One of the most frequently asked gardening questions is, what is the best water to use for irrigation? If you ask this question too, don’t worry. We will tell you everything, we will even tell you which is the best water to water certain plants. In addition, we will give you a few general tips for watering at the right time .
And it is that, the task of watering seems easy, but… the truth is that there are not a few times that, or we exceed, or on the contrary we leave the substrate dry too long, with the consequent weakening of our beloved plants. The growth rate slows down, they begin to lose leaves and/or flowers… How to avoid this? For now, read on.
The best irrigation water will always be rainwater . In fact, it is highly recommended that, if we have indoor plants and if the temperatures are pleasant, we take them out on the balcony, patio or terrace so that they literally get wet thanks to the water that falls from the sky. Once the rains stop, we can bring them back into the house.
But we cannot always have this type of water to water the plants, and this is where the other waters come in, such as: reverse osmosis water, air conditioning water, tap water and distilled water. Each of them has unique properties that make them useful for certain plants.
- Osmosis water: it is the result of the decalcification of the water, made by a reverse osmosis equipment. It is highly recommended for watering carnivorous plants, but not so much for acidophilic plants due to its low mineral content.
- Air conditioning water: similar to osmosis. Very useful for watering carnivores, or cleaning the dust from the leaves of indoor plants.
- Tap water: depending on the area where you live, it will have one pH or another. If it is high (greater than 6) it will not work to water acid-loving plants, but you can use it to water plants that do not need such a low pH.
Finally, we have the “modified waters” which are nothing more than waters that are treated at home (either by putting drops of vinegar or lemon) to lower the pH.
Also, if we have little of a type of water and we have to water a type of plant, we can mix them without problems , filling half with, for example, tap water, and the other half with distilled water. The mixture will serve to water carnivorous plants and/or acid-loving plants.
As we have mentioned before, it is important not only to irrigate with the right water, but also to know when to do it . A trick that never fails is the following: every time you don’t know if it’s time or not, insert a thin wooden stick into the pot, and when you take it out, check if it has come out with a lot of attached soil or not. If it has gone out with a lot, it is not necessary to water.
Another trick is to pick up the pot. If it weighs little, it is because the plant has already absorbed all the water and needs more. Although it is not very reliable, because there are substrates that weigh more than others, it is therefore advisable to weigh the pot once you have watered, and after a few days have passed.
If you know more tricks, feel free to comment. And if you want to water automatically and save water, don’t miss how to build your own homemade drip irrigation system .
