Question
I have many adelae plants and 2 medium size asian pitcher plants.  I've have them for a while and every time it rains i try to collect as much as i can to water them.  But it doesnt rain much here in texas and buying spring water is quite costly after a while.  Is there a way where you can modify tap water?  like letting it sit outside for a day or 2?  any suggestions would be helpful. thank you.

Answer
Hi Matt,

One way you can cut down on purified water use is to water your Nepenthes with tapwater occasionally.  Nepenthes are not nearly as sensitive to hard water as the sundew is.  Also try buying water from one of those machines found in many large grocery stores.  When you bring your own bottle most of the stores charge around 35 cents a gallon.  Also if you buy bottled water make sure it is either distilled or purified by reverse osmosis.  Springwater is often just as hard as tapwater.  The grocery store machines are reverse osmosis units.  Letting water sit will release chlorine, but does nothing to the minerals, and the minerals are the problem for carnivorous plants.


Good Growing!

Jeff Dallas
Sarracenia Northwest
http://www.cobraplant.com