Pro tip: switched from tap water to filtered for my hydrangeas

I had two identical hydrangea plants from the same batch. One got our regular tap water, the other got water from my basic Brita filter. After about three weeks, the difference was crazy. The tap water plant's leaves started getting brown edges and the blooms looked dull. The filtered water plant stayed bright green and the flowers were a deeper blue. Our city water must have more chlorine or something. It's a small change but it really helped. Anyone else notice their local water messing with certain flowers?

3 comments

3 Comments

robert2752mo ago

Actually tried something similar last year with my own hydrangeas and saw zero difference. My tap water must be softer or something because both plants looked fine. Could just be your specific city water or maybe even the soil was slightly different to start.

ramirez.daniel4h ago

Ha! Yeah, that's basically the plant version of one of those "test your water pH" kits that shows everything is fine until you try a different brand. I did the same thing with my ferns last summer, dragged a whole set inside to use filtered water, left the others outside with the hose. After two months they all looked identical. Probably the most humbling experiment I've ever done with plants.

max8082mo ago

Zero difference" makes me wonder if it's even worth the hassle.