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Hard water is water with high mineral/salt content. I'm told that a potted plant watered with a salt solution dries out sooner or later. Is this true?

If so, would a plant survive if watered using hard-water?

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It would depend on the content of the hard-water. If the water contained heavier metals like lead or radioactive elements like tritium (Hydrogen-3), the plant would most likely die. Most land plants cannot survive when watered with massive amounts of salt water as the salt would absorb the water from the leaves.

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I'm sorry, I do not understand. Do you mean the flow would be backwards out of the root - or would the salt in the water accumulate at some location/s within the plant and absorb the fluid locally? – Everyone Jul 24 '12 at 11:37
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The salt in the leaves would accumulate like any other mineral would. However, the salt would attract the water molecules to them and prevent them from carrying out their job (transporting other nutrients throughout the leaves and stem), thus robbing the plant of necessary nutrients like phosphate and nitrogen. Does that answer your question? I'm not an expert on herbology unfortunately. – Chase Yuan Jul 24 '12 at 12:53

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