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Water Salinity Safe for Plants
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Author:  tdbrueggen [ Fri Jul 13, 2012 1:55 pm ]
Post subject:  Water Salinity Safe for Plants

We have a brackish water tank, which is low salinity. It's 1.005 specific gravity, which is 6.6 parts per thousand (PPT), which is roughly 1 TBSP/gallon of water, sea salt. I've been advised before to just dump it on my compost pile, and not water directly with it. However the tank has been upgraded to a 240 gallon, and with a 50% water change I don't really want to waste away that 120 gallons of water.

Is this salinity too high to water the garden/lawn with? What if I dilute further. I have a 330 gallon tote, so if I put 120 gallons of brackish water, and top off with another 200 gallons of rainwater, it would be about 1/3 of the salinity above, so then 2.2 PPT, which is 1.002 SG. That seems pretty fresh to me.

Thoughts?

Author:  northwesterner [ Fri Jul 13, 2012 4:20 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Water Salinity Safe for Plants

How much will it cost to replace the things you kill with the salt if it doesn't work? Seems to me more prudent to dump the water and not mess up your soil with a buildup of salt (which won't go away).

Author:  tdbrueggen [ Sat Jul 14, 2012 5:37 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Water Salinity Safe for Plants

I'm not planning to water all the time with this brackish water. Only rarely, when it comes about. I suppose the salt will go away over time if only used sparingly. After all, salt is water soluble, so if watering with fresh water the majority of the time, the salt will continue to leach out of the soil. But I know what you're saying.

What do you think the salinity is of water coming through a water softener. After all, in a softener, the water is run through a salt pellets. It cause an ion exchange to remove minerals from the water.

I'm just posing this question as a general thought. I've posted something like it before and never really gotten a straight answer. I'm curious if anyone knows.

Author:  northwesterner [ Sat Jul 14, 2012 6:00 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Water Salinity Safe for Plants

I couldn't answer about a water softener. I've never used one.

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