As some of you may know, ive made up a soil mix. My final ingredient ( kelp meal ) arrived today, so after I mix it in, im ready to get it good and moist and let it cook. Is it ok to just use hose water. I dont know if the chlorine and fluoride and other chemicles in the water is bad for the mix. Also, when its time to plant, what kind of water then?
this i live in the rust belt....and in a big city, so some water lines in my area are extremely old. construction around the area that cause ground vibrations stir up the sediment in the pipes.....so sometimes my water comes out a rusty brown color. i use RO water, but only because of these crazy circumstances and because im anal about my weed plants. you will be OK with tap water, as long as you let it sit out for at least 24 hours prior to use. -OSUB
I just collected a bunch of rainwater from a recent storm and dumped about 3 or so gallons on my 55 gallon soil drum. I am *hoping* the extra oxygen and H2O2 in rainwater will help speed up the microbial life in my soil.
Chrontar If your water comes from a water treatment facility, they will have published reports going back for years on exactly what's in your water. The tap water where I live (in a big city) has a ppm of under 400 and is only treated with chlorine, so i elected to just use that, but I always bubble it for a day to evaporate off the chlorine. It works well. If you have chloramine in the water, it's pretty much the same deal as chlorine, but you need to add a pinch of compost at the start of the bubbling to convert it to chlorine so it to can evaporate away.
You also get the same effect when that water from the hose hits the organic material in your mix. I use tap water for just about everything since it takes me 100+ gallons for just a light watering. I do have 40 gallons in buckets for 'spot' watering and I'm amazed at how fast that goes when it's warm and sunny. Do get a water report like Hap suggested. It may be great, maybe not, but you really need to know to work with it. Hose water or no, you should add a bit of molasses to the 'wet down' water to help jump start those microbes. A tsp/gallon would be fine, a tbl/gallon, max. Wet
Our water uses chloramine. I didnt hear about adding compost to the water. i know chlorine can be evaprated away, but chloramine cant. I read about some removal stuff, but then there are a bunch of extra steps as well. I have about 17 gallons of soil setting up, and I just dumped 4 gallons of distilled water in it. Is that too much?
You're over-thinking it. Search chloramine if you don't believe me. If you squeeze a fistful of dirt, does more than a couple of drops come off of it?
[quote name='"FunTimeGrowHap"']You're over-thinking it. Search chloramine if you don't believe me. If you squeeze a fistful of dirt, does more than a couple of drops come off of it?[/quote] Haps right on the money. You need to break the bond with an organic source then it becomes chlorine and evaps. It's a redundant approach to h20 treatment by some municipalities. If you really want to be sure go to your local aquarium supply / pet store and get some tap water treatment for aquariums. I don't do this unless I'm in a pinch.
Hap is right. When working organics, it's always best to follow the K.I.S.S rule. (keep it simple stupid)...not that I mean you're stupid, I am sure you're not.
I did search chloramine, thats how I got the info I did. I just didnt read anything about using compost to break the bond. Thats awesome, thanks for the info. So I just add compost to the water and bubble it with an aquarium bubbler? About how much compost should I use for a 5 gallon bucket? And how long does it need to bubble? Oh, and when I squeeze it, its it gets my hand pretty wet, but its not like wringing out a sponge or anything, so im sure im good. Out of curiousity, what would be the result of over watering it?
You don't want it too wet. If it dries out and needs to be moistened, do the molasses, but no need to apply it just to apply it and get the mix too wet. Wet