
the plants, especially when they're already having a bad time.

There hasn't been enough rain or snow to collect, and who knows what's in it
anyway, considering what it does to lakes and ponds and trout. So, I decided
to use only water that's been through the Brita filter. See what I mean
about grasping for straws? The filter's not designed to remove minerals.
But, I figured...I don't know. Couldn't hurt, right? OK. It's pointless.

Yesterday, I poured 4 jugs of water through one of the pots, which got it
nice & clean. Of course, this was done at the risk of making the soil too
wet for a plant that's lost 2/3 of it's leaves in 6 weeks. Now the roots
will rot. I could move the plant to a smaller pot while it's indoors, but
that risks stressing the thing even MORE.

Anyone know anything about mineral crust on potting soil?
HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!