Stumbled into a greenhouse at a garden show in Portland and it rewired my whole approach to plant care

I was just wandering around the convention floor when I saw this guy watering his display with rainwater he'd collected, and it hit me that tap water might be why my ferns always look sad. Has anyone else switched to rainwater or filtered water and noticed a big difference?

2 comments

2 Comments

jamie8044d ago

Wait is nobody else gonna push back on this? @gavin365 I hear you on the calathea but I've been using straight tap water for like 15 years now and my ferns are honestly thriving. I think a lot of people blame water when the real problem is something else like light, humidity, or potting mix. I've got a fern that sits right next to my kitchen sink and I literally just fill a watering can from the tap and pour it on. Some plants are sensitive sure but most houseplants are tougher than we give them credit for. Switching to rainwater feels like one more thing to stress about when the plant probably just needs better drainage or less fussing.

gavin3654d ago

My tap water has a ton of chlorine in it so I used to just let it sit out overnight and thought that was good enough. Then I tried distilled water on a finicky calathea and it went from crispy leaves to putting out new growth in two weeks. Total believer now.