Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Water Sources and Filtering Options
Both water sources and filtering of your water are very important considerations when TLO growing, and
a whole bunch of people already growing organically could likely get a huge boost in quality and yields
if they were aware of just how important this whole subject is. City tap or municipal water is the biggest
potentialproblemwhengrowingwithalivingsoilmix.Filteringthistypeofwaterisactuallyfairlysimple,
and I will share my favorite sources for water filtration. My favorite brand for this in the USA is called
Pure Water Products. More about them and their filters later, but for now suffice it to say that your water
source is a huge deal when growing TLO or any organic style. If you use well, spring, or tap/city water,
then you really want to filter it for a number of reasons.
REV'S TIP
River and stream water is always awesome to use outdoors when growing
plants in the Earth, but you should check it with a TDS meter to make sure it is not too high in dis-
solved mineral salts. A reading below 100 PPM is almost always fine even when container grow-
ing—you just need to flush now and then. River and stream water (in fact any groundwater source)
should be checked for unknown possibilities like pollution, including the existence of bad microbial
life, and organic chemical elements out of balance. Rivers and streams especially can have some
nasty stuff in them, thanks to people or companies nearby.
City, well, and spring water all have some potentially bad things in common. Often they are “hard,”
which means they contain a lot of dissolved magnesium and calcium. This type of water will accumulate
salts (magnesium, calcium, et al) around the root zones (rhizosphere) altering the pH drastically, and mak-
ing the area inhospitable to some of the key microbeasties. It seems to me to really mess with the my-
corrhizal fungus, so things like phosphorus tend to lock out in the soil mix. Another big downside is the
seasonally changing ratios of various dissolved mineral salts, along with who knows what else from local
plumbing. Every once in a while, spring or well water will be perfect for your style, growing all organic-
ally, because of low ratios of dissolved salts, and a nice balance of them as well. City tap water has huge
problems, including all those that spring and well water have.
City/municipal water these days is almost always disinfected with a compound called
“chloramine”—which is, simply stated, a very stable form of chlorine that you cannot simply bubble or
even boil out of the water. This is hazardous to your soil mix in a huge way! Activated carbon filtering
is the way to deal with this issue, and carbon filtering will also remove many other potential nasties from
your city water, like fluoride. Fluoride interferes with over 30 natural plant processes, and can definitely
mess up germination rates. Reverse osmosis filters always have a carbon stage or two to them as well, just
so you know.
