What type of water do I have?
 

Hi, I'm new here. I'm mostly stuck with my more interesting orchids right now, so I had decided to invest in some MSU fertiliser. Sounds great you'd think, but now I have no idea how my water fits into their two categories of well vs. rain/tap water. My water is sources from water springs in my village. It's very high in mineral content (mineral and calcium) and considered to be very heavy water, not chlorinated. Any ideas if this would qualify as well water?

Apparently, the type of water I have makes a difference in how I water and fertilise my orchids. I'm wary of using distilled water because it's quite expensive and isn't for consumption where I live. I would spend 20€ per week on only watering my orchids.

EDIT: I had a look on our village website. The hardness is listed as 25 fh (14 °dH). Ca 67.4 mg/l; Mg 10.09 mg/l; N 5.3 mg/l, with a Ph of avg. 7.58. So I guess the well water should be chosen.

I would assume that you would use the msu formula for tap water/well water. But there are others who may know better.

I'm assuming you're ordering from Repotme, which mislabels their MSU fertilizers. The difference, I think, lies in one being more pH neutral, and the other is adjusted for water hardness. In your case, you want the tap/well water one, which is 19-4-23, NOT the RO/tap/rain water on Repotme that is 13-3-15. That one is for RO/rain water without any hardness.

Welcome to the Orchid Board!

The "pure water" formulation is for water with very low mineral content. The "well water" formulation is for water with higher mineral content.

Your town may have a water analysis available so you can see the numbers for pH, total dissolved solids, and perhaps calcium and magnesium. Are you able to collect rain or snow? I do that. I blend rain with my tap water to lower the mineral content, but still provide enough calcium and magnesium that I don't need to use a calcium/magnesium supplement. I add fertilizer and adjust the pH with vinegar. People growing in clay pots report vinegar makes the pots decompose faster, so they use other acids for adjusting pH down.

The village website listed the hardness as 25 fh (14 °dH). Ca 67.4 mg/l; Mg 10.09 mg/l; N 5.3 mg/l, with a Ph of avg. 7.58.

So I guess the well water fertilizer should be chosen.

Thanks for the help everyone. I wasn't sure why there were different ones and this clarified things.

(The rain barrel won't be set up until next year, it needs a foundation since we live on a hill and there's very few flat surfaces, so I'll order the other one next year.)