Oct 25, 2009

Which is the best and proper water to use with Dyckias?

Water for Dyckias

Dyckia are fond of water. The idea that Dyckias are prune to suffer is a wrong one.
They may endure a very harsh dry period but they do not relish it and in
fact if they are not obliged to face one dry time they flap their hands.

Mato Grosso in Brazil is very rich in Dyckias. There they are not necessarily on mountains but they live within the Brazilian Cerrado something quite similar to the vast African savannas.
There they endure four months without rain every year. The temperatures are so high you can easily fry an egg with no fire at all. But Dyckias even those native to that area do not like
this treatment. They suffer a lot and lose most of the foliage every year.
If you keep those Dyckias well watered year around they grow better and twice faster.
They simply adore water as all Dyckias do.
What Dyckias do not like is the bad water or stagnant water.
Dyckias need acid soft water and a very good drainage!
Dyckias are very good drinkers and they always relish the good water.
Their water must be acid!
Acid means something from 5.O to 6.O pH.
The best one is the rain water collect directly from the skies. The rain water that runs on inert materials will do good.
Basic waters tend to be the hard ones. The more dissolved minerals ions the more hard the water is and the more improper for Dyckias and you.
Tap water will do good if you get rid of chlorine and it is left to rest. Normally if the tap water is not hard it will get acid and free of chlorine in a few days.
If your tap water leaves those clear or dark marks on a leaking tap this water is good for nothing.
Dyckias and you may be getting poisoned day by day.
A good pristine water for Dyckias is the soft one or in a practical view a pure straight water.
Rain water is soft and acid and is the most adequate for Dyckias.
My region has the perfect tap water as our water source runs exclusively on stable granitic rocks.
It is a so perfect one I bred Discus fish without the need of correcting it.
Our fresh water discus fish lives on soft acid water.
Dyckias seems not to absorb well basic hard waters and if constantly bathed in it they tend to die.
They get weak and fungi attack the weak ones. The most lethal fungi are all opportunistic and
rely on the suffering plants.

Acidity means the amount of free hidrogen ions existing in a substance. The more acid a liquid is, the more free hydrogen ions it has. The pH scale goes from 1 to 14. Acid band runs from 1 to around seven and from this point to 14 lays the basic band. This scale runs in logarithmic values 6.O is ten folds more acid than 6.1 .
Soft water means a free of mineral contents one.
Some synthetic resins remove this undesirable contents but the maintenance of this softeners
devices is too expensive when we spend more than just some hundreds of liters.

Collecting rain water from roofs is very easy and ecologic but what sort of material this water runs on? Rain water may fall acid and soft from the sky but basic and hard it gets after being collected. Dust may be washed from the roof or it will damage the final result.

Fact is: a very serious Dyckia keeper will produce a better result in Moscow or Chicago.
Do you know why?
There any mistake kills the plant and everything must be controlled: water and its quality, temperature, light and feeding. Everything may run on the ideal side. Of course many folds more expensive but the quality may rise as well.

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