Watering Advise Please?
 

Hi Guys,I'm Mark

Just a quick question for you experts out there.I'm planning on growing Nepenthes in my Orchid house but there is no way I would be able to provide distilled/purified water to these guys.The greenhouse recieves water almost daily via mist sprayers,so that's the only water they will ever receive.What is this "bad effect" of tap-water on Nepenthes which I keep reading about?Surely not all growers can afford distilled water and must be using municipal water to?What is going to happen to my plants if I only use tap-water?

Any advise would be greatly appreciated.Thanks.

Re: Watering Advise Please?
 

Welcome Mark,

You shouldn't have too many problems with tap water. Nep's are quite hardy and can tolerate harder water than many other CP's. The main problem with tap water is the salt level. You may just need to repot the plants a bit more often. The key thing to look for is a build up of salt around the pot or burning of the leaves. How long this takes will depend upon the level of salt in your water and the media that you are using.

Re: Watering Advise Please?
 

Strath, When you say burning of leaves how does it look like cause some of my plants have those white stains on parts of the leaves which collect water...Doesn't seem to burn my plant.

Re: Watering Advise Please?
 

Thanks for the advise.I bought a beautiful hybrid Nep yesterday and I am in love with it.I'm very glad to hear that the tapwater won't kill it!And I found a nursery here which sells many species and hybrids so my collection is going to grow in leaps and bounds.

If you guys know of a link which I could use to order Nep seeds which would be willing to send them to South Africa it would be greatly appreciated.I don't know if giving that info is allowed on this forum but you guys would probably know.

O,and those white spots you where talking about,don't you think its not salt build-up but lime stains?

Re: Watering Advise Please?
 

Nepenthes actually tolerate tap water very well. As strath has mentioned, mineral buildup especially salt can harm the plant long term and increases the neccessity to repot the plant. In fact, the entire pot of the nepenthes should be flushed with water every time watering is needed. Water must be allowed to drain off through the bottom of the pot. This should wash off some minerals and salt in the media and keep the media's mineral level low. Your nepenthes media choice will also affect the mineral build up. Note that this is the general watering technique for all nepenthes. There are a few species which are rather fussy about their watering and their media.

To give you an idea, nepenthes grow in the wild tropical jungles where there are very low, but considerably higher level of mineral contents in their soil compared to the native swamps of the VFTs and Sarracenia. Because of this, neps tend to tolerate mineral build up much better compared to other CPs. Also, they shown obvious signs when mineral build up is too much for their roots to handle. The pitchers usually shrink and deform or they do not form. Hope all of this helps.

Re: Watering Advise Please?
 

You guys are really helping!I'm very excited about growing Neps,I read that you should fill the pithchers with some water when you receive the plant,does it matter how much you put in and should that water ever be changed?