Question: I use tap water to water all my houseplants, but I’ve heard that’s not always a good idea. What difference does it make?
Most people don’t think about the water they use to water houseplants — just turn on the tap and fill the watering can. But what’s in your tap water may make a difference in how your plants grow.
Garden author Barbara Pleasant talks about water problems in her book, The Complete Houseplant Survival Manual. She says most plants prefer “soft” water, which contains low amounts of calcium and magnesium salts, over “hard” water, which contains high amounts of these elements. Water softeners remove the mineral salts through filtration or magnetization, but the water still contains high levels of salt, she says. This could lead to problems when it is used to water plants. Continue reading
Filed under: Houseplants, Indoor plants, Watering plants | Tagged: Barbara Pleasant, chlorine, hard water, Mineral salts, Rain water, soft water | 1 Comment »
