Water quality for plants.

[Richard Hole]

Hi

Does the quality of water make much difference to the growth of carnivorous plants? We have reasonably soft water in the town area at Tolga in North Queensland, Australia. It does not have much pollution and is fit for drinking. However, it has chlorine added to it. I already have bought an Alphion alkalizer and ionizer water treatment system for drinking from https://alkaway.infusionsoft.com/go/ahp/ . However, this would not produce enough volume of water to water a whole garden. Although the water may be better for the plants than the below magnetized water system because the Alphion water filters the water.

However, the unfiltered magnetic system would have advantages because it outputs a greater quantity of water.
The magnetized water systems supposed to increase the growth of plants significantly.
They claim:
“Magnetic treatment breaks up the molecules to smaller clusters allowing them to pass through plant capillaries more readily. After magnetization, the molecules line up in sequence “+-+-“ resulting in reduced surface tension, reduced viscosity, increased dissolvability, increased permeability and increased oxygen content hence making nutrients more readily available to our body, plants and soils. Water is then said to be biologically “alive”.”
More information on the system which can magnetize all the water on your property is at http://www.waterforlife.net.au

The Alphion system is supposed to be similar except it purifies the water. It also has magnets. In one of it’s outlets the system produces a high PH water which is worse for plants but better for drinking. However, the Alphion alkalizer system also passes the acid water out a separate outlet and this could be good for plants. If it is too acid, both the acid and alkaline water could be mixed to produce the correct PH water.

Would the water be much better for plants if these chemicals are filtered out?

On another note, does it matter what material the trays are made from that are used to stand the plants in water. For example aluminium or plastic could be used. Some parts could be sealed by silicon. Some of these things can be toxic to the plants in the soil. However, the small quantities leaching out of the trays may be so small it may not matter. Is this so?

Your help is appreciated,
Regards Richard.

[David]

I have a Galaxy filter water system in my house that has a section where it "energises" the water too. It is similar to what you have where a section in the filter breaks up the water molecules to smaller clusters resulting in reduced surface tension, reduced viscosity, increased dissolvability and increased oxygen. I can see small air bubbles in the water every time I collect the water from the filter into a cup. However, this filter has an additional mineral cartridge which I am thinking of removing from the whole equation.

I realised that my fishes seems to love this water and are less prone to desease and sickness. They are also more active as compared to if I use normal tap water with anti chlorine added. I can see the difference in my Beta splendens and the survival rate of their fry when I rared them in the past once.

However, my Droseras do not quite like the galaxy filter water. They do not gow well when I water them with it. When I change to Reverse Osmosis or Distilled Water purchased from an Automatice Vending Machine, they start to grow. I do not know if it is the mineral content from the mineral cartridge in the filter system that is hurting my Drosera or it is the energised water. I tend to lean on the idea that it is the mineral content that is the "bad guy" here.

I also use the Galaxy water on my other house plants, tills, Platycerium and ant plants. There seem to be no bad effects on my tills, house plants and Platycerium so far. Can't say for sure about my ant plants as some of them aren't doing well and prone to pest... but this might be due to other factors. My Tills are growing and happily giving me pups.

As for water trays, I only use plastic water trays or plastic containers. So far so good. Have not tried metal, stainless steel or aluminium trays. I think that whatever trays we use, we must change the water in the tray and clean the tray regularly. If not somehow, mineral and other stuff will accumulate. It is the same as my Drosera trays. I grow them indoors and even with distilled water, if I do not clean the tray every now and then I can see a layer of white powder at the edge of the tray where the water level was after a long while. But if you grow your plants outdoors, it should not be a problem if you allow rain to wash the water away and exchange it with fresh rain water ocassionally.

[Richard Hole]

Hi David and those interested,


Have you measured the PH of the water that is coming out of the Galaxy system and if so, what is it? The system I have aklalizes the water and would be no good for carnivorous plants if the water from the alkalized outlet is used. The acid water from the acid outlet or a combination of the acid and alkaline water would be needed to get the correct PH.


Do you have the exact model number or link to the Galaxy system? I could not find anything that stood out in a quick web search.


Your help is appreciated
Regards Richard.

[David]

It is distributed by a multilevel marketing company, Caelygirl. The filter is called Galaxy Energy Mineral Water. You should be able to google it with the key words Caelygirl and Galaxy energy Mineral Water. There is an online pdf file by the company but be warned that it is 4.44 MB.

[cbkhoon]

i tot caelygirl only sells shirts !!!

I used to do water filter business last time, it is best to use RO & lower ph water for your CPs, I tried many type of waters before, there might be pro and cons but RO is the safest.

[Richard Hole]

Hi

By “RO” do you mean reverse osmosis? I heard that water treated with reverse osmosis is not very good for your health and I would assume it would not be the best for plants either because reverse osmosis removes all the beneficial minerals from the water. Also, the reverse osmosis machines do not ionize the water like the machines I referred to in my earlier links.

Do you know the best pH for carnivorous plants and how low a pH would be all right? I read the system at https://alkaway.infusionsoft.com/go/ahp/ can produce acid water between a pH range of 3 and 6. If it is too acid, the alkaline water could be mixed with it. I would be curious to know what the lowest pH water that carnivorous plants could be given without adversely affecting their growth.

Your help is appreciated,
Regards Richard.