Dominion wrote: hardly ever occurs?

While they're not my hobby, I do have house plants. Some of them are quite old. I use tap water only for my house plants.
It NEVER occurs.

you must have some sweet heavenly nectar tap water mate..

Yep. I looked up the specs on my water company's website.

Dominion wrote: well.. plants prefer rain water.. would you drink rain water?

I'd probably would like to have it filtered, but yeah, as long as I'm not in Fukushima, why not?

rainsaucers.com/blog/2013/03/19/can-you-...nwater-is-it-potable

"People who drank untreated rainwater displayed no measurable increase in illness compared to those that consumed the filtered rainwater"

What do you think other animals drink? Not tap water, I'm sure.

Dominion wrote: .
i ALWAYS get a white shine on the nebari and bottom of the trunks from the calcium in the tap water..

hardly ever occurs?

i see where i was unclear. I meant that damage due to calcium buildup hadly ever occurs. With good substrate an watering techniue, and repotting, lime is hardly even an issue. And if it is, a bit of vinegar helps, as advised before

Plants in our home have been watered with tap water for 20 years and they are OK

I water my bonsai with rain water now that I have access to it, but it's more for aesthetic reasons (I noticed white buildup from tap water) and collecting the water, bringing it home and watering with "natural water" serve as a meditation for me.
When the winter comes and I won't have rain water I will use tap water and my consciousness will be at peace

The only tap water I would not use is salty tap water from the sea that they had in tourist areas in couple of Mediterranean countries that I visited.

leatherback wrote:

Dominion wrote:
The easiest way to reduce limestone buildup is having the trees in the raib. every week adding a spoon of table vinegar to a large watering can of water an watering with this can alsi help. normally you should however not have too many problems in most regions.

What kind of proportions are we talking about? One spoonful to 5 liters or approximately how much water? Also regular white vinegar? I have some calcium deposits I'd like to deal with.

I wouldn't worry about the calcium deposits until repot. Then you can soak the pot in vinegar & knock the scale off when the tree is out. It may be unsightly right now, but if you're not displaying, I wouldn't worry. You've got time.

brkirkland22 wrote: I wouldn't worry about the calcium deposits until repot. Then you can soak the pot in vinegar & knock the scale off when the tree is out. It may be unsightly right now, but if you're not displaying, I wouldn't worry. You've got time.

The tree does seem to be very healthy otherwise with new growth everywhere. Plus we're talking about a yew, by the time I repot the bark where the deposits are may have peeled off. Could the deposits be a sign of another problem? Or not?

I haven't worked with yew, so I haven't done my research on it. Take a few pictures so those that have can better answer your questions concerning other problems.

Scrubbing with a brass brush or toothbrush is common in cleaning bark. Whether it's to get rid of moss, lichen, pests, dirt (like collected trees), or removing old dead bar so you can better find the live vein.

brkirkland22 wrote: I haven't worked with yew, so I haven't done my research on it. Take a few pictures so those that have can better answer your questions concerning other problems.

Scrubbing with a brass brush or toothbrush is common in cleaning bark. Whether it's to get rid of moss, lichen, pests, dirt (like collected trees), or removing old dead bar so you can better find the live vein.

Yew bark peels naturally, so that is not a problem. I was just wondering if mineral deposits are a problem, but here you can see them.

And the tree in general. It isn't inside all the time, just for the photo.

no problem. Tree is clearly happy and healthy