Expert: Christopher Littrell - 6/1/2007

Question
I live in Florida and our outdoor sprinkler system is supplied by water from a man-made lake. Do you think this water will hurt my plants? Currently I have moved them to our upstairs balcony, but I don't think they will get many bugs up there and I would rather have them downstairs in my garden. Is there a way to test the water to be sure?  I don't want to experiment w/the life of my plants.  Also I wanted to know if there was a way to test if my tap water is ok... I've been giving them purified water, but I have to buy it at the store.  Thanks!

Answer
Hello Tiffany,

The main concerns would be the hardness of the water and any potential contaminants that might be introduced into the water when humans intervene in the water table.

1.  The lake might be fine, however, just to make sure, you might look up local information on the Internet about that particular lake's pollutants and mineral content, as in it's hardness level. If it has over 100 parts per million of calcium and or magnesium, contains a lot of salt from the ocean, or contains other pollutants that sound problematic, you might not want to use it. If the water is soft and does not contain too many nutrients like free nitrogen from bacterial action, it would probably be fine.

2.  You can test the tap water yourself with hardness test kits from pet stores (probably the fish section), or you could call your cities water supply for a hardness reading. The calcium and magnesium are the main problems as would be lime. If your faucets get a white mineral buildup on them that is incredibly difficult to remove, it is probably too hard for use with carnivorous plants. You might also find a website that shows a readout of the pollutants in the water supply in your areas tap water. Try search terms like "hardness of tap water in ________ city."

Most of the insects that are attracted to Sarracenias are the flying one's so I would not be too worried about the plant not getting enough. From what I have seen, flying insects tend to make a beeline for Sarracenias, and Nepenthes for that matter, no matter where they are located. Light and water would be the first concerns just like with any other plant.

Keep up the good care with your Sarracenias,

Christopher