Am I the only one who switched their houseplants off tap water and can't decide if it actually helped

Richard Hall · 2026-10-26T15:45:04.781118+00:00

So about 5 months ago I started filling up gallon jugs at my sister's place in Rochester because her tap water is softer than mine, and I've been hauling them back every two weeks like a weirdo. My tap water here runs around 300 ppm on my cheap meter, which I know isn't terrible, but my calathea was throwing brown tips on every new leaf. Here's my debate: half the folks at my local plant swap say tap water is fine if you just let it sit out overnight, and the other half act like chlorine will murder everything in the pot. I picked the hauling route and honestly the brown tips slowed down but the plant also got a new grow light at the same time, so who knows which one did it. Four of my six plants look the same as before, which makes me feel a little silly about all those trips. Has any of you actually run a side by side with the same plant and two water sources, or am I just guessing like usual?

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Am I the only one who switched their houseplants off tap water and can't decide if it actually helped | Botany Lovers - HW Forums