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Old 02-05-2008, 11:25 PM posted to aus.gardens,rec.gardens
David Hare-Scott David Hare-Scott is offline
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First recorded activity by GardenBanter: Jul 2006
Posts: 438
Default Grey laundry water for garden watering?


powders, switching between different brands, but I typically add:


NapiSan OxyAction MAX


Is this sort of grey water ok for lawn watering?


I would encourage you to use your greywater on the lawn (or scrap the lawn -
but that is another story). Many cleansing products are fairly harmless but
there are some potential problems. Some even have a mild nutrient effect from
phosphourus compounds.

One problem is that some contain sodium salts in fair concentrations, if this
were allowed to accumulate without being leached away it could sodize your
soil. Too much sodium displaces necessary minerals (potassium, magnesium,
calcium, etc) which is harmful to plants. This is particularly a problem with
dishwasher powder that typically has much washing soda (sodium carbonate) in
it. So you should avoid such products or only use greywater from them if it
will be well diluted.

The other problem is that antibacterial products like napisan will kill
bacteria (duh!) in your soil, which is undesirable as in this natural
environment they have a positive role. The modern super-clean attitude where
every microbe should be dead is not right for the garden (nor for humans
either but that is yet another story). Consider if napisan is important to
your normal wash or could you and your lawn do without it.

There are web pages devoted to this issue which contain lists of laundry
products and ingredients or ratings for them.

David