Rant: Heard a neighbor say tap water is fine for balcony plants - nearly killed my tomatoes

Was watering my cherry tomatoes last Tuesday when my downstairs neighbor yelled up that she just uses tap water straight from the hose. I read a study last year that showed balcony plants in containers get salt buildup way faster than ground plants. Our city water here in Phoenix has like 300 ppm of dissolved solids. After 3 months of using tap, my soil EC meter read 2.5 which is way too high for tomatoes. Switched to distilled water mixed with rain runoff from a bucket I keep under the AC drip line. Has anyone else tested their balcony soil salinity after using tap water?

2 comments

2 Comments

hart.ryan8d ago

Had a buddy in Tucson who tried the same thing with his patio peppers and ended up with stunted growth and yellow leaves after two months. He tested his runoff and it was coming out at over 3 EC, basically salt soup for the roots. He switched to filtered water from his fridge and they bounced back pretty quick, so yeah, tap water on balconies is risky especially in desert climates.

wesleypatel8d ago

My neighbor's rosemary ended up looking like sad twigs after four months of nothing but Phoenix tap water. I counted 14 leaves left on a plant that was supposed to be bushy. I tried mixing in some of my aquarium change water instead, the fish waste nutrients actually helped. Never bothered with an EC meter though, just guessed based on how the leaves looked.