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PostPosted: Tue May 10, 2011 1:33 pm 
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Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2010 3:35 pm
Posts: 3
Location: Granbury,TEXAS
I noticed from the time I was young that I could water and water and keep things alive, but when it rained, everything acted like it had received a magic potion! Now we are establishing an organic garden. We are elderly and definitely will not live long enough for a $15,000 well to repay itself by savings from the water bills. I am trying to look at all the ramifications of well water vs. city treated water. I'm fairly sure ours is not treated with chlorine, but the chlorimate (or whatever it is) because there is no chlorine smell to our water ever. With the extensive watering we will be doing here in Central Texas, filters and such make no sense, if we could figure out how to make them and had time to bother.

One of the questions I had about Chlorine was, can it build up in the soil and would the plants take it up? All I see addressed is if it affects soil organisms.

Another thing....if we have goats and chickens and they drink this chlorinated stuff--can they be called "organic"?

Merry Gardener


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PostPosted: Fri May 13, 2011 10:28 am 
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Joined: Fri Apr 10, 2009 1:58 pm
Posts: 144
Location: Arlington, Texas
I just did a brief search for you on the question "does chlorine build up in soil". After reading on several university sites, and several organic product sites, it seems that chlorine ("Cl"), a by-product of potassium chloride ("PC"), and can build up in soil with poor drainage. One example cited was a plant grown in a saucer on the kitchen windowsill.

The symptom or result most cited for build up of Cl or PC was burning of the plants. Another case commonly cited was that of draining swimming pool or spa chemicals (and, thus, chlorine) into areas where plants are grown. These high levels of chlorine are routinely cited as causes for severe burning of nearby plants.

That said, we use city water -- which has chemicals I try not to think about, including chlorine -- to water our garden. We hope to establish a rainwater collection system soon, but until then using the hose is our best option. We have well-drained, sandy loam in our garden area and have amended many times over the last 2 years with compost, rock minerals, worm castings, and diatomaceous earth. Our plants our healthy, gorgeous, happy, and bearing beautifully. The squash we planted the first week of April has already given us about 5 pounds of squash and there should be another huge harvest today. :D

I'll try to post a picture once I finish this post. Hopefully, I will succeed...

As to your question about your critters drinking chlorinated water, I'm curious why that's an issue. Are you going to sell goat milk, or make goat cheese, and you are wondering whether you can sell it as an "organic" product? If that's the case, you should probably just go to the USDA's Organic Certification pages (http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/usda/usd ... =PRODUCERS) and see what the guidelines are.

Hope that helps! (...and hope I can post a pic... :shock: )

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God speed!
Cara
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Take time to stop and smell the flowers!
(or... as my ladybug refrigerator magnet says
"take time to stop and eat the flowers!" :D)


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PostPosted: Fri May 13, 2011 2:37 pm 
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Joined: Fri Apr 10, 2009 1:58 pm
Posts: 144
Location: Arlington, Texas
Okay! I got digital pictures figured out! :D
Here's some of our squash, with pink petunias planted among them, and in the foreground some of our tomatoes.

In the background -- which I decided not to crop -- you can see our beautiful harvest of crab grass. :wink:

Happy Gardening!


Attachments:
Squash - May 2011.jpg
Squash - May 2011.jpg [ 59.72 KiB | Viewed 5841 times ]

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God speed!
Cara
**
Take time to stop and smell the flowers!
(or... as my ladybug refrigerator magnet says
"take time to stop and eat the flowers!" :D)
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PostPosted: Sun May 15, 2011 9:42 am 
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Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2010 3:35 pm
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Location: Granbury,TEXAS
Thanks for the reply. It gave me more to think about. I have very heavy clay soil and am using semi-raised beds.

Also WE plan to drink the milk and eat the cheese and meat and therefore want organically raised animals.


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PostPosted: Tue May 17, 2011 4:22 pm 
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Joined: Fri Apr 10, 2009 1:58 pm
Posts: 144
Location: Arlington, Texas
With raised beds, I would think you would be fine. And you have the benefit of having your organic beds improving your clay soil over time. You'll get earthworms in your beds and they will start improving the water retention in your soil, as well as adding worm castings to the soil.

As to your critters, I'm with you on that. We've considered doing meat rabbits but with all the craziness with genetically modified seeds and crops, I wonder if I can really raise a healthy rabbit.

_________________
God speed!
Cara
**
Take time to stop and smell the flowers!
(or... as my ladybug refrigerator magnet says
"take time to stop and eat the flowers!" :D)


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