Unpopular opinion: houseplant people are too precious about tap water

Last week I watered my 3 year old monstera straight from the kitchen sink in Austin and it put out a new leaf in 5 days. Last month a friend in the same group chat lectured me for 10 minutes about letting water sit out overnight. Three years ago I did the whole distilled water thing for a philodendron and honestly saw zero difference. Is there actual science behind the tap water panic or is it just plant parent theater? Anyone have a plant that actually died from fluoride or chlorine, or are we all just repeating what we read on a meme?

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emmasmith28d ago

Totally get why you'd question it, but I've seen the other side of this play out for real. My sister has well water with crazy high iron and her spider plant tips went brown and crispy within weeks, so she switched to filtered and it stopped. Chlorine and chloramine are a bigger deal for certain plants too, especially carnivorous ones or anything in a closed terrarium where that stuff can't off-gas. That said, Austin tap is pretty decent compared to a lot of places, so your monstera not caring makes sense. The overnight thing mostly matters if your water is heavily treated or you're running something fussy. So I'd say it's not pure theater, but people do blow it way out of proportion for your average pothos.

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