Have you ever had a Spider plant with brown leaf tips? It’s frustrating! Spider plants are supposed to be easy, aren’t they? That’s what I thought, anyway, until I learned how the content of my tap water can affect my plants. Water quality makes a big difference to your houseplants. Chlorine, bromide, fluoride, sodium, and other soluble salts can all cause damage to your plants, and they are all found in tap water.

Dead leaf tips are actually very common on Spider plant. Fluoride causes the leaf tips and margins to die off and is commonly found at levels toxic to plants in tap water. Fluoride damages potted palms and Dracaena plants like the popular “Lucky Bamboo”. Chlorine can also be toxic to many plants, causing leaf discoloration and general lack of vigor. This can be somewhat avoided by leaving tap water sitting overnight so that some of the chemical can evaporate. I find that by mixing up several gallons of fertilizer water at a time, the chlorine gets several days to dissipate before I need to use it.

High salt levels can also be dangerous to your plants. Salt prevents your plant from taking up water. Sometimes the levels are low enough that you may not notice the plant is suffering and it will take a long time for it to die. When it finally goes, you may be left scratching your head. When salt levels are too high in your irrigation water, it doesn’t matter how much water you supply. The plant just can’t use it. The same goes for water softeners. The water provided by softeners just doesn’t mix well with plants. The sodium chloride used in water softening ion exchange is harmful to plants. Much like the sodium and other salts found in tap water, the salt in water coming from softeners cause houseplants to become desiccated, even when ample water is provided.

So, what are your options? For inexpensive houseplants that you don’t have an emotional attachment to, plain old tap water may be just fine. If you’re like me and you really want to see them thrive, you may have to try another source. Distilled or reverse osmosis water is simply the best, but it’s also more expensive than many of us would like. For your expensive and ultra finicky plants, such as orchids, you may want to make this investment. Personally, I grow orchids and many of them are quite happy with my tap water that has been given a few days to sit. Rain water (or even melted snow!) is another great option. Rain is better for plants than sometimes alkaline well water and won’t contain harmful chlorine and fluoride. It’s only slightly less convenient than tap water, but it’s free and worth the effort.

Try some of this for yourself. Some are fortunate to have great water straight out of the tap, but for those that don’t, it’s pretty amazing to see the difference that good water makes.