Chloramine ??
- To: m*@ucdavis.edu
- Subject: Chloramine ??
- From: K* H*
- Date: Tue, 16 May 2000 09:27:48 -0700 (PDT)
Greetings to All,
I've not been very attentive to this list lately and I apologize in advance
if I duplicate any recent questions.
Here in San Jose, California, the municipal water is somewhat hard but
really not too bad, but I've noticed that some plants seem not to like it at
all. Now any children's plant book will tell you to plant typical
insectivorous plants such as Dionaea in a peat-rich medium and water with
distilled water. I've always guessed that this avoids hardness or alkalinity.
But I suspect there may much worse things lurking in the tap than a few
magnesium or calcium ions!
Our municipal authorities, in their questionably copious wisdom, are using
chloramine, NH2Cl, as the disinfecting agent for the city water. Mind you,
chloramine is the chlorination by-product, which in tiny concentrations,
makes chlorinated swimming pools such effective places to simulate the
consumption of large amounts of gin (judging by the appearance of one's eyes).
My concern is that perhaps some plants I've been having trouble with, some of
which by most other accounts are dead easy, are much more suspeciptible than
usual to this toxin.
Specifically, I've had more than typical trouble with the sprouting and
subsequent raising of seedling Paulownia tomentosa and Capparis spinosa.
Garden variety (so to speak) Gardenia jasminoides dies as soon as I look at
it; though Gardenia spatufolia is doing O.K. Some potted Lithocarpus
densiflora died pretty quickly and my precious Chrysophela chrysolepis are
pining. As are Torreya californica and Taxus brevifolia.
Might choloramines or other unsavoury substances in city water also be the
reason some of the Meconopsis, for example, are so infamously difficult??
Any ideas/insights are welcome.
Karl.
