Tested My Water - High PH & Hardness

[crust]

Now I am getting my stored rainwater tested at a lab. Concerns about zinc toxicity. I use stock tanks and the zinc can leach out especially with acidic water. I have noticed moss die-offs in my plantings and it may be due to zinc--moss hates zinc. We shall see--the results are not in.

 

[GrimLore]

I have found several one time test kits out there that test for 10 things, the same number that lab tests will do, and about the same cost. I don't feel right about going to get a test at a fish store and not being a fish keeper (anymore) and buying something... Thats just me tho.

Call your Department of Agriculture. They should have a water testing program set up for a nominal fee. The only expensive tests I have seen are for rather unusual substances.

Grimmy

 

[JudyB]

Call your Department of Agriculture. They should have a water testing program set up for a nominal fee. The only expensive tests I have seen are for rather unusual substances.

Grimmy

Went to their website and they no longer offer water testing.

 

[GrimLore]

Went to their website and they no longer offer water testing.

Try NY and PA. They take the money too Also, I would call instead as they may be able to refer you to a good lab.

Grimmy

 

[Anthony]

Plastic 55 US Gallon tanks cut into 3/4 or half and originally used for fruit juice or food
type liquids.
Nothing to seep out and poison.

All alkaline growth that was gluing the soil surface together is dead, as the rain has taken over
and moss is springing up everywhere.
Good Day
Anthony

 

[zelk]

Temecula is just like Orange County... except the water is worse I live right across the Santa Anas from you.

So there are really only two reasonable solutions for our nasty hard water:
(1) Use a reverse osmosis filter.
(2) Get a water softener. If you are using the water for trees, make sure you use potassium chloride instead of sodium chloride to recharge the media.

Decent reverse osmosis units can be had for a few hundred $$$, but at this price point they are really best for limited use (20 gallons per day or less) which is why many homes use them in their kitchen for drinking water and ice cubes. You can use a small filter like this to fill and keep topped off a "rain barrel" in your yard to water some of your more sensitive trees with.

Whole house water softeners will run you somewhere in the $1500 - $2000 range, plus you need a plumber to install them. Make sure the plumber knows you want all your exterior water to run through the softener as well. And you can say goodby to water spots on your glasses or dishes, water spots on your showers, etc.

Both of these solutions require periodic maintenance - the R/O filter will require new cartridges about every 6 months, and the water softener will require you to purchase bags of potassium chloride from your CostCo / Home Depot.

I use an RO system and a Rubbermaid trash bin that tops off with a float valve. This is very very convenient. I represurize the water with a pump and water with a hose that way on some plants.

I've considered getting one of those waste water Retrieval systems to make it better but even as of now, I'm pretty happy with it.

 

[zelk]

Can you please tell me what you're using for your micro/mineral supplement my dear crust? After installing a really good iron filter to get my water from turning everything orange, now I have the opposite issue, and am starting to have iron and perhaps magnesium deficiencies on some of my more sensitive trees. I'm trying out a liquid (once it arrives) called Botanicare Cal Mag plus 2-2-0 that has iron and trace minerals. I am wondering if a granular would be better or if the liquid would be more precise. And I'm also wondering how often this should be applied in our non-organic soils. I've looked around but can't settle on what might work best, so am hoping you can turn me on to what's working for you...
Also now that the rust is all gone, I'm noticing some limescale starting to appear on the leaves... Going to get an electronic descaler, they're pretty cheap.

I would be interested in anyone chiming in who has had success with correcting similar issues, Thanks!

Could you divert a trickle of unfiltered water with a valve then remix with the filtered water just so that you have sufficient iron in it?

 

[JudyB]

Could you divert a trickle of unfiltered water with a valve then remix with the filtered water just so that you have sufficient iron in it?

If I needed to do something like that, I'd try getting a re-mineralization filter to add in line. So far I'm working with the Cal-Mag liquid and just got a granular micro that looks pretty great on paper, so I can add that a few times a year to the soil and forget about it. Will see how it works out for me, and pass on results. I did wind up getting a electronic descaler to deal with the limescale issue I was having, will install that tomorrow. I am totally happy with the iron filtration system we installed this past spring, there is no iron residue getting past that. That's good for the whole house too. It takes magnesium and iron out of the water. So now I'm just working to get the balance back.

 

[zelk]

If I needed to do something like that, I'd try getting a re-mineralization filter to add in line. So far I'm working with the Cal-Mag liquid and just got a granular micro that looks pretty great on paper, so I can add that a few times a year to the soil and forget about it. Will see how it works out for me, and pass on results. I did wind up getting a electronic descaler to deal with the limescale issue I was having, will install that tomorrow. I am totally happy with the iron filtration system we installed this past spring, there is no iron residue getting past that. That's good for the whole house too. It takes magnesium and iron out of the water. So now I'm just working to get the balance back.

This is new info for me! Never heard of an electric rescaled, I appreciate this thread because it's made me think more about my own water. Currently I get 24ppm water for my RO but I save that for carnivorous plants which NEED it. Occasionally I water my bonsai and acid loving trees in particular to flush out tap residues. I'm not sure how much a difference it makes on my trident maples or junipers but I think I've noticed a huge improvement. Here tap water is filthy, 400--600ppm at times and very hard. My tap gets sent through an inline hose filter to remove sediment, chloramines etc. there are better ones out there, I found one for RVs, it works pretty well but doesn't eliminate everything obviously.

 

[JudyB]

This is new info for me! Never heard of an electric rescaled,

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003Z96GR4/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[Litchikiwi]

I'm having a bit of an issue with a Ficus microcarpa I got from my father. At least that is what I think it is.
The leafs have a beautiful green color but the leafs won't develop as they should. They have like creases on them and they won't flatten out as they should. Also some of the new leafs looks like they are missing a bit, there is no tip on the leaf or there is some irregularities along the edges. Could this be some deficiency issue?