Distilled water and canned crickets

[jeroldc]

I have made a terrarium in my living room out of a 55 gallon aquarium. I have been using distilled water in lieu of the air conditioning condensate since the AC has not been running. I noticed that the water is ozonated. Is this going to be harmful to my plants?

They are looking great, but I was concerned.

I also wondered if my plants can be fed canned crickets that are sold for reptiles? They seem to like them (the venus flytraps) as they will digest the,. Anyone had any experience with this?

[Not a Number]

Ozone should not be a problem as it should have dissipated long ago. If it still concerns you, you can pour out some of the water from the bottle, recap the bottle and shake vigorously. This will oxygenate the water and further dissipate any residual ozone.

Some feel this is good practice as the dissolved oxygen in the water will then oxygenate the roots. Why roots need oxygen is the question that comes to my mind. If roots need oxygen, why bury themselves in the soil to begin with?

Canned and freeze-dried insects are an excellent food source for your plants.

www.sarracenia.com/faq/faq3080.html

[chloroplast]

"If roots need oxygen, why bury themselves in the soil to begin with?"

Because the basic functions of roots are usually to acquire water and nutrients from the soil, and to anchor the plant.

Being aerobic, plant roots require oxygen to stay alive and fulfill these functions.

[Not a Number]

Mar 12, 2009 12:28:30 GMT chloroplast said:

"If roots need oxygen, why bury themselves in the soil to begin with?"

Because the basic functions of roots are usually to acquire water and nutrients from the soil, and to anchor the plant.

Being aerobic, plant roots require oxygen to stay alive and fulfill these functions.

So why don't runners develop to the surface to get more oxygen than is available underground (anaerobic conditions). Oh, wait there are something called leaves and a circulatory system...

[taz6122]

LOL. You guys are funny. I'm sure the roots get all the oxygen they need from water since it is one part oxygen, hence H2O

[Dave Evans]

Uhh, this thread is making my head hurt...

Oxygen and water are two separate chemicals. Water is burnt hydrogen. And it can be completely deviod of oxygen. When this happens, anything living in the water that need oxygen will die. What living thing can make oxygen from water?

Plants do make oxygen from carbon dioxide--this is where oxygen comes from.

[ICPS-bob]

Mar 19, 2009 20:49:13 GMT Dave Evans said:

Plants do make oxygen from carbon dioxide--this is where oxygen comes from.

Well ....
I suppose you could also make oxygen in the soil by electrolysis of the water -- producing hydrogen and oxygen. Here is the way to do it:
www.miniscience.com/projects/WaterElectrolise.htm

But, that would likely fry the plant roots in the process.

[rsivertsen]

I recall using hydrogen peroxide in my watering of plants that were in very wet conditions in order to prevent the anaerobic detritus fauna from reducing my potting media into some toxic compost which just seems to kill off the roots and encourages other detritus feeders such as sow bugs, pill bugs, millipedes etc, from invading the pots. The experiment seemed to work well for a few months, but I lost track of it for various reasons.

Water is like a sponge, it can absorb available oxygen which can be used by fish and plants; it can also absorb other gasses such as CO2, but forms carbolic acid as it reacts with the water molecule. Some plants handle this better than others. It also reacts with the various minerals in your tap water. - Rich