Author Topic: Irrigating with well water  (Read 1495 times)

Timbogrow

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Irrigating with well water
« on: August 13, 2021, 07:38:43 AM »
I included a picture of my redlands white sapote. It's really the only plant that has chlorosis. The drip line hasn't been used for a couple months. Using the well water here in southwest florida has a ph of 8 here. I do have a drip line installed and would like to find a solution to the bicarbonate buildup. So far doing research I've found gypsum and elemental sulfur can be used to buffer the ph by amending the soil on a regular basis. Does anyone use a water de scaler like the limetron so that the bicarbonate can leach out easier? Install a water treatment acid injector? Both descaler and acid injector? Maybe it's best I just convert the driplines to rainwater and plumb in my gutters to multiple collection tanks and re-plumb the irrigation main? Would be nice if there was a method involving less work and more effectiveness. Just trying to find a solution before rainy season ends and I start using it again. Thank for your help in this topic.


K-Rimes

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Re: Irrigating with well water
« Reply #1 on: August 13, 2021, 12:26:19 PM »
I started using hose filters that you can find on Amazon or whatever and it has sorted out a lot of chlorosis issues on my plants due to calcium build up that locks them out. My well water is VERY high in TDS and it builds up quickly.

The only issue arises with tomatoes and plants that are sensitive to calcium/magnesium and the filter does too good a job of removing those elements. I used the filter for a about a month, everything greened up but then started showing cal/mag deficiency, especially tomatoes, mangoes and such so I took it off for a bit. I'll put it back on when they yellow again.

Timbogrow

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Re: Irrigating with well water
« Reply #2 on: August 13, 2021, 01:39:32 PM »
Thats a good idea! I'll look into those. Thank you!

K-Rimes

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Re: Irrigating with well water
« Reply #3 on: August 13, 2021, 03:32:55 PM »
Thats a good idea! I'll look into those. Thank you!

I also put a coarse (10 micron or something?) stainless steel mesh barrel filter inline before the fine one. I am not sure what your sand filter etc treatment is or if you get bigger pieces. On mine, I get big chunks of sand in the stainless steel filter and so it has been very worthwhile to extend the use of the fine paper/cotton filters. Probably have put 5000 gallons through them both without any reduction in flow. They did reduce the flow when I installed them in the first place, maybe by 25% so account for that in irrigation time - what I mean is that after 5000 gallons, the flow is the same as when I put them on.

achetadomestica

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Re: Irrigating with well water
« Reply #4 on: August 13, 2021, 04:42:54 PM »
rainwater is suppose to be 7 ph. 8 is not that big of a difference.
I have an area in my yard and the grumichama and macadamia were
yellow and I toss a handful of sulphur pellets monthly and it has helped
my water and soil tested at 6.3 ph. I know macadamias need low ph but
I am not so sure about white sapote. My Suebelle and supersweet have
always been on the yellow side especially when it's July and the sun is
intense. I did get a youghan's gold and it stays darker green? I wondered
about the full sun? I am glad you brought this up I will try giving the SueBelle
some sulpher and see if it helps

Timbogrow

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Re: Irrigating with well water
« Reply #5 on: August 13, 2021, 05:25:28 PM »
I think the filter will be great help and easiest cheapest solution without changing anything. Thank you for that K-rimes! As far as the sapote, it has done a lot of growing and still seems to be pushing new buds out. It was in kind of rough shape when I got it in january. The soil fell all off the thing and was like a bare stick. I honestly didn't think it would make it.

K-Rimes

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Re: Irrigating with well water
« Reply #6 on: August 14, 2021, 12:48:44 PM »
I think the filter will be great help and easiest cheapest solution without changing anything. Thank you for that K-rimes! As far as the sapote, it has done a lot of growing and still seems to be pushing new buds out. It was in kind of rough shape when I got it in january. The soil fell all off the thing and was like a bare stick. I honestly didn't think it would make it.

Of note, are you fertilizing it? I use avo-citrus slow release on almost everything here other than eugenia and plinia and if they run out of food they tend to go yellow. White sapote is a VORACIOUS eater and can take substantial amounts of fert. It requires it, imo.

Timbogrow

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Re: Irrigating with well water
« Reply #7 on: August 14, 2021, 09:49:54 PM »
That could be. I have some  citrus /avocado fertilizer I use. I put some soil acidifier around about 2 months ago also with about 2 tbsp of the fertilizer.  I did put some liquid 20-20-20 on it mixed about 2/3 strength before all this rain yesterday to see if that might help. Might be too much rain for that to do anything now. I'll do a soil test on it tomorrow to see what's there. Thanks again K-rimes!

850FL

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Re: Irrigating with well water
« Reply #8 on: August 15, 2021, 01:39:35 AM »
Is it safe to use natural lump charcoal (flushed off) as a pre “filter” before a sediment filter in a gravity-fed rain barrel catchment? Is it activated, of any use, or even toxic?

Timbogrow

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Re: Irrigating with well water
« Reply #9 on: August 15, 2021, 07:09:54 AM »
I know if it's carbon from hardwood it won't hurt anything but activating it yourself might be kind of a pain. You would have to grind it up and then cook it with calcium chloride and water. Your time is probably worth more.  If you make your own char you need lots of fire wood and a huge fire pit, mine is 7'x7' (maximum size before you need to permit the burn through the forestry department in florida). Must be at least 30' from any structure.Then you need a way to quench the flames so you don't turn your precious carbon to ash (garden hose) It takes a lot of water! Turning the pile will help extinguish the fire and use less water. I shovel it out and pile it up for some time to let the rain clean it off.

Finca Loco

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Re: Irrigating with well water
« Reply #10 on: August 15, 2021, 09:00:52 AM »
Seems like two problems. 1) sediment buildup 2) Plant Chlorosis. For the sediment buildup, I would get rid of the drip irrigation, not sure why people use drip in sandy soils, It would be better to use larger orifice sprinklers like impact sprinklers or spray. i know white sapote is very very sensitive to being hit by sprinklers. Then, if you still have buildup, physical filtration. The second is a little more tricky, I know a lot of people use the elemental sulfer, that seems plausible. Chemically treating your irrigation water seems like a waste of time and money when your soil is calcareous. You could amend your soil with biochar and/or clay to make it easier for plant roots to take up the elements they need, pH would be less important in this situation. Then the last option, but should be first, is to just increase overall biodiversity of plant roots/fungal relationships around your plant to make whatever nutrient your plant is missing (iron/mag) more bioavailable. I fixed a jackfruit nutrient issue just letting my weeds take over around the base of my tree.

Timbogrow

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Re: Irrigating with well water
« Reply #11 on: August 15, 2021, 10:14:20 AM »
Finca Loco, thank you. It was so dry when I planted everything here and it is almost 3 acres with limited spigot and hoses. I have no desire to inject or treat the water it is just a big waste of time and don't like the thought of a backflow preventer failing or the chemicals involved. The property was overgrown with pepper hedge/ ear leaf acacia, so I ripped it all out over the last year. I'm not doing sod or anything and do like the natural groundcover of weeds and different grasses to make it more bio-diverse. I do have some char I use and will get some gypsum to help improve the soil. Seems the weeds just havnt made it to the sapote yet. There around most everything else and plan keeping it that way except the bitter Mellon vine. I hate that thing and has no place here in my yard lol! Do you have any suggestions on plants to add for companionship/biodiversity?  I've been transplanting the sparky mix marigolds all over for their supposed root knot nematode control.
P






Finca Loco

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Re: Irrigating with well water
« Reply #12 on: August 15, 2021, 05:25:51 PM »
Finca Loco, thank you. It was so dry when I planted everything here and it is almost 3 acres with limited spigot and hoses. I have no desire to inject or treat the water it is just a big waste of time and don't like the thought of a backflow preventer failing or the chemicals involved. The property was overgrown with pepper hedge/ ear leaf acacia, so I ripped it all out over the last year. I'm not doing sod or anything and do like the natural groundcover of weeds and different grasses to make it more bio-diverse. I do have some char I use and will get some gypsum to help improve the soil. Seems the weeds just havnt made it to the sapote yet. There around most everything else and plan keeping it that way except the bitter Mellon vine. I hate that thing and has no place here in my yard lol! Do you have any suggestions on plants to add for companionship/biodiversity?  I've been transplanting the sparky mix marigolds all over for their supposed root knot nematode control.
P






I'm in the same situation, my newly purchased property is almost pure pepper hedge/ ear leaf acacia, but Ill probably just chop and drop them as I plant out new areas. I have seen studies about certain grasses making iron more bioavaliable, but in the context of our soils, our grasses, our fungi, trees, etc., there are just so many variables and it's hard to study the entire system like that. I'm just going to let whatever the birds/wind plant there do its thing, provided its not a complete nuisance, like some of the vines. Your mix of plants there will probably change with season as time progresses, but you're going to have a lot more butterflys, insects, etc with a naturally planted unmowed groundcover. Some of it may be that a multispecies groundcover provides more aeration than pure st augustine grass, given the diversity of roots. These are interesting times for tropical fruit growers in Florida.

Timbogrow

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Re: Irrigating with well water
« Reply #13 on: August 15, 2021, 06:53:48 PM »
Im going to look into the grasses. Very very good idea!! I do spread whatever seed i can get from what's growing here. Just spread a bunch beauty berry seed all over. Thats rough having those kind of exotics!! It's more work than people realize but well worth having the space. Those pepper hedges and ear leaf acacia are horrid! I'm so glad it's all gone. I did the chop and drop pile and truly will take 1000 years to decompose and get any gain. Plus if you let the pepper hedge sit in a pile it's likely to just grow back. Chopping them at the ground just makes them angry 😆. Hire a skid steer guy to just pull them out roots and all and haul it to the easment for a grapple truck to scoop up. You will need a 60'+ basket lift to fell the acacia near anything important. They like to split and tear. Just got a quote of 750 to fell and chip 2x 80' trees. After doing 6 that size without a chipper it's well worth it for the time they do it in. Your wife will hate the debris pile and if we get a storm your gonna have sticks blowing all through your freshly planted grove and hopefully nowhere else. I had receipts for dumping 70, 000lbs in only half an acrea and ran out of rental time with dump trailer so I filled the 165' easement all the way down. Was 2 grapple trucks, then still had a pile leftover that was 1 grapple truck. I think I got an arborist that will drop the chips off here for free so it's easy to replace the carbon you remove. Much easier/quicker than a rotting pile of sticks 8' tall. I understand the idea of keeping all the plant matter but nothing was going to benefit from a pile of sticks that large. Another negative about the wood pile is its a home for all the rats that chew the bark around the young trees and ruin your fruit. I had over 100 mangos on my tree and got not even 1 because the underbrush was so thick and housing hundreds of them. They were climbing up the gutters and slipping in between the soffit to the attic.There were rat tunnels all over in the back yard.




Timbogrow

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Re: Irrigating with well water
« Reply #14 on: August 15, 2021, 07:12:20 PM »
I forgot to mention that it was a sign when a hawk swooped down after clearing and catching a squirrel.

850FL

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Re: Irrigating with well water
« Reply #15 on: August 16, 2021, 11:03:25 AM »
Finca Loco, thank you. It was so dry when I planted everything here and it is almost 3 acres with limited spigot and hoses. I have no desire to inject or treat the water it is just a big waste of time and don't like the thought of a backflow preventer failing or the chemicals involved. The property was overgrown with pepper hedge/ ear leaf acacia, so I ripped it all out over the last year. I'm not doing sod or anything and do like the natural groundcover of weeds and different grasses to make it more bio-diverse. I do have some char I use and will get some gypsum to help improve the soil. Seems the weeds just havnt made it to the sapote yet. There around most everything else and plan keeping it that way except the bitter Mellon vine. I hate that thing and has no place here in my yard lol! Do you have any suggestions on plants to add for companionship/biodiversity?  I've been transplanting the sparky mix marigolds all over for their supposed root knot nematode control.
P






Gypsum will improve the soil. Start to pile mounds of mulch, trimmings, wood chips, oak leaves, pine straw, coco coir, bags of coffee grounds (used, and around the perimeters of plants not close to the trunk), even layer sand on top of all that to settle it all down, then it'll decompose in a few months and keep repeating the process, but dont make the piles too high immediately or else they might get too hot (especially with too much 'green' matter (maybe 2 ft mounds at a time). These items will likely help enormously with microbial/fungi activity and lower the pH. Give it some time but your plants will take off. I wouldn't add lime and definitely not wood charrings since they're basic. Clay could be basic too?
You could also irrigate from rain barrels (probably have to use drip) that way the pH will be about 6-7 and adjust if needed.
« Last Edit: August 16, 2021, 11:07:15 AM by 850FL »

Timbogrow

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Re: Irrigating with well water
« Reply #16 on: August 16, 2021, 08:10:04 PM »
Thank you everyone for the helpful advice. I gave it some compost and a layer of pine bark fines from under the big pines. Then transplanted some grass that was growing in the back. Found a real nice Sawgrass plant and spread the seeds around all over as well. It definitely needs lots of time here, everything I planted is less than a year in the ground. I got 1 heavy producing mango tree to hold us over. There's a lot of skin on the post hole diggers that's for sure. Thanks 850sfl!