Water temp? Soil

[JDU]

Well- soil*ish but I digress.
My question then is does the water temp make a difference when you feed in soil? I was about to feed & I noticed how cold the jug felt in my hand. Mind wandered off & thought if the plants are sitting in 75-85° then the decaying wood & manure etc insulated by the soil must have the roots ambient temp much higher.... I wonder if I'm shocking them with each fast drop in temperature? Any thoughts?

 

[SmashGuitar]

Good question! I have always tried to use room temp water. I am curious about this now.

 

[FunkyButtLovin]

You can definitely shock them if it's too cold. I'm not sure where the threshhold is but I've given mine pretty cold water before and noticed no ill effects. I try to let my tap water come up to room temp in winter but when I'm in a hurry and it's really cold, I add some warm water when I fill up to prevent shock.

 

[starramus]

Even with tropical plants my wife will put ice cubes into the pots, and let them do a gradual melt with no ill effects.

 

[SoOrbudgal]

I think they will be just fine JDU.

 

[D.A.A.S.69]

To cold will shock them, like FBL, said above i just use room temperature tapwater, for indoor plants, MsRiver water for outdoor plants, it's usually kinda cool in Spring, but it ain't cold, down here.

 

[Toker1]

Temperature and time are the factors we should be monitoring. A short blast of cool (50F) water then right back up to normal ambient temps is all good. Now if the roots were consistently exposed to 50F that would cause major problems.
...and on the other hand warm water (78F) will carry less dissolved oxygen in it. So that makes for better breeding grounds for anaerobic bacteria. That’s also no good.
I give my indoor and outdoor plants straight up tap water, I used to leave it out to become ambient temperature, but straight out from the tap never caused any issues for me growing inside or out doors.
The only time I let he water sit out and become ambient is with my seedlings and newly rooted clones. I would assume that would be ok as well in cool water, but I have not tried that one out yet.