I read in our paper today that you should not water orchids from the tap if
you have a water softener. Have others found this to be true? Thanks in
advance.
Gail

Yes its true. Do not use softened water on orchids if salt (NaCl) is used
to soften the water. They can't stand the Sodium.

K Barrett

"Gail" wrote in message
rthlink.net...
I read in our paper today that you should not water orchids from the tap if
you have a water softener. Have others found this to be true? Thanks in
advance.
Gail

Absolutely. You might as well use sea water. Even the Potassium Chloride
softeners are touchy (we tried that before we went to RO). Kenni

"Gail" wrote in message
rthlink.net...
I read in our paper today that you should not water orchids from the tap if
you have a water softener. Have others found this to be true? Thanks in
advance.
Gail

Gail,

You might check to see if your kitchen cold water faucet is softened.
Frequently this is not the case.

Bob
"Kenni Judd" wrote in message
...
Absolutely. You might as well use sea water. Even the Potassium Chloride
softeners are touchy (we tried that before we went to RO). Kenni

"Gail" wrote in message
rthlink.net...
I read in our paper today that you should not water orchids from the tap
if you have a water softener. Have others found this to be true? Thanks in
advance.
Gail

On Apr 9, 7:32 pm, "Bob Walsh" wrote:
Gail,

You might check to see if your kitchen cold water faucet is softened.
Frequently this is not the case.



i also read somewhere that sometimes the outside spigots bypass the
water softener unit....


--j_a

On 10 Apr 2007 09:39:51 -0700 in . com wrote:
On Apr 9, 7:32 pm, "Bob Walsh" wrote:
Gail,

You might check to see if your kitchen cold water faucet is softened.
Frequently this is not the case.



i also read somewhere that sometimes the outside spigots bypass the
water softener unit....

Depends on how the house is plumbed.
If it's on a concrete slab, your guess is as good as mine unless you
want to try intentionally plugging the softener to track where water
flows.
If it's a crawlspace, you can always spend some quality time on your
back and knees with a flashlight...

The house I was in previously, the spigot next to the pressure tank
and the spigot at the well bypassed the whole house filter.
The spigot at the front of the house was filtered water.

The current house appears to have everything go through the water softener,
but as there is no salt in the softener and doesn't appear to have been
any this century... I don't worry about it.
I'll probably put in a hefty RO unit with big storage tank when I
figure out what I want to do with RO waste water and where I
want RO to go...


--
Chris Dukes
elfick willg: you can't use dell to beat people, it wouldn't stand up
to the strain... much like attacking a tank with a wiffle bat

You could also conduct a taste test with the water in the kitchen and the
bathroom (tap, not dip)(I couldn't resist and others were going to comment).
You should be able to taste the difference. If not its probably softned.

Another option is to go to a Big Box that sells softners and get a couple
test strips and do the comparison with those.

Bob
wrote in message
g...
On 10 Apr 2007 09:39:51 -0700 in
. com
wrote:
On Apr 9, 7:32 pm, "Bob Walsh" wrote:
Gail,

You might check to see if your kitchen cold water faucet is softened.
Frequently this is not the case.



i also read somewhere that sometimes the outside spigots bypass the
water softener unit....

Depends on how the house is plumbed.
If it's on a concrete slab, your guess is as good as mine unless you
want to try intentionally plugging the softener to track where water
flows.
If it's a crawlspace, you can always spend some quality time on your
back and knees with a flashlight...

The house I was in previously, the spigot next to the pressure tank
and the spigot at the well bypassed the whole house filter.
The spigot at the front of the house was filtered water.

The current house appears to have everything go through the water
softener,
but as there is no salt in the softener and doesn't appear to have been
any this century... I don't worry about it.
I'll probably put in a hefty RO unit with big storage tank when I
figure out what I want to do with RO waste water and where I
want RO to go...


--
Chris Dukes
elfick willg: you can't use dell to beat people, it wouldn't stand up
to the strain... much like attacking a tank with a wiffle bat

Thanks to everyone who replied. I think all of the water in the house and
outside is softened. I bought a jug of water at the store and will continue
to do so. I lost about 3 orchids this winter (I'm an amateur and don't have
that many) and maybe this was the cause. Thanks to all. I didn't realize it
was a problem.
Gail
wrote in message
ups.com...
On Apr 9, 7:32 pm, "Bob Walsh" wrote:
Gail,

You might check to see if your kitchen cold water faucet is softened.
Frequently this is not the case.



i also read somewhere that sometimes the outside spigots bypass the
water softener unit....


--j_a

Gail,

It may or may not have been the cause.

What kind of Orchids did you lose and do you still have?

How do you determine when to water them?

Do you fertilize them? How much? With what? How often?

Bob
"Gail" wrote in message
link.net...
Thanks to everyone who replied. I think all of the water in the house and
outside is softened. I bought a jug of water at the store and will
continue to do so. I lost about 3 orchids this winter (I'm an amateur and
don't have that many) and maybe this was the cause. Thanks to all. I
didn't realize it was a problem.
Gail
wrote in message
ups.com...
On Apr 9, 7:32 pm, "Bob Walsh" wrote:
Gail,

You might check to see if your kitchen cold water faucet is softened.
Frequently this is not the case.



i also read somewhere that sometimes the outside spigots bypass the
water softener unit....


--j_a

I have mostly Phals. I water once a week with "weakly weekly" fertilizer.
They are all in bark. I don't water near the crown.
Gail
"Bob Walsh" wrote in message
. ..
Gail,

It may or may not have been the cause.

What kind of Orchids did you lose and do you still have?

How do you determine when to water them?

Do you fertilize them? How much? With what? How often?

Bob
"Gail" wrote in message
link.net...
Thanks to everyone who replied. I think all of the water in the house and
outside is softened. I bought a jug of water at the store and will
continue to do so. I lost about 3 orchids this winter (I'm an amateur and
don't have that many) and maybe this was the cause. Thanks to all. I
didn't realize it was a problem.
Gail
wrote in message
ups.com...
On Apr 9, 7:32 pm, "Bob Walsh" wrote:
Gail,

You might check to see if your kitchen cold water faucet is softened.
Frequently this is not the case.



i also read somewhere that sometimes the outside spigots bypass the
water softener unit....


--j_a