Distilled vs. Filtered Water for Nepenthes

[henri8]

Greetings,

We've just gotten our first Nepenthes in several years. I've managed to kill our previous such plants and I'm particularly interested in "getting it right" this time. This pitcher plant is about a foot tall with more than half a dozen healthy-looking pitchers.

We're in Central Florida, USA, in Zone 9b very near border with Zone 9a. Local humidity is usually in the 80% or higher range for much of the year.

We'll be hanging this plant on our porch in bright light but no direct sun.

My question is about what to water the plant with. We can always purchase distilled water but we have one of those pitcher water filters that definitely makes the local tap water taste much, much better than it tastes from directly the faucet.

Since our filter pitcher seems to work well, would it be OK to water our Nepenthes from this pitcher or should we stick with distilled water?

Do you have any other suggestions for Carnivorous newbies such as ourselves?

Although we've had no good luck growing Carnivorous plants yet, I did make a stained glass panel of them a few years ago. It's about halfway down the page and is called "The Primitives":

www.bayareastainedglass.com/studentArtistGallery61.htm

Thanks,
Henri and Rosemary in steamy Florida

[henri8]

Ooops! I knew that this would happen -- I've answered my own question by checking the International Carnivorous Plant Society FAQ -- here's the right answer (sorry for bothering everyone -- I'm usually better than this ;^)

www.sarracenia.com/faq/faq3380.html

So, permit me to modify my question -- do you purchase Distilled Water or do you have your own Reverse Osmosis unit? If you prefer the RO route, which relatively inexpensive unit would you recommend?

Thanks, again,
Henri and Rosemary in steamy Florida where we had some 20,000 lightning strikes in the Central Florida area yesterday -- wheeee!

[marcel]

Not being in Florida I don't know if this helps, but I try to use only rainwater. It is by way the cheapest option. RO units are expensive to start with and have one big drawback: for every liter of RO water you are left with up to 10 liters of "waste" water. This water has the dissolved salts much more concentrated in it and is only fit to flush toilets and maybe a few very though garden plants (though I wouldn't recommend that), etc.
Building a storage for rainwater is then a very attractive option that starts getting cheaper real soon.

[Brian Barnes]

Hello!

It's great to hear from you guys...

I'd recommend purchasing an RO unit. that way, you don't have to worry about the petroleum distillates accumilating in your rain barrels, which bleed out from our wonderful roofing shingles here in the US. You can get a good, 3 or 4 stage unit from Ebay for around 140 bucks. Plus, be sure to get a hose adapter. Then, it can be left hooked up outside... I don't think a faucet filter will cut it. As you said...it just "tastes" better. TDS figures are barely reduced as a whole...

Your Nepenthes will be fine here, just take them inside when temps reach 50 or below, (if they are lowland forms)

Happy Growing,

Brian.