Author Topic: Well-Water Quality Test  (Read 5455 times)

Tropicalgrower89

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Well-Water Quality Test
« on: March 19, 2014, 04:10:41 PM »
Hello everyone. Is there is a nearby place where I can take a sample of my sprinkler well water to be tested? I would like to know if I'm watering my trees with poor quality water or not. My location is pembroke pines, fl 33024.
Alexi

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Re: Well-Water Quality Test
« Reply #1 on: March 19, 2014, 05:13:43 PM »
What makes you think there may be a problem with the water?

Tropicalgrower89

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Re: Well-Water Quality Test
« Reply #2 on: March 20, 2014, 12:23:59 AM »
What makes you think there may be a problem with the water?

I've noticed that sometimes the water has a rotten egg smell and sometimes it is just a pure metallic odor. Also, the potted mamey seedlings which are growing in good potting soil is yellowing-up. The bushes in front of my house that are under the roof over hang are also sick and yellowish.  My 10-30 ruby supreme guava also just died back for no reason. I used to water it a lot with well water. Maybe it's just the nature of the nutrient-lacking sand that I have over here in eastern pines. I just want to be sure that my well water is giving good quality water and not super metallic alkaline water.
Alexi

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Re: Well-Water Quality Test
« Reply #3 on: March 20, 2014, 07:32:58 AM »
Can always use a pH tester from your swimming pool, or neighbor.

Mark in Texas

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Re: Well-Water Quality Test
« Reply #4 on: March 20, 2014, 08:52:51 AM »
Hello everyone. Is there is a nearby place where I can take a sample of my sprinkler well water to be tested? I would like to know if I'm watering my trees with poor quality water or not. My location is pembroke pines, fl 33024.

Here's a great lab.  I've had my well water and soil tested numerous times.  Out of state people use them too.  While your at it, throw a bag of soil in the box and have it tested too.  It's cheap.  FWIW, my well water is as hard as a rock with a TDS of 839 ppm, mostly bicarbs of Ca and Mg.


http://soiltesting.tamu.edu/

TnTrobbie

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Re: Well-Water Quality Test
« Reply #5 on: March 20, 2014, 09:17:57 AM »
Got this off of the EPA website

http://www.epa.gov/safewater/faq/pdfs/fs_homewatertesting.pdf

"You can fi nd one in your area by calling the Safe Drinking Water Hotline at 800-426-4791 or visiting www.epa.gov/safewater/labs. "
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Mark in Texas

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Re: Well-Water Quality Test
« Reply #6 on: March 20, 2014, 09:41:30 AM »
Got this off of the EPA website

http://www.epa.gov/safewater/faq/pdfs/fs_homewatertesting.pdf

"You can fi nd one in your area by calling the Safe Drinking Water Hotline at 800-426-4791 or visiting www.epa.gov/safewater/labs. "

Two different type of tests for different reasons.  That one will be worthless regarding plant health and needs. 

Saltcayman

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Re: Well-Water Quality Test
« Reply #7 on: March 20, 2014, 10:16:33 AM »
Hello everyone. Is there is a nearby place where I can take a sample of my sprinkler well water to be tested? I would like to know if I'm watering my trees with poor quality water or not. My location is pembroke pines, fl 33024.

Here's a great lab.  I've had my well water and soil tested numerous times.  Out of state people use them too.  While your at it, throw a bag of soil in the box and have it tested too.  It's cheap.  FWIW, my well water is as hard as a rock with a TDS of 839 ppm, mostly bicarbs of Ca and Mg.

Hi mark,  when this lab returns a soil analysis report, do they reccomend a course of corrective action or amounts of amendments to add? 

Thanks,  Dave

http://soiltesting.tamu.edu/

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Re: Well-Water Quality Test
« Reply #8 on: March 20, 2014, 11:26:41 AM »
I like Mark's suggestion. I think I'll be using it soon. Alexi and I are in the same area so it would be interesting to see how our sprinkler water compares.
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Mark in Texas

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Re: Well-Water Quality Test
« Reply #9 on: March 20, 2014, 11:27:45 AM »
Hi mark,  when this lab returns a soil analysis report, do they reccomend a course of corrective action or amounts of amendments to add? 

Thanks,  Dave

http://soiltesting.tamu.edu/

Yes, plus quite a bit of literature that is very well written and helpful.  You'll list the crops you're growing and they'll take it from there.  Pretty comprehensive.  They'll be 15 items/elements shown on the report and where they fall in a range from Extremely Low to Excessive.  I get the macros and micros test.  Included is pH and conductivity.  Forms and how to submit are on that website.

You have to know where you are before you can determine where to go and how to get there. 

Good luck
« Last Edit: March 20, 2014, 11:32:05 AM by Mark in Texas »

Mark in Texas

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Re: Well-Water Quality Test
« Reply #10 on: March 20, 2014, 11:29:38 AM »
I like Mark's suggestion. I think I'll be using it soon. Alexi and I are in the same area so it would be interesting to see how our sprinkler water compares.

Just for kicks a day before our Exceptional drought of 2011 "ended" with rains, I took a well water sample and sent it off.  As suspected even though I draw from a pretty large and expansive aquifer, the TDS was up considerably compared to the norm. 

adiel

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Re: Well-Water Quality Test
« Reply #11 on: March 20, 2014, 11:34:12 AM »
Here is the University of Florida IFAS Water Test Form:  (They test water samples from Florida only)

http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/pdffiles/SS/SS18400.pdf
Adiel

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Re: Well-Water Quality Test
« Reply #12 on: March 20, 2014, 04:07:53 PM »
Thanks guys!^ I'll check out those options.
Alexi

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Re: Well-Water Quality Test
« Reply #13 on: March 20, 2014, 10:40:33 PM »
I haven't tried Texas A&M, but it sounds good.

For soil, I have used, and liked, through Agri-Energy Resources account and interpretive form, Midwestern Laboratories in Omaha, Nebraska.

[South Florida's own good lab, A & L Southern Agricultural Lab, went out of business over a year ago.]
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Re: Well-Water Quality Test
« Reply #14 on: March 20, 2014, 11:39:34 PM »
if it smels like rotten eggs you have sulfur in your water, which is very common, its probably good water, just need an aerator tank or just let the water sit out in a open barrel or bucket for a day or two and the sulfur will evaporate off.
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Re: Well-Water Quality Test
« Reply #15 on: March 21, 2014, 06:58:20 AM »
Hello everyone. Is there is a nearby place where I can take a sample of my sprinkler well water to be tested? I would like to know if I'm watering my trees with poor quality water or not. My location is pembroke pines, fl 33024.

Unless your well is very deep, most wells here will have that sulfur smell here in Florida, some will also have iron, which is easy to see on the walls (as a brown / red stain) of your house since you're using it to water your lawn.

My well has no iron and a bit of sulfur but my plants LOVE it! I'm in Coral Springs and out west like we are we do not need to worry much about salt water intrusion in our water which could be real bad for many plants.

Regards,

   Gary

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Re: Well-Water Quality Test
« Reply #16 on: March 21, 2014, 11:31:01 PM »
I tested my water when there was a possible "cancer cluster" in the area.  http://e-watertest.com/  As other's have stated, the sulfur creates the rotten egg smell.  We also have tannin, an organic from rotting organics in the water, creating a brown tint to the water.
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Tropicalgrower89

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Re: Well-Water Quality Test
« Reply #17 on: March 22, 2014, 12:02:42 AM »
Thanks for all of your recommendations. ^ I really appreciate it.
Alexi

Mark in Texas

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Re: Well-Water Quality Test
« Reply #18 on: March 22, 2014, 08:21:55 AM »
I'd collect rainwater if I were you.  Doesn't sound like Florida is into rain water collection.  It's very popular in Texas and the trend is growing.  Of course we tend to be droughty compared to Florida but it sounds like your water quality isn't that good.  Most of the well water in Texas is high in Ca and Mg salts which I'll take any day over tannic acid, iron, or sulfur, at least for house use.  Plants should love water tainted with sulfur and/or iron.

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Re: Well-Water Quality Test
« Reply #19 on: March 24, 2014, 11:12:32 PM »
DELETED

« Last Edit: April 16, 2014, 03:06:35 PM by Mr. Clean »
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Mark in Texas

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Re: Well-Water Quality Test
« Reply #20 on: March 25, 2014, 07:38:00 AM »
Looks like paradise to me!

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Re: Well-Water Quality Test
« Reply #21 on: March 25, 2014, 11:40:45 AM »
Looks like paradise to me!

Drowned 3 Avocado trees, 1 Sapodilla, 1 Carembola, and 1 Papaya.
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Tropicalgrower89

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Re: Well-Water Quality Test
« Reply #22 on: March 25, 2014, 11:54:16 AM »
^That ain't the right way to collect rain water. :P ;) But, yeah, that sucked. Did you replace them with the same cultivars?
I've just began to use palm/tropical fertilizer, so maybe that's all they need. Besides the occasional rotten egg smell and now the metallic smell, the water looks crystal clear. I just thought that if the water was bad, the grass wouldn't look too good.. So maybe it's just the typical metal deficiency that you get in plain sandy soil.
Alexi

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Re: Well-Water Quality Test
« Reply #23 on: March 25, 2014, 10:42:57 PM »
I got ride of my Papayas due to papaya fruit flies.  I replanted the avocados and carembola on higher ground.  Got a different variety of Sapodilla.
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Tropicalgrower89

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Re: Well-Water Quality Test
« Reply #24 on: March 25, 2014, 11:16:00 PM »
I got ride of my Papayas due to papaya fruit flies.  I replanted the avocados and carembola on higher ground.  Got a different variety of Sapodilla.

Cool. My papaya that I was growing in the other house that I lived in got worms too. They were being stung by a wasp-like bug. I did a little trick that my aunt taught me to keep them away. Tie medium pieces of red yarn to the stems of the fruit. Not tightly. Just enough so it doesn't fall off. The color of the red yarns and the movement in the wind will make the small fruits look deadly to the fruit-fly and they won't lay their eggs in the fruit. Never saw any sting marks again or the wasp-looking bug.
Alexi