I need some help on watering; water here is too hard (it has a
high
content of lime), and I think this has a deleterious effect on
some of
my trees (specially on A. palmatum), Does anyone have an idea on
how to
treat the water (making it less hard). Any reference on the
"ideal"
water for example distilled water?). Thanks everybody.
Claudio Fierro Neudörfer, Chile (Zone 9).

======================

I don't think hardness has anything to do with the health of your
trees. If it meets public health standards and you can drink it,
it is OK for plants. The tree's cells/leaves will filter the
calcium out and will pass it out through their stomata where it
might leave some white deposit on the leaves. This is unsightly,
but it can be rubbed away with your fingers.

Can you tell me what the pH of your water is? If your soil has
very little organic material in it, there is a remote chance that
water with a *very* high pH could raise the pH of your soil to a
level that might make an azalea (for instance) unhappy, but . . .
you might be pushing the health limit there, too. There will be
very little change in soil pH if you have any amount of organics
in your soil.

In any event, distilled water isn't good. You could save
rainwater (if you are in a part of Chile where it rains ;-)


Jim Lewis - - Tallahassee, FL - Our life is
frittered away by detail . . . . Simplify! Simplify. -- Henry
David Thoreau - Walden

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