Plants die from tap water

[condohope]

My plants on my terrace need about 60 liters per week. When I water them from tap within 6 to 12 hours leaves fall off or turn brown. I have a container outside in the sun for the water so any chemials can evaporate and do not harm my plants which have an extra ventilated pot to shield them from the heat of the sun. For some orchids I have to use drinking water otherwise they do not grow well. What can I do? Is it maybe the soil poisened with anything? In the condo I live there are about 120 units but only 20 used now. Water is from the city in Jomtien.Thank you for inspirations.

[Pilotman]

That is really odd.  You need to get your water supply tested.  I would be very concerned if your supply has that effect on plants.  Is it filtered into your property?  If so, and it should be, use the filtered water, but still get the input to any filtration system you have tested.  

[Surelynot]

Unless you have some serious filtering system any heavy metals in the water supply (if there any) will simply pass through and you might be poisoning the plants.......possible!

[Don Dunkelblum]

Plants in pots need morning sun.

Afternoon sun only damage the plant

 

[condohope]

For drinking water I have Stiebel Eltron 4 filter system with the fourth cartridge having 0,01 micron but tap is filtered only 0,5 micron without charcoal. Others seem not to have trouble like mine wh their plants. Could be that when I bought the plants and had them potted at the nursery the soil that was used is just bad.

On the other hand I have the same problem at my second condo with plants but there water is from a well and runs through reverse osmosis. The same variety of plants turn brown when I give a good watering twice a week or just a little every day or second day.

[mr mr]

44 minutes ago, condohope said:

My plants on my terrace need about 60 liters per week. When I water them from tap within 6 to 12 hours leaves fall off or turn brown. I have a container outside in the sun for the water so any chemials can evaporate and do not harm my plants which have an extra ventilated pot to shield them from the heat of the sun. For some orchids I have to use drinking water otherwise they do not grow well. What can I do? Is it maybe the soil poisened with anything? In the condo I live there are about 120 units but only 20 used now. Water is from the city in Jomtien.Thank you for inspirations.

 

have you checked the water ph ? the soil in thailand is sketchy at best too. 

[bodga]

Well  water  (deep  water  well) is  often  no good  for  irrigation has  too  much dissolved minerals  in it, needs to be tested.

[condohope]

I know Boughainvilleas want slightly acid soil but when I see them somewhere in miniscule pots backing in the sun full of leaves and flowers I wonder what I can do wrong with mine. Maybe I ought to get new plants.

Thank you for your input.

[ChipButty]

Im sure you are right, it's like the plants struggle to grow, during the rainy season everything was fine, now Im having to water them from the well

[jvs]

Bleach in the water?Plants do not like that very much.

[Cake Monster]

1 hour ago, ChipButty said:

Im sure you are right, it's like the plants struggle to grow, during the rainy season everything was fine, now Im having to water them from the well

I am convinced that growing Plants in Thailand is all hit and miss.

When temperatures are lower, the Plants seem to  thrive, and when the temps get above 30 they appear to " shut off ", and no amount of water will keep them thriving

This I would expect from Plants that are native to Temperate Areas 

[l4ml4m]

are you sure that you didn't drink the water and given the whisky to plants ? ????

 

 

[Wongkitlo]

My friend looks after office plants for a job.  He says watering too much can kill plants, rots the roots. He checks the soil with a probe like a kitchen knife. If it comes out with dirt stuck to it there is enough water. If it comes out dry he waters.  Orchid mix should be virtually just wood chips where the water drains away quickly.

[Estrada]

22 hours ago, condohope said:

My plants on my terrace need about 60 liters per week. When I water them from tap within 6 to 12 hours leaves fall off or turn brown. I have a container outside in the sun for the water so any chemials can evaporate and do not harm my plants which have an extra ventilated pot to shield them from the heat of the sun. For some orchids I have to use drinking water otherwise they do not grow well. What can I do? Is it maybe the soil poisened with anything? In the condo I live there are about 120 units but only 20 used now. Water is from the city in Jomtien.Thank you for inspirations.

If you leave water in the sun, pure water will evaporate leaving a concentration of possible harmful chemicals. No matter what kind of orchid you grow, always water in the morning. Always. Nighttime watering allows water to stagnate in the growing tips of phalaenopsis or the flower sheaths of Cattleyas. This encourages bacterial and fungal diseases. Orchid plants should be dry heading into the night.

[Trentham]

If you are only watering half a dozen plants then 60 litres is too much. You must have a big balcony with a little jungle.

[Lacessit]

My attitude to plants and gardening in general is survive. If you don't, less for me to do and you did not deserve to live anyway.

[whaleboneman]

start urinating on them regularly (I'm not joking)

Also, MrMr has the right advice - check your pH - you can get a digital pH tester online cheap or just use the test strips.

[natway09]

Old galvanized pipes coming into your apartment ?

[Lacessit]

I don't know if any of the labs here can check for the element boron, but that's what I would look for in the water. Boron can be quite phytotoxic to some plant varieties, while beneficial to others.

The other possibility is a deficiency, such as zinc, copper, iron or manganese..

[HarrySeaman]

Some plants need a lot of water and very moist soil, others prefer less water and dryer soil.  You can buy a moisture tester for plants from Lazada for 145 Bt.  Google to find out the right amount of water for your plants and use the moisture tester to make sure you don't over water. 

 

A pH tester is another good idea.  Google will tell you what pH is best for each of your plants.  Lazada has one for 190 Bt but that seems very very cheap for a pH tester.

 

Combined testers are available at a reasonable cost.

[Pilotman]

I can't understand what the problem is.  This is the tropics, stopping things growing is a  problem, not encouraging them to grow. That's jungle out there you know, that doesn't seem to need much encouragement, or TLC? 

[xtrnuno41]

Im not sure with what you are watering it,  does it come form tap now or container? Or you feed the container with tapwater?

Are the circumstances since long time or started in a period of time?

 

Already mentioned you more likely evaporate water and make concentration of chemicals in water higher.

In the sun you create a nice place for bacteria and algae to grow, which can create other chemicals.

You also create dead water, no oxygen to have processes running in the soil. Also other gasses 

Maybe you give them way too much water and they drown. Ph too high or low, as said?

I red human pee is indeed a good furtilizer. 

Find a manual of your plants on how to take care.

[Speedhump]

Chlorinated tap water is supposed to be safe for plants, but I can smell the chlorine in mine clearly in the sink. That can't be right. My chlorinated pool water has slowly started killing my grass on the occasions it has overflowed regularly (over a period of weeks). 

 

Chlorine toxicity can build up in plants over a period of time until it reaches a level where leaves start to brown, etc. You should see it coming and have time to correct it 

 

I'm just suggesting that chlorine level is something to check.. Good luck. 

[tifino]

a large capacity Saucer can be a problem, in the build up of bacteria, from the never ending saturation of the lower levels of the Potting Mix. The roots also may be drowning... 

 

Are you definitely only Watering the Media? and not the Plant itself - as when the leaves are wettened as sitting in the Sun; multitudes of water droplet 'magnifying glasses' will directly let the leaf surfaces brown up

[GreasyFingers]

2 hours ago, Pilotman said:

I can't understand what the problem is.  This is the tropics, stopping things growing is a  problem, not encouraging them to grow. That's jungle out there you know, that doesn't seem to need much encouragement, or TLC? 

If God wanted plants to grow in pots on balconies he would have taught them to build houses/condos.

[RocketDog]

On 1/2/2021 at 3:36 PM, condohope said:

I know Boughainvilleas want slightly acid soil but when I see them somewhere in miniscule pots backing in the sun full of leaves and flowers I wonder what I can do wrong with mine. Maybe I ought to get new plants.

Thank you for your input.

Bougainvillea will not bloom if continually watered. They want water only about once a week. 

I have raised gardens most of my life but a thai lady told me this. As soon as I stopped watering them so much they started blooming. So in the rainy season they don't bloom as much if exposed to the sky. 

I have a large variety of bougainvillea now and following this rule they are blooming most of the time. They like a lot of sun too. 

Crazy but there it is. 

[RocketDog]

2 hours ago, HarrySeaman said:

Some plants need a lot of water and very moist soil, others prefer less water and dryer soil.  You can buy a moisture tester for plants from Lazada for 145 Bt.  Google to find out the right amount of water for your plants and use the moisture tester to make sure you don't over water. 

 

A pH tester is another good idea.  Google will tell you what pH is best for each of your plants.  Lazada has one for 190 Bt but that seems very very cheap for a pH tester.

 

Combined testers are available at a reasonable cost.

Litmus paper is available on Lazada very cheap. Hundreds of leaves for a few baht. Easy way to measure pH. 

[Stevemercer]

Be careful not to get any of the water on the leaves. If the water is slightly mineralised (or salty) the foliage may brown off from direct contact even if the water is still acceptable for the roots. You can normally tell if the water is too mineralised because it will taste like a very slight 'burst' in the mouth (almost like a very light burst of bubbles). Of course, if you can taste any salt it is far too mineralised/salty for plants or humans.

 

I assume you have applied a little fertiliser to one or two plants to see if this help. Too much fertilizer is no good if the soil structure has been degraded through slightly salty/mineralised water.

 

It is the dry season now so many plants will shed their leaves no matter how much water you give them.

 

You could try re-potting one or two plants to see if this helps in the medium term.

[NCC1701A]

here in Hua Hin before I realized how filthy the water is my cats would drink tap water and get diarrhea right away. 

 

so they get 5 stage filtered tap water now and they are fine.  

[NCC1701A]

27 minutes ago, RocketDog said:

Bougainvillea will not bloom if continually watered. They want water only about once a week. 

I have raised gardens most of my life but a thai lady told me this. As soon as I stopped watering them so much they started blooming. So in the rainy season they don't bloom as much if exposed to the sky. 

I have a large variety of bougainvillea now and following this rule they are blooming most of the time. They like a lot of sun too. 

Crazy but there it is. 

this is correct. water a lot during the growing phase and they will turn very green and grow like crazy.

mine were little plants from the nursery and now I need a hack saw to cut them back.  

then cut the water way back and it can be hardly any water and they will bloom. 

same with pruning. cut more grows more.