Tap water can contain a wide range of chemicals and contaminants that can hamper plant growth and their ability to thrive. There are several ways to remove these contaminants to make it safe for plants, including letting it stand for a while, boiling the water, or filtering it before watering your plants.
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.
Results: The rainwater and bottled spring water are great at helping plants grow, but the sugar water and salt water actually hurt growing plants. Tap water and distilled water may not hurt the plants, but you'll notice they don't grow as tall and proud as the plants that were fed rain and spring water.
The key benefit of filtered tap water is that it's free from chlorine, heavy metals, and other contaminants that could be detrimental to plant growth. By filtering your water, you remove many of the impurities that could affect your plant's ability to photosynthesize, absorb nutrients, and more.
Likewise, distilled water will sustain and maintain your plants. But purified water, including distilled water and deionized water, doesn't have the nutrients that spring water contains. So if you water plants with that, they won't grow and thrive as well as they would if you use spring water.
Filtered water can remove many impurities, including chlorine, and sediment, but it cannot remove all impurities such as heavy metals bacteria and viruses. Distilled water, on the other hand, produces water that is almost pure, with virtually no impurities.
Purified water is great for plants as it is void of any harmful bacteria or contaminants that can cause common plant problems like root rot and fungal diseases. Purified water is accessible and often inexpensive, and works well for almost all plants.
Some plants will be more sensitive to chemicals than others, so filtered water is especially recommended for those sensitive plants – Savvy Gardening places peace lilies and bromeliads in this category.
Give Your Plants the Right Nutrients
You'll also want to ensure that there are no harmful chemicals in your tap water, but that healthy minerals remain. A water filter pitcher like Aquagear will remove contaminants like PFOA/PFOS, PFAS, lead, chlorine, microplastics, trace pharmaceuticals, and more.
Distilled water is healthy for your houseplants because it's free from chemicals, metals, and other impurities. But—distilled water also eliminates beneficial minerals, so your plants won't grow as quickly as with rainwater or filtered water.
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.
Pro: Bottled water can be a great alternative to tap water, if the local water is not safe for plants. If bottled water is the easiest option for you, try to use bottled spring water as it contains natural minerals that help plants grow.
No it is not, this is because brita filters contain ion exchange resins that softens water by swapping hard ions like calcium and magnesium for the much softer sodium.
So, should you use filtered water for plants? Absolutely you should. Whether or not you have a green thumb, you should know the best way to give your plants clean water. Get your free water test done when you contact ONIT Home online or by giving us a call at 1-833-433-0331.
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.
The experts suggest using filtered water that is lukewarm and letting the water sit a while as you cut the flower stems. This will help with water absorption – and keep your flowers fresh for longer. And, if you really want to keep flowers fresh in a vase for as long as possible, you need to change the water every day.
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.
The levels of chlorine in the drinking water are non-toxic, so you may not need a filter. However, consumption over time may have health consequences.
It's important to remember that all water we encounter through our taps and bottled sources is considered filtered water. However, when it comes to purified drinking water, a few more steps are involved.
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!
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.
Plants That Are Sensitive To Tap Water
Most houseplants that are sturdy and robust will do fine with filtered water for plants. However, there are a few that do not do well with tap water. Here are a few of them: Orchids need lots of oxygen around their roots.
Do not give them tap water or purified drinking water (such as Aquafina or Dasani) or they will quickly turn into mutated carnivorous plants and eat you. (we're just kidding, obviously.) However, your plants will thrive on what is best for them: Pure Spring Water. AIR – here's where the easy part comes in.
Epsom Salt
Epsom salt helps to encourage healthier, fuller leaves and keeps the plant green even when growing in water, as it has Oxygen, Magnesium, and Sulfur. Add a pinch of Epsom salt to your water plant jar once every few weeks for the best results.
Fertilizers provide crops with nutrients like potassium, phosphorus, and nitrogen, which allow crops to grow bigger, faster, and to produce more food. Nitrogen in particular is an essential nutrient for the growth of every organism on Earth.