Water Filter For Well Water. OK?

[NVirginian]

I have been trying to grow orchids in my home for about a year now with so-so success. I LOVE house plants and have always had them in my home with great success so I want to give orchids a try. When we built the house we soon found out that we have an incedible amount of iron in the water here. So much so that within 1 day it clogged the paper filter thing that the installer gave us an turned all the tiolets, showers etc. a nasty shade of orange. The filter system we had installed in the basement is designed to remove iron from the water but requires the water to be softened as well. The softening process, using sodium cloride, is done first before the water is then processed through charcoal and some other things before it gets to us. ALL the fixtures in the house use it because the iron will even clog the sprinkler system nozzles in our yard and scratch the cars when washed. Believe it, it's true. We have THAT much iron here in my little spot in Northern Virginia! So, now my question is... is this process o.k. for my orchids or is this the kiss-of-death or should I just continue to grow my basic house plants?

[Cynthia, Prescott, AZ]

Sodium softened water will kill your orchids. So, two ways to solve the problem. Replace the sodium salt in the softener with potassium salt. Potassium is a fertilizer, and I have watered Cymbidiums for a couple of years with potassium softened water with no harm to the plants. Or, get an RO system for under the sink, and use this water for drinking and for watering the orchids. But, if you use RO water, you will have to use a fertilizer designed for pure water as there is no calcium or magnesium in the watrer. Course, this may be true for potassium softened water also. Cynthia

[Anton]

Here in Australia, most houses have rain water tanks due to the periods of drought we go through, and it keeps the water bill down, tastes good for drinking and is kind to plants.

At present the whole country is experiencing the worst drought in centuries with most major reservoirs less than half capacity and some even dried up.

It is time like these where rain water collected off the house roofs comes in handy in more ways than one. In the country most farm houses have at least 3, 3,000 gallon tanks which they use for everything, washing, drinking, garden plant watering, and use their bores for toilets and sprinklers on lawns.

Not sure if they are available in the States, but just a thought.

[Cynthia, Prescott, AZ]

Is a bore the same as a well? Or is it possibly something shallower? My well is about 300' deep. Catching rain watere is not something we in the southwest US generally consider, because we get more dust on our roof tops than water. But I would guess it is practcle in most of the rest of the US. Cynthia

[Anton]

A bore is just a 3" pipe put in a deep hole down to the aquifer and pumped up to the surface.

A well to us is a BIG hole, generally around 3 foot and wider where you have a bucket to bring the water up, or a very big pump.

Along side of our tanks we have a device called a water diverter, which is a pipe which hangs down from the down pipe coming off the roof, just before the tank via a "T" piece connector.

The first dirty water runs off the roof, down the down pipe until it reaches the "T" piece, and falls down into the diverter, filling it before any water reaches the tank. There is a small plastic ball inside the diverter which rises as the water level rises, and eventually blocks the bottom of the "T" section thereby allowing the rest of the clean water to flow into the tank.

At the bottom of the diverter there is a small hole which allows the dirty water to drip out. My diverter is about 5 feet long, but the longer the better, so that your roof gets a good washdown before the clean water reaches the tank.

After a good rain, I will go out and unscrew the bottom of the diverter and let the built up dirty water drop out then screw it back up so that it is ready for the next down pour. If there hasn't been rain for a while, I'll unscrew the diverter and let the water run out for a few minutes until I think the roof is clean enough to start collecting the water runoff.

I can furnish a diagram if so required. This is the way we make sure there are no contaminants getting into the water, be it dirt, leaves, bird droppings etc.

If you can't get the parts for a diverter there, this is the web site where you can order them on line. http://www.bushmantanks.com.au/ Click on products and scroll down to diverters. At prest U.S.$1 = AUD$0.75

The company is here in Adelaide, and they make them for all of Australia.

[Cynthia, Prescott, AZ]

I guess what you describe as a bore is what we call a well. Don't think anyone in the US now uses a bucket to bring up water, unless there are still very poor areas in the Ozarks still. So, the term well has been retained here from common usage for the more modern version. No one in the US uses the term bore. Here in Arizona, just about the whole state is desert, even tho there are some high altitude areas like where I live, but there just isn't enough rain to be of value, really and truely. But we make up for it by having lots of sun for solar heating. Cynthia