I live in upstate New York. My well water is very cold and loaded with calcium hardness. In general I watched orchids slowly decline - and finally die.
After some false starts, this is my water system. First the water passes through a chemical softener - one that uses potassium chloride rather than sodium chloride. (Some municipalities require these instead of the traditional sodium chloride unit as they don't "contaminate" the ground with sodium. I use it simply because I had it from an earlier time in my water history). Next a pumped RO unit. This unit came from SpectraPure in Arizona. I have no commercial interest in the Company. The owner was very helpful in getting me just the right unit. There are a lot of pitfalls (for example, chlorinated vs non-chlorinated water requires a different membrane; certain organic compounds ruin the membrane). A pumped unit is more expensive but has a much lower waste-water rejection ratio. I have a 65 gallon poly tank, purchased on eBay, to hold the water. SpectraPure offers a switching system that controls everything. A small hot water tank, on a timer, provides hot water which is mixed with the RO water to ultimately provide 80 degree water. A pressure-activated pump moves the water from basement to attached greenhouse. A proportioner, with bypass, allows fertilizing at 150 PPM or flushing with pure water. I find I need to top-dress paphs and phrags with oyster shell to ward off a strange rot.
It is important to pipe your system with plastic as the RO water will dissolve copper pipes in a short time!
And the bottom line? Plants thrive. More bloom. More growth. Remarkable root systems. You could see the difference in the roots after three weeks!
Good Growing!
Tim Tomaselli
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