Tap water and soap detergents

[kizer]

Hi, I have a questions regarding drosera plants. I read in a web that tap water and soap detergents can kill this plant. Is this true or false? This is the first time I have heard of this also.

[plantlover]

Soap will kill almost all carnivorous plants. Tap water depends on the amount of impurities in the water. Chlorine and minerals in the tap water will kill many carnivorous plants. Nepenthes are more tolerable of tap water but other CPs are not.

[Vincent]

your best bet is to stay with distilled water in the jug. Make sure its called distilled too

[plantlover]

I use filtered water to water my CPs.

[caseyhoo]

In Malaysia, we can use our tap water for almost all CP. So far, there is no problem at all...

Regarding soap detergents, may I know why ask so? You plan to water soap detergents to CP to ger ride of pest?

[kizer]

Thanks for the info, regarding the detergents, its just for precaution in case someone in the house decides to wash the whole place with soap.

[caseyhoo]

To be safe, I think I ned to change my statement, some state water may be cannot use, as I know, water at Kelantan is yellowish.

So far, KL, Penang, Selangor no problem. Not sure about others state. But, so far, I never heard negetive input about that.

[plantlover]

Johor's tap water is OK too. But I still use filtered water.

[rsivertsen]

As far as detergents go, there are horticultural detergents that can be used to treat scale and mealy bug infestations, but it is recommended that these plants be rinsed off afterward with pure water (distilled or RO water).

There are a lot of problems with tap water, depending on your location, aside from the usual chlorine and even fluoride additives; which may NOT be removed by just household filtration systems. The usual dissolved mineral salts can be harmful to a lot of plants, not just CPs. My tap water has killed ordinary houseplants in about a year. During the cold winter months, I have used glass (Pyrex) lasagna trays by my heaters to add some humidity to the air, and within a few months, the edges become frosted with mineral deposits that are very difficult to scrub off!

One day, I left the house with the shower nozzle dripping a drop every few seconds, and by the time I got home that night, a blue-green streak on the white shower floor showed how much dissolved copper ions were in my tap water. Copper in almost any form is extremely toxic to plants, and is often used as an algaecide. If you water the plants with tap water, and let it dry out between watering, these things will accumulate in the pots until a toxic level is finally reached and the plants seem to suddenly drop dead for no apparent reason.

Since I started using Distilled water (or RO water), even the sensitive plants seem to be flourishing year after year, in the same pots.

- Rich