X-No-Archive:

I was hoping to get some advice regarding the use of grey water from
the laundry for garden watering – mainly lawns.
I’m not at all asking about the legality of it, which is not at all an
issue. Rather I am trying to find out whether or not the grey laundry
water is likely to stuff up my lawns. I use different sorts of washing
powders, switching between different brands, but I typically add:

NapiSan OxyAction MAX

http://www.vanishstains.com.au/whats_new.shtml#1

Is this sort of grey water ok for lawn watering?
What if this grey water was used for deep soil irrigation near plants
and shrubs? (This is much less of an issue at this stage).
I really would appreciate some advice. Thanks.

Gas Bag wrote:
X-No-Archive:

I was hoping to get some advice regarding the use of grey water from
the laundry for garden watering – mainly lawns.
I’m not at all asking about the legality of it, which is not at all an
issue. Rather I am trying to find out whether or not the grey laundry
water is likely to stuff up my lawns. I use different sorts of washing
powders, switching between different brands, but I typically add:

NapiSan OxyAction MAX

http://www.vanishstains.com.au/whats_new.shtml#1

Is this sort of grey water ok for lawn watering?
What if this grey water was used for deep soil irrigation near plants
and shrubs? (This is much less of an issue at this stage).
I really would appreciate some advice. Thanks.

Have a look here. http://tinyurl.com/6n5mz6
It seems to have all the answers...

g'day gas bag,

pity to waste it resource wastefull lawns but whatever, it won't harm
the lawn well never did when i was that way inclined.

we use ours on our vege' gardens etc.,. but then we make our own
laundry gel and have never found the need to add things like nappy san
whatever, mostly promotion gimmicks.



On Thu, 1 May 2008 01:22:16 -0700 (PDT), Gas Bag
wrote:
snipped
With peace and brightest of blessings,

len & bev

--
"Be Content With What You Have And
May You Find Serenity and Tranquillity In
A World That You May Not Understand."

http://www.lensgarden.com.au/

I know, I hate to see all that water to down the drain too! I've used
my laundry water for the lawn and shrubs with no problem. I haven't
tried it on veggies.

If you use boi-degradeable SOAP not detergent you can use the wash
water. The rinse water is fine by you have to be careful about that
fabric softener.

Plus, deep watering is better for shrubs than a sprinkling anyway.
Good for you!

"Gas Bag" wrote in message
...
X-No-Archive:

I was hoping to get some advice regarding the use of grey water from
the laundry for garden watering – mainly lawns.
I’m not at all asking about the legality of it, which is not at all an
issue. Rather I am trying to find out whether or not the grey laundry
water is likely to stuff up my lawns. I use different sorts of washing
powders, switching between different brands, but I typically add:

NapiSan OxyAction MAX

http://www.vanishstains.com.au/whats_new.shtml#1

Is this sort of grey water ok for lawn watering?
What if this grey water was used for deep soil irrigation near plants
and shrubs? (This is much less of an issue at this stage).
I really would appreciate some advice. Thanks.

--

i'm instinctively inclined to worry about the addition of napisan, so i
think you're going to have to stop doing that! it has a fearsome reputation
for stain removal, so i naturally doubt you want it on your garden.
bleaches, salts & whatnot should NOT go on your garden as they will poison
the plants.

any low- or no-salt and low- or no-phosphorus powder should be fine on a
lawn, however, there are lots of brands available now that are
more-specifically designed to end up as grey water, so go with one of those
& ditch the napisan outright.

i'm always spruiking "aware" (planet ark) washing powder because it's a
great product & easy to get at almost any supermarket & not expensive, and i
can confirm from personal experience that it won't do any harm at all. so
that would be my personal recommendation.

if you use a non-toxic product such as "aware" & are mindful of using the
greywater within 24 hours, you shouldn't have any problems of any kind.
(it's fine for your garden after 24 hours, but gets very germy &
surprisingly smelly, so you need to be aware of not creating a health hazard
before it goes into the ground! :-) most people just use either a home-made
collection point & then send it straight out, or just direct it straight out
(eg flexible pipe directed through the wall or window), or you can have a
plumber install a pretty spectacular certified setup, but you still need to
send it out within 24 hours or else send it down the drain - the plumber
set-ups will have a drain diversion [which seems a waste to me, but is
necessary for sanitary reasons if you live in town & have a lot of washing
to do but it's too wet to water the yard that day] ).
kylie

In article
,
Laura at theGardenPages wrote:

I know, I hate to see all that water to down the drain too! I've used
my laundry water for the lawn and shrubs with no problem. I haven't
tried it on veggies.

If you use boi-degradeable SOAP not detergent you can use the wash
water. The rinse water is fine by you have to be careful about that
fabric softener.

Plus, deep watering is better for shrubs than a sprinkling anyway.
Good for you!

Perfect storm indeed. We had good rain Nov. to March and then the driest
March-April ever. We are looking at sever water rationing at the same
time the price of food is skyrocketing. I think I need a water tank.
--

Billy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KVTf...ef=patrick.net
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=7WBB0s...eature=related

"Gas Bag" wrote in message
X-No-Archive:

I was hoping to get some advice regarding the use of grey water from
the laundry for garden watering – mainly lawns.
I’m not at all asking about the legality of it, which is not at all an
issue. Rather I am trying to find out whether or not the grey laundry
water is likely to stuff up my lawns. I use different sorts of washing
powders, switching between different brands, but I typically add:

NapiSan OxyAction MAX

http://www.vanishstains.com.au/whats_new.shtml#1

Is this sort of grey water ok for lawn watering?
What if this grey water was used for deep soil irrigation near plants
and shrubs? (This is much less of an issue at this stage).
I really would appreciate some advice. Thanks.

There is a chap whose sig block is George.com from NZ and he has made up a
grey water system for watering his lawns. If you can attract his attention
he may be able to help you out with the necessary info.

"FarmI" ask@itshall be given wrote in message
...
"Gas Bag" wrote in message
X-No-Archive:

I was hoping to get some advice regarding the use of grey water from
the laundry for garden watering - mainly lawns.
I'm not at all asking about the legality of it, which is not at all an
issue. Rather I am trying to find out whether or not the grey laundry
water is likely to stuff up my lawns. I use different sorts of washing
powders, switching between different brands, but I typically add:

NapiSan OxyAction MAX

http://www.vanishstains.com.au/whats_new.shtml#1

Is this sort of grey water ok for lawn watering?
What if this grey water was used for deep soil irrigation near plants
and shrubs? (This is much less of an issue at this stage).
I really would appreciate some advice. Thanks.

There is a chap whose sig block is George.com from NZ and he has made up a
grey water system for watering his lawns. If you can attract his
attention he may be able to help you out with the necessary info.

don't drag me into this debate, I'm just an innocent bystander. I will
provide my expertise if someone answers my post about community gardens in
Sydney.

My experiments with waste water was limited to our summer drought. 4 +
months of fa water so I used the water from the washing machine on to the
lawn by way of a surge tank (old rubbish bin) and scavanged washing machine
pipe joined together with a gravity fall off the back deck. The system
worked well. I was initially worried about salt build up from the washing
powders. I brought some non-phosphorous powder but I also used some low(ish)
phosphorous powder as well. Upon reflection I was not too worried about salt
levels in the powder. My problem was a long drought by local standards. I
simply wanted to try and nurse the lawn through. 2-3 loads of washing
machine water a week was not enough to keep the lawn green but it did
mitigate some of the effects of the long drought. We have heaps of rain in
winter so salts in the soil will be washed through by constant rainfall.
Since mid april we have had roughly 3-4 inchs I guess. That is enought to
kick start growth and rains will continue through the winter. As a stop gap
measure it worked okish. year round however the salts in the washing powder
would worry me.

Now, if someone wants to answer my Sydney query:
Does nayone living in Syndey know of any community/permaculture/organic
gardens within the sydney city?

A woman from NZ is over in your city sometime shortly and is interested in
visiting such gardens to see how it is done.

Any contacts or websites is appreciated

rob

In article , Charlie wrote:

I agree with this very much. Lawns are an long outdated waste of
resources and land, reminiscent of masters and subservients and
attitudes from a time long gone and best forgotten. Let alone a major
source of poisoning and pollution.......

Well, it depends what you put on them. THe only water mine gets apart from
rain is occasional grey water. It's rarely fertilised, except by
mower-mulching. No velvety sward here, but it IS a place to play cricket and
footy.

--
Chookie -- Sydney, Australia
(Replace "foulspambegone" with "optushome" to reply)

http://chookiesbackyard.blogspot.com/

Charlie wrote in
:

On Thu, 01 May 2008 18:42:21 GMT, len gardener
wrote:

g'day gas bag,

pity to waste it resource wastefull lawns but whatever, it
won't harm the lawn well never did when i was that way
inclined.

I agree with this very much. Lawns are an long outdated
waste of resources and land, reminiscent of masters and
subservients and attitudes from a time long gone and best
forgotten. Let alone a major source of poisoning and
pollution.......

hm? the original manicured wide sweeping lawns at country
manor houses were sheep pastures... the whole gardners mowing
lawns thing came much later.
Britan, at the time, had enough moisure to support broad
pastures & the sheep groomed & fertilized. it was a gain, not
a loss as it is now.

lee contemplating windmills
--
Last night while sitting in my chair
I pinged a host that wasn't there
It wasn't there again today
The host resolved to NSA.

In article
,
Billy wrote:

In article
,
Laura at theGardenPages wrote:

I know, I hate to see all that water to down the drain too! I've used
my laundry water for the lawn and shrubs with no problem. I haven't
tried it on veggies.

If you use boi-degradeable SOAP not detergent you can use the wash
water. The rinse water is fine by you have to be careful about that
fabric softener.

Plus, deep watering is better for shrubs than a sprinkling anyway.
Good for you!

Perfect storm indeed. We had good rain Nov. to March and then the driest
March-April ever. We are looking at sever water rationing at the same
time the price of food is skyrocketing. I think I need a water tank.

Get some food-grade poly drums and set them up to catch the rainwater
from the downspouts on your house. If you want to spend a lot of money,
you can buy rain barrels that have hose bibs already installed in them.
I think Gardener's Supply sells them.

A caveat: you may want to put a piece of plywood or something over the
top of the barrels, to keep debris out. At the very least, put a little
piece of wood -- a stick or something -- in there, so little birds won't
drown. If they get in there, they can climb onto the stick, dry out and
fly away.

Food grade poly drums are available from canneries. They buy their
vinegar in them.

Jan

Jan Flora wrote:

Get some food-grade poly drums and set them up to catch
the rainwater from the downspouts on your house.

Why would food grade drums be necessary for catching rain water
running off a non food grade roof... to do what... pour on the non
food grade ground. Am I missing something, or why wouldn't an
ordinary plastic trash can be suitable?

You can buy low quality for like $10-$15 but they will decay from UV
exposure and probably crack from freezing temps.

I have two of these, excellent quality: http://tinyurl.com/79bqf

http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?actio.../20&lpage=none

In article
,
Sheldon wrote:

Jan Flora wrote:

Get some food-grade poly drums and set them up to catch
the rainwater from the downspouts on your house.

Why would food grade drums be necessary for catching rain water
running off a non food grade roof... to do what... pour on the non
food grade ground. Am I missing something, or why wouldn't an
ordinary plastic trash can be suitable?

You can buy low quality for like $10-$15 but they will decay from UV
exposure and probably crack from freezing temps.

I have two of these, excellent quality: http://tinyurl.com/79bqf

http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?actio...994-1097-8632-
92/20&lpage=none

Last cistern I saw was in Ohio in 1968. Living in NJ no need at this
time. Ground water is about 20 feet down. My well is about 40 feet
down but all the new is about 100. Nitrates are the major contaminate
and old gasoline tanks and oil residues.


Bill

http://waltonfeed.com/old/cistern.html

http://www.google.com/search?client=...tern&ie=UTF-8&
oe=UTF-8

--
Garden in shade zone 5 S Jersey USA

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

In article ,
Jan Flora wrote:

In article
,
Billy wrote:

In article
,
Laura at theGardenPages wrote:

I know, I hate to see all that water to down the drain too! I've used
my laundry water for the lawn and shrubs with no problem. I haven't
tried it on veggies.

If you use boi-degradeable SOAP not detergent you can use the wash
water. The rinse water is fine by you have to be careful about that
fabric softener.

Plus, deep watering is better for shrubs than a sprinkling anyway.
Good for you!

Perfect storm indeed. We had good rain Nov. to March and then the driest
March-April ever. We are looking at sever water rationing at the same
time the price of food is skyrocketing. I think I need a water tank.

Get some food-grade poly drums and set them up to catch the rainwater
from the downspouts on your house. If you want to spend a lot of money,
you can buy rain barrels that have hose bibs already installed in them.
I think Gardener's Supply sells them.

A caveat: you may want to put a piece of plywood or something over the
top of the barrels, to keep debris out. At the very least, put a little
piece of wood -- a stick or something -- in there, so little birds won't
drown. If they get in there, they can climb onto the stick, dry out and
fly away.

Food grade poly drums are available from canneries. They buy their
vinegar in them.

Jan

Also beware of mosquitos.
--

Billy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KVTf...ef=patrick.net
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=7WBB0s...eature=related