Bad water, Los Angeles

[Beng]

I'd been hearing from several growers here that the water was bad and a filtration system would work wonders. I didn't take much notice since In NYC my water was 50 ppm out of the faucet. I hooked up my reverse osmosis system today and was surprised to see the water here in West LA is 261 ppm out of the spout! I can filter it down to 17 ppm with a 1:1 ratio or 0 ppm with a 1:3 ratio. Are those of you in LA using RO water for all your plants or just the more sensitive ones like azaleas.

Or is 260 ppm nothing to worry about... It just seems SO much higher then the numbers from the water on the east coast. Why can't LA filter there water better?

 

[goosetown]

I live right around the corner from the Beverly Center, so we're probably pulling from the same water supply. I have only junipers, and mostly shimpaku. I had one tree go the way of the dodo this Summer, but I think it was because I mucked up the repot and root rotted it. My other 8 trees have all continued to thrive.

Perhaps I'm just lucky, but so far no issues with watering. Had a TERRIBLE time with spiders this season, though.

I'd been hearing from several growers here that the water was bad and a filtration system would work wonders. I didn't take much notice since In NYC my water was 50 ppm out of the faucet. I hooked up my reverse osmosis system today and was surprised to see the water here in West LA is 261 ppm out of the spout! I can filter it down to 17 ppm with a 1:1 ratio or 0 ppm with a 1:3 ratio. Are those of you in LA using RO water for all your plants or just the more sensitive ones like azaleas.

Or is 260 ppm nothing to worry about... It just seems SO much higher then the numbers from the water on the east coast. Why can't LA filter there water better?

 

[bonsaibp]

I use the water right out of the tap but I'm on the same water supply as the Anhauser Busch brewery so my water may be better than in WLA.

 

[Smoke]

PPM of what?

Chlorine?

Bromide?

Chromium?

Iron?

Calcium?

Selinium?

7-up?

 

[MACH5]

I think is referring to a TDS reading.

 

[Beng]

PPM of what?

Chlorine?

Bromide?

Chromium?

Iron?

Calcium?

Selinium?

7-up?

Well the meter doesn't tell me that. I would have to send a sample in. It just reads incoming and outgoing PPM. Guess it could be 260 ppm of nutrients, I doubt that though. I read the LA water report a week ago and it doesn't look like its that many good minerals. For LA based on this report I guess 250ppm is on the low end. Ill do an experiment next year with starter seedlings straight tap vs RO water.

https://www.ladwp.com/cs/idcplg?Idc...060036&RevisionSelectionMethod=LatestReleased

 

[Beng]

I think is referring to a TDS reading.

Exactly.

Ben

 

[edprocoat]

The TDS or totally dissolved solids, is a measurement for drinking water supplies. It can be any combination of minerals, toxins, salts etc. present in the water. Over 1000 PPM is considered unsafe for drinking water, The lower TDS the purer the water, yet many of those very minerals would be desirable in some growing conditions.

I water my plants with water from the Midwest to Florida, literally, as in the summer I am in Ohio and I winter in Florida. Some of the water in Florida is heavy with calcium as it comes from limestone aquifer , a dripping water hose can create little stalactites forming around the leak. In different places I stop when traveling there is water so rusty from the wells on the RV parks that it will turn drains orange-ish within a week while others have the smell of egg so bad its apparent as soon as you turn on the tap. I have never seen any noticeable difference from the use of these different waters.

ed

 

[Beng]

I read 500ppm is the EPA legal maximum in drinking water. I imagine rain water is very high ppm yet that's some of the best water for our trees. I was just concerned after reading the report, testing the ppm, and hearing from others that our water here is hard and low quality. My PH here is 7.6 out of the tap.

 

[coh]

Rainwater has very low TDS.

If you're concerned, just send a sample out for analysis. There was a thread about this within the past year...JR Peters lab is relatively inexpensive.

Chris

 

[dpowell]

My tap water is currently around 460ppm TDS and it's starting to have some negative effects. I can't grow azaleas and am having trouble with lodgepole pines and most deciduous trees and I believe water quality to be the problem.
I don't have the equipment to be able to tell what the mineral content consists of, but I'm pretty sure it's not good. Does anyone know of any on hose filters that work or anything outside of an RO system?
I have access to an RO, but with a large collection watering via RO is very labor intensive and the process of filtering the water via RO is wasteful.

 

[Beng]

Rainwater has very low TDS.

If you're concerned, just send a sample out for analysis. There was a thread about this within the past year...JR Peters lab is relatively inexpensive.

Chris

Thanks ill look into this.

 

[Beng]

My tap water is currently around 460ppm TDS and it's starting to have some negative effects. I can't grow azaleas and am having trouble with lodgepole pines and most deciduous trees and I believe water quality to be the problem.
I don't have the equipment to be able to tell what the mineral content consists of, but I'm pretty sure it's not good. Does anyone know of any on hose filters that work or anything outside of an RO system?
I have access to an RO, but with a large collection watering via RO is very labor intensive and the process of filtering the water via RO is wasteful.

I have a stealth RO 200 system in which i replaced the 2 high flow 100 gallon per day membranes with low flow 200 gallon per day membranes giving me up to 400gpd. I also added a 1:1 waste reducer. This shortens the life of the RO membrane and you get a slightly higher ppm but only by about 5% which is not much. I just started using it on my satsuki. Everything else I use a kdf camco filter right before my hose made for rvs. This cuts the ppm down by about 1/3 and gives you a nice high flow out of a hose for daily watering. I've been using the kdf filters on my hose for the last 5 years they work great if replaced every 3 months or so.

http://amzn.com/B0024E6V30

 

[dpowell]

Thanks Beng, that's perfect. I just ordered and will give it a shot. Even cutting down by 1/3 will be a huge help I think. If that doesn't work I'll have to look into a better RO option. Thanks!

I have a stealth RO 200 system in which i replaced the 2 high flow 100 gallon per day membranes with low flow 200 gallon per day membranes giving me up to 400gpd. I also added a 1:1 waste reducer. This shortens the life of the RO membrane and you get a slightly higher ppm but only by about 5% which is not much. I just started using it on my satsuki. Everything else I use a kdf camco filter right before my hose made for rvs. This cuts the ppm down by about 1/3 and gives you a nice high flow out of a hose for daily watering. I've been using the kdf filters on my hose for the last 5 years they work great if replaced every 3 months or so.

http://amzn.com/B0024E6V30

 

[Beng]

Thanks Beng, that's perfect. I just ordered and will give it a shot. Even cutting down by 1/3 will be a huge help I think. If that doesn't work I'll have to look into a better RO option. Thanks!

I've never used it on water that high, let me know how much it lowers 400PPM water. When you plug it in the first time let it spill directly out of the filter for about one minute. Black kdf media will fly out for about 5-10 seconds.

 

[Ris]

I have a stealth RO 200 system in which i replaced the 2 high flow 100 gallon per day membranes with low flow 200 gallon per day membranes giving me up to 400gpd. I also added a 1:1 waste reducer. This shortens the life of the RO membrane and you get a slightly higher ppm but only by about 5% which is not much. I just started using it on my satsuki. Everything else I use a kdf camco filter right before my hose made for rvs. This cuts the ppm down by about 1/3 and gives you a nice high flow out of a hose for daily watering. I've been using the kdf filters on my hose for the last 5 years they work great if replaced every 3 months or so.

http://amzn.com/B0024E6V30

I started using this filter also and trees look much better, less calcium on leaves.
I also use a barrel for water storage only for my satsuki azaleas, all others do just fine.
Koi pond would be nice but my son will be in there all day can't take that risk.

 

[Nybonsai12]

Good luck getting a decent bagel in LA with that water Ben!
As an alternative would you be able to set up a rain water collection tank? Or is there not enough rainfall, too many plants etc.

 

[bonsaibp]

Good luck getting a decent bagel in LA with that water Ben!
As an alternative would you be able to set up a rain water collection tank? Or is there not enough rainfall, too many plants etc.

There's no such thing as a decent bagel in L.A. . That's always one of the thing on my list when I'm back in NY and NJ. Pizza too.
With the small amount of rain we've gotten in the last several years you'd be lucky to get enough water to water one tree for maybe 6 months. Last ear we had about 8 inches all years and this year less then 2 inches so far.

 

[Beng]

I forget who told me this but I heard there's a bagel shop in LA that brings water In from NY weekly to use in their bagels. Could be someone spewing wild rumors though. Speaking of water in in food I tried the pizza spot that zagat says is the best in the US they say it beat out NY. Its called Michaels Pizzaria in long beach. It was good, but not as good as places like Sottacasa in Brooklyn. Zagat is full of it.

 

[Beng]

Found it, they don't bring in the water they try to replicate the water using a bunch of filters... Not the same i'm sure.

http://brooklynwaterbagels.com

http://brooklynwaterbagels.com/water/brooklyn-water-works