Question about water use

From: "Celeste Whitlow" politicalamazon at charter.net> on 2002.02.26 at 16:42:49(8229) I am a new adroid "grower" (said with much optimism--let's see if I can actually get them to grow!) and was wondering about the type of water used for them. +More I've found that the Anthurium plant I have successfully been able to grow to luxuriant flowering will only do so if it is given distilled water; it is very sensitive to any alkalinity, apparently, and our outside tapwater, even when allowed to sit for a couple of days, is just too much for it, even though it tests only slightly above neutral, pH-wise. Has anybody found that the Amorphophallus is similarly sensitive? If so, I can anticipate buying my distilled water by the vat during growing season. Thanks in advance for your help! --Celeste

From: "Erik" h.wiechers at pl.hanze.nl> on 2002.02.26 at 20:17:33(8230) Hello Celeste, I use plain old normal tap water for my Amorpho's and they're doing just great ! What i do use is some extra fertilizer every now and then. I can't speak for any other member but this works fine for me. What i did discover is that my Amorpho's grow extremely well in cocos peat. Last year one of my A. muelleri's had a weight gain of well over 100 %. My A.titanum is growing good as well, so this might be a good tip to you. Maybe other members could share their growing tips as well ? Erik

From: Albert Huntington balberth at yahoo.com> on 2002.02.26 at 20:18:53(8231) Hello Celeste, I don't have a definitive answer for you, but I do have some experience growing aroids both with purified and with somewhat questionable water. The city water where I live comes from wells sunk deep into limestone, and is very hard. I use water purified through reverse osmosis for most of my tropicals, though I am growing various colocasias and some amorphophallus successfully with the straight city water. +More > our outside tapwater, even > when allowed to sit for a couple of days, is just too much for it, even > though it tests only slightly above neutral, pH-wise. pH may not be a great indicator of water hardness - the dissolved minerals tend to buffer the pH, but do not increase it in proportion to their concentration. If you're interested in finding your water's hardness, you can buy a cheap test kit from your local aquarium supply store. Letting water sit out will not significantly change its chemical impurities. You may get some out-gassing of some types of chlorination, and the balancing of carbon dioxide concentration might cause a small change in pH, but this won't change the hardness. There is a pretty good discussion of plant-related water issues at: http://www.sarracenia.com/faq/faq3370.html It is primarily directed at owners of carnivorous plants, but the information applies to water purity in general. To answer your original question, it has been my experience that many species of amorphophallus seem to do okay with the hard water I give them, but I have found, as you have, that there are plenty of plants which do better with purified water. Given the choice, I would suggest using purified water, but I have had some success without. Best Regards, -Albert ===== Albert Huntington San Jose, CA U.S.A. Visit my greenhouse at: http://www.geocities.com/RainForest/Jungle/1436 ----------------------------------------------- __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Sports - Coverage of the 2002 Olympic Games http://sports.yahoo.com

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