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Carnivorous Plants/Distilled hard water?

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Expert: - 6/9/2008


Question
I'm using bottled sodium-free distilled water on my Nepenthes.  I ran a water test on the distilled water and it came up as 40 ppm (the tap water right from the faucet is 50 ppm.)  I thought distilled water was supposed to be much, much softer than tap water?  Should I just rely on tap water since there's so little difference?  Try another brand of distilled water?

Answer
Hello Steven,

Actually both your tap and the bottles water your using are suitable for carnivorous plants of most any species. 50 ppm is the upper limit for Venus Flytraps and Sundews while Sarracenias, Nepenthes, and Butterworts can handle somewhat higher levels of mineral additives.

Your quite lucky that you have tap water that soft, mine is upwards around 240 ppm, good for knocking my teeth out, but little else.

Even lower hardness water can be found in reverse osmosis machines. It is odd that your distilled water has any solid particles in it at all since distilled water is supposed to be almost pure water, nothing else.

Christopher

Carnivorous Plants

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Christopher Littrell

Expertise

I am capable of answering questions about the most common carnivorous plants found in cultivation. I have no personal experience with Byblis, Drosophyllum, Aldrovanda, and Heliamphora. I have not cultivated gemmae forming pygmy sundews nor tuberous sundews. For information regarding those aforementioned species, I would suggest contacting other experts. I can answer questions regarding most species of Nepenthes, tropical and temperate Drosera, Mexican Pinguicula, Sarracenias, and Dionaea. I have some limited experience with growing Utricularia, Cephalotus, and Darlingtonia.

Experience

I have grown carnivorous plants off and on for about 27 years. I have made the same mistakes and suffered the same mishaps that many growers make as they attempt to separate the myths from the realities of growing these plants. Currently, I am successfully growing a variety of tropical sundews, a Nepenthes, several Venus Flytraps of varying ages, and Sarracenias. I have been successful in stratifying Sarracenia seeds and providing artificial dormancy requirements for my temperate plants when needed.

Education/Credentials
I hold a Master's degree in Educational Psychology. Over my lifetime, I have constantly read books involving the growing conditions of carnivorous plants. I hope to incorporate the educational aspects involved in psychology with teaching other people how to cultivate carnivorous plants.

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