Fortunately, most tap water has low levels of chlorine that won't be directly detrimental to your plants. But if you're still concerned, simply check the smell of your tap water. If you can smell chlorine, it likely has unusually high chlorine levels.
Best Water for Houseplants
Most tap water should be fine for houseplants unless it is softened because softened water contains salts that can build up in the soil over time and cause problems. Chlorinated water is also safe for most houseplants, but if you have a filtration system, that's much better for your plants.
Run your sink into a watering can, cup, or bucket, and let it sit for a good 24 hours. This will allow chemicals like chlorine and fluoride the time to evaporate from the water. We like to have a full watering can ready to go with still water so that if our soil seems dry, we can water our plant without waiting a day.
If you use tap water, you may notice that your plants are not growing as tall and strong to the best of their abilities. To reduce the risk of harmful chemicals in your water, allow your tap water to sit out for at least 24 hours before using it to water your plants. This allows the chlorine to dissipate.
While both water sources should allow the plants to grow, the findings should be that the bottled water will provide more nutrients to the plants than the tap water.
Some parts are particularly sensitive to specific chemicals found in tap water. Fluoride is damaging to spider plants, corn plants, prayer-plants, dracaena, and peace lilies.
Filtered water works best for your plants
Filtered water is not only good for you, but it's great for your plants too. If you're new to water filters, you could start with an activated carbon filter first since there's a wide range to choose from.
But if you're still concerned, simply check the smell of your tap water. If you can smell chlorine, it likely has unusually high chlorine levels. You only need to fill your watering vessel with tap water and leave it for 24-hours before watering your plants. The chlorine will evaporate over this period.
Using distilled water for indoor plants provides a safe and impurity-free source of irrigation that can prevent any toxicity from chemical or mineral buildup. It's also free of contaminants like bacteria.
While watering your yard plants with bottled water may be impractical, using bottled spring water for your indoor plants will make a big difference for them. To give your plants the absolute best, rainwater and bottled spring water are your best options. Any water containing sugar or salt will hurt them!
In addition to creating an unsightly white crust on soil and pots, hard water can damage your plants. They can cause a buildup of salt in the soil, which then prevents your plants from absorbing moisture properly. This can then cause your plants to fail to thrive.
If you are sure your tap water contains chlorine and not chloramine, you can let the water sit for 1-5 days to allow all the chlorine to evaporate. To speed up the evaporation process, aerate the water with an air stone for 12-24 hours or boil the water for 15-20 minutes.
R/O Water: R/O, or reverse osmosis, is a technique that is used to remove minerals and impurities from water, such as chloramine, salts, and heavy metals. This is fine to give to plants, and some prefer it because it lacks certain minerals that can cause issues with fertilizers.
Chlorine is added to municipal tap water to kill microbes and make the water safe to drink, but chlorine can also be toxic to plants. As with all toxicity, dose makes the poison. At low levels chlorine will not be toxic, in fact it is a required nutrient of plants. At high levels it becomes toxic.
“If you don't give them moisture, their leaves will dry out. If you want new foliage and growth, you need to mist them.” Many houseplants come from subtropical and tropical regions and need a “relative humidity of at least 40 percent,” according to “Reader's Digest Success With House Plants.”
As the theory goes, soaking banana peels releases nutrients like potassium and calcium into the water, which creates an inexpensive, homemade liquid fertilizer.
Your tap water contains things, like lead, chlorine, and pathogens. These are harmful to your plants and will cause problems when you're consistently watering them with this tap water. Besides these chemicals, the temperature of the water can also play a roll when it comes to plant problems.
Remember, plants do much more than filtrate our air supply, plants also play a huge role in keeping water clean by absorbing carbon dioxide and expelling oxygen. Whether it is xylem, iris's or lilies, water can be and is filtered by plant life!
Most plants are fine with tap water, but some are more sensitive than others. These include cordylines, dracaenas, spider plants and marantas.
So, although rain water may be preferred, watering your garden with chlorinated city water won't cause your plants to fail. You don't need to worry about how to make tap water safe for plants. It's already safe enough. Your organic fertilizers won't come to a screeching halt.
Does Boiling Water Remove Chlorine? Yes, boiling water for 15 minutes is one way to release all the chlorine from tap water. At room temperature, chlorine gas weighs less than air and will naturally evaporate off without boiling. Heating up water to a boil will speed up the chlorine removal process.
Rainwater is a better source of nitrogen for vegetation and this is why it is preferred over tap water. Both rain and tap water help supply nitrogen to soils through a process called mineralization, which occurs when soil organic nitrogen is converted into mineral nitrogen through watering.
Rain contains nitrates—an important macro-nutrient.
Rainwater contains nitrate – the most bio-available form of nitrogen. Nitrogen is one of the three key macro-nutrients that plants need to thrive – necessary for the development of lush foliage. Many forms of nitrogen are not actually able to be absorbed by plants.