Water for plants

I keep reading that tap water can cause problems for plants regardless of the plant type.

Is there anyone who regularly uses filtered water from a Britta jug or deionised water or distilled water. ???

 

If your tap water is hard, then any of your suggestions would be better than hard tap water.
But they are also free of stuff like calcium/magnesium etc, so a little extra feeding would be a good idea.
Rainwater is the best of all.

 

Be careful not to let the perfect be the enemy of the good. I under watered my blueberries this year because I was trying to give them only rainwater, and there was precious little of that. They are now getting tap water daily.

 

I usually water my houseplants with filtered water (Zero jug filter), outside plants with rainwater and grey water then mains water as third choice.

 

From what i am reading any plant is prone to mineral accumulation if tap water is used

theres a shop near me that is selling deioinised battery water for £2.75 for 5 Litres which i got today but ived also been told about services such as spotlesswater.co.uk where you can get cheap filtered water .

 

This is an expensive way of watering anything other than delicate indoor plants and insectiverous plants and it would be cheaper to collect rain water and use that.
If you reside in the deserts of South East England or East Anglia then this might be tricky at this time of year, however over most of the rest of England, in most years you'll be fine.
If your mains supply is soft water than generally this will be fine for all your plants indoors, outdoors, pots, or in the ground. If you have any particularly delicate plants in the greenhouse or indoors then you can leave it to stand for 24 hrs or boil it and allow to cool; this should allow dissolved chlorine to escape.
If your mains supply is hard water then it will be fine for plants in the ground except for ericaceous plants and even then it's better than not watering in dry spells. Pots of non ericaceous plants are generally fine, although pots can be marked by salt deposits which can be difficult to remove.

Where do you keep seeing this and what problems are described? I've seen it in specialist publications, but not generally around.
It would help to know what you want to water, in the ground or potted up and also if you have hard or soft water mains supply.

 

I have no plants in the ground and i read earlier this week that one of the causes of white spots on plants is because of mineral deposits from tap water

 

So is your tap water soft or hard?
Why do you believe the white spots cause harm to the plant?
Can you collect rainwater?

 

The only plants I have heard off that can suffer from tap water are my carnivorous plants. I use rain water taken from my three water butts for them plus the rest of the garden.

 

i cant remember the website but i was reading about the causes of white spots on leaves and it was suggesting that if the white spots dont rub off then it may be due to mineral build up from tap water. It was suggesting that this is an issue for all plants not just carnivorous ones which is why im wondering if people use water with minerals removed on a normal basis .

 

How many plants are we talking about if you do not have any in the ground. You could always install salt blocks into your mains supply they help. Or just keep using tap water and if some plants die replace them with more tolerant ones.

 

I use tap water most of the time in the summer, my 7 water butts don't last long at this time of the year watering all my container plants.
I do usually fill the butts with tap water just to let it warm and maybe lose some of the chlorine.
My water is hard as it mostly comes from boreholes in the chalk downs I believe.

I've never really noticed any problems with the plants, I think some of the people on TV and writer's like to make things sound really difficult, otherwise they wouldn't any thing to write about.

There are a few specialist plants that may not like tap water long term, but even they prefer tap water to no water.

I even top up my pond from the hose directly, something else the experts like to make a fuss about, but in 30 yrs it's never been a problem.

 

I have 5 water butts and I generally would use the rainwater collected for all plants but this year I have had to also use some tap water. According to the water company, the lead levels are higher than recommened as we have some lead piping ( they replaced some last year from road to house but some remain under the stone flooring ). However, if I use tap water, I always let it sit for a day or 2 before I water anything. I also use any water after steaming veg. and after boiling beetroot. All in all, I haven't noticed any problems where this has been used. I never water the lawn or the borders.

 

You must have a lot of red plants in your garden Philippa. Sorry could not resist.

 

This would have to be in connection with a water softener, otherwise you just get salty mains water.
I wouldn't use softened water for plants and the advice is not to drink it, it has an increased level of sodium in it.