Warning: I see people watering their ferns with tap water straight from the hose

Had a buddy lose 3 Boston ferns in 2 weeks cause he was doing this. The chlorine and fluoride in city water will burn the fronds from the tips down. I switched to letting my water sit out for 24 hours before using it and my ferns look way better now. Anyone else notice this with their own plants?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_alex13d ago

Wait, did you try letting the tap water sit out in a bucket for a day before watering? That worked for my ferns after I had the same crispy tip problem.

wood.uma12d ago

Guess I'll tell my ferns to just hold their breath for 24 hours then.

charles_baker2812d ago

Man, I don't know if I buy that. I've been watering my ferns with straight tap water for years and they're fine. Like, my Boston fern in the living room gets sprayed with the hose every few days and it's huge with no crispy tips at all. Maybe some people have really bad water, but I think a lot of this is just people looking for something to blame when their plants die for other reasons. I've seen folks kill plants from overwatering or bad light and then blame the water. Letting water sit out seems like a lot of extra work for something that probably doesn't matter as much as people think.