Warning: switched from tap water to distilled for my roses last spring and the difference in stem strength was night and day

I used to just fill my buckets from the kitchen sink but after losing a whole batch of garden roses to wilting in just 2 days I got sick of it, tried distilled on a hunch from a grower I follow online and now my stems last almost twice as long - has anyone else noticed city water wrecking their flowers?

3 comments

3 Comments

xenam8423d ago

Wait, chlorine? That's actually in tap water for flowers? Never thought about that. Makes total sense now though, my city water has that strong pool smell sometimes. No wonder my last batch of peonies looked fried by morning. Just spent the morning switching all my buckets to distilled.

parker_webb23d ago

City tap water has chlorine and other chemicals that weaken stems. Distilled is just pure water so plants can take up what they need without fighting additives. I switched last year and saw the same thing. No more wilting by day two. Soft water is good for flowers.

sean4823d ago

Good for flowers" is right. But man, I tried distilled for my roses once and they lasted forever. Problem was my cat kept trying to drink from the vase. Little guy went nuts for it. Had to switch back to tap just to keep him out of the water. Now I just let the tap sit out overnight before using it. Works okay.