Thoughts on fertilizer.

[Ross]

Originally Posted by JennS

Thank you for the great response Ross. I am sorry I took so long to reply, but I could not remember where this post was and just found it. I was wondering if there is some way to steam distill at home? The 'chids seem to grow well with what they have now, but if I could help them out anymore without breaking the bank by constantly buying distilled water then I wil. As for a softener, I rent, so I am not thinking about doing anything like that at this point. Probably will when I do buy a house though.

Jenn, a couple points. You don't need a water softener to use a RO unit. Companies like Culigen will rent one to you monthly for a fee. Second, distilled water isn't necessary. RO is, essentially the same (not often as pure, but pretty close). You can buy 2.5 gallon jugs of distilled water for a couple bucks in most grocery stores.

[JennS]

Well, I was kind of shying away from the Reverse Osmosis system. I was just trying to learn a bit more about distilled water and see if I could do it at home. I have bought the distilled water before, but think it will get pricey because I use at least 1 gallon on my vadas every morning. I would also have jugs all over the place. I don't think the 'chids are unhappy with the regular water, but I would be happy to make they even happier if possible. Thank you for all of the detailed explanations you are giving me! Sorry for any confusion, as well.

[dave b]

One could distill water at home, but you really wouldnt want to undertake the task. It entails boiling water, then collecting the steam. As the steam is collected in compartments above the main water source, it cools and condenses. The condensate is purer water, leaving the mineral salts in the boiling mix below. The time, energy, equipment, and so forth really isint worth it.

If you dont want to invest in RO yet, try collecting rain water, using grocery store DI water (you can dilute it 1/2 with tap and double your supply), and just use tap water at times.

[Ross]

I was avoiding this, but you are correct for steam distilation. If R.O. is not an option, then buying distilled water would be an option.

[Ray]

...and maybe your tap water is good enough...