Testing… testing…
In carnivorous plant cultivation, water is a very important part of the equation. The water used ideally should be as pure as possible – but in many instances, it may not be practical to constantly purify or buy purified water. Especially once you get a sizable collection! (By the way, read up on water for carnivores in this beautifully written FAQ over at Barry Rice’s site HERE.) See, these plants have adapted to nutrient deficient soils and have a sensitivity to minerals/salts. I’ve had my share of fun water-purifying adventures, but am thankful that now I’m in a place where I can just water straight from the tap! (Oh… say WHAAAAT? Tap? Yea boyeee!) The water at my new location is clean enough and I can actually use it without any fancy/expensive filtering equipment. Thank goodness! So, how do you know if your water is good enough? Simple – test it! I purchased my TDS meter above online years ago. (TDS meter in photo. No, that’s not one of those sticks you pee on. Well you can, but it wouldn’t tell you if you’re pregnant or anything…)
Anyway, the TDS meter basically tests the amount of Total Dissolved Solids in the water. I can’t recall the exact store I got this from, but it was pretty inexpensive. Units typically run around $20. All I do is simply fill the cap or a container up with some water, then dip the prongs into it. It then gives me a reading. The level in the photo reads 124ppm. (PPM stands for Parts Per Million.) The lower the number, the better. You’ll find a range of opinions on how high this PPM number can be. Some say the number should never exceed 100 PPM. Some say 150 PPM. The idea is that the lower that number, the better. At the last decrepit greenhouse I was in the water levels were approaching and even occasionally exceeded 300 PPM! Ugh. That’s just straight FUGLY! I dealt with that madness by using a deionizer (basically a system that removes minerals from the water) but that crap is expensive!
The water in the photo reads 124 PPM. Some days it’s 70. Others 140. Yeah, it varies from day to day but I’m fine with that cuz for the most part, it’s clean! At my first place I would get readings of around 170, and the plants were fine for years. To prevent build up of salts and minerals from the water, I would change the potting media every 2-3 years. I grew quite a few plants outdoors and the rain would wash all that build up away for me anyway. The water tables I am putting together aren’t too deep, so the cool thing is that I’ll be able to top water the plants to flush potential mineral build up out of the media every now and then. Yeah!
