G'day all. I'm down in Tassie and on tankwater. It's been raining here a lot
lately (halleluiah!) but I know come summer it will be as dry as buggery
again.

I recycle my family's washing/shower water onto my vegie garden but as yet
have not found a suitable way of distributing it so that it will go straight
onto
the soil and not over the foliage/fruit. I've tried soaker hoses but they
clog up too quickly.

I store the greywater in a tank and it is filtered through fine mesh before
in goes in there. I've noticed a soapy residue sticks to the sides of the
tank so I presume this is the stuff that causes the clogging in the soaker
hose.

Anyway does anyone have a better way of putting greywater directly onto the
soil?

Amy

g'day amy lou,

we don't store it we find that to hold it for any period it degrades
and this also causes sludgy stuff to clog things up, but basically we
just run it direct through 1/2" hose just stuck under the mulch and
move it as regular as needed. we don't do any filtering and on the odd
occassion the hose stops running i just force water back up it to
clear it then it's right for yonks until the next time at least.

snipped
--
happy gardening
'it works for me it could work for you,'

"in the end ya' gotta do what ya' gotta do" but consider others and the environment
http://members.optusnet.com.au/~gardenlen1/

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"len gardener" wrote in message
...
g'day amy lou,

we don't store it we find that to hold it for any period it degrades
and this also causes sludgy stuff to clog things up,

That's interesting. I was told that it is better for the environment if it
is allowed to degrade. But, yes, the sludgy stuff is a problem.

but basically we
just run it direct through 1/2" hose just stuck under the mulch and
move it as regular as needed. we don't do any filtering and on the odd
occassion the hose stops running i just force water back up it to
clear it then it's right for yonks until the next time at least.

Yeah, I have done this in the past. I am hoping to find a more automatic and
less time consuming system though.

My other option is to continue to use the soaker hose and to install a
filter at the tap end.

What I really should do is forget summer vegetables and just grow winter
vegetables when there is plenty of fresh rainwater around.

Thanks.

Amy

g'day amy lou,

we make our own wash detergent used for hand wash as well as clothes,
we are only 2 so really do not generate that much grey water i tend to
let it say water a patch or 2 of brassicas in the winter and soly for
pumpkins in the summer.

our shire made us put in a greese trap i would like to purely run all
grey water as fresh as possible to the plants, any storage degrades
the end product.

len

snipped
--
happy gardening
'it works for me it could work for you,'

"in the end ya' gotta do what ya' gotta do" but consider others and the environment
http://members.optusnet.com.au/~gardenlen1/

my e/mail addies have spam filters you should know what to delete before you send.

"Amy Lou" wrote in message
...
G'day all. I'm down in Tassie and on tankwater. It's been raining here a
lot
lately (halleluiah!) but I know come summer it will be as dry as buggery
again.

I recycle my family's washing/shower water onto my vegie garden but as yet
have not found a suitable way of distributing it so that it will go
straight
onto
the soil and not over the foliage/fruit. I've tried soaker hoses but they
clog up too quickly.

I store the greywater in a tank and it is filtered through fine mesh
before
in goes in there. I've noticed a soapy residue sticks to the sides of the
tank so I presume this is the stuff that causes the clogging in the soaker
hose.

Anyway does anyone have a better way of putting greywater directly onto
the
soil?

Amy




Some things that I have come up with from my research, this is all theory as
the stupid local council refused to even consider grey water, so I couldn't
do it on my property.

1) Don't store it, this just encourages the bugs to multiply thus risking
spread of infection You can turn your grey water into black water by
storing it.

2) Unless you like cleaning out scungy filters and are prepared to do it
religiously don't filter it, this means you cannot use fine sprayers (see 3)
or drippers that will clog.

3) Avoid spraying in the air, this risks the spread of airborn bugs.

4) Ideally run it straight into trenchs that have a covering of 30cm or more
of mulch. This prevents contact with bugs prior to them getting into the
soil where they will be cleaned up.

5) Avoid applying it to food crops , especially those eaten raw like salad
veges.


David

"len gardener" wrote in message
...
g'day amy lou,

we make our own wash detergent used for hand wash as well as clothes,
we are only 2 so really do not generate that much grey water i tend to
let it say water a patch or 2 of brassicas in the winter and soly for
pumpkins in the summer.

our shire made us put in a greese trap i would like to purely run all
grey water as fresh as possible to the plants, any storage degrades
the end product.

We are a family of five and generate quite a lot of greywater. Seems a shame
not to use it. The quality of the water is imo pretty good. All it is is
fresh water mixed with a little soap or detergent. I don't recycle kitchen
water (too dirty).

You seem to be saying that storage is not good. I store for only a few days
(that's all it takes before the tank is full).

I've tried all sorts of ways of expelling the water from just letting it run
out of the hose to sprinkling onto the lawn. Its too good to waste.

Water is precious especially in summer when it costs $30 a week. In winter
we usually manage on rainwater but still don't want to waste a drop.

Amy

"David Hare-Scott" wrote

Some things that I have come up with from my research, this is all theory
as
the stupid local council refused to even consider grey water, so I
couldn't
do it on my property.

1) Don't store it, this just encourages the bugs to multiply thus risking
spread of infection You can turn your grey water into black water by
storing it.

I think that would happen if you stored it for a long time. But that is
unlikely when the household continues to generate greywater on a daily
basis - you've got to continually empty the tank to make room for more.


2) Unless you like cleaning out scungy filters and are prepared to do it
religiously don't filter it, this means you cannot use fine sprayers (see
3)
or drippers that will clog.

Yeah. My favourite job - not. I am particularly fond of hair - not.


3) Avoid spraying in the air, this risks the spread of airborn bugs.

I actually find using a sprinkler is the easiest, non clogging method of
dispersing the water.


4) Ideally run it straight into trenchs that have a covering of 30cm or
more
of mulch. This prevents contact with bugs prior to them getting into the
soil where they will be cleaned up.

People (councils) worry too much about bugs. Unless you have close
neighbours its not a problem.


5) Avoid applying it to food crops , especially those eaten raw like salad
veges.

Oh yeah - who wants to eat vegies with last nights shower water still on
them - eeeew

Amy

g'day amy lou,

yes you have to get away from the storing bit, and use it as fresh as,
and if you don't use a dishwasher then use the washing up water as
well you can buy a good natural detergent in the supermarkets.

as working with drippers is going to be prone to frequent clogging,
and using filters just adds to the problem because you then have to
clean out an inefficient filter (cheapie) or clean out a maybe more
efficient filter that may minmise drip clogs but will need max'
cleaning. the only filterin mine gets is when i runs through the
screen at the top of tank this needs hosing off once clogged but that
is easy.

use it in the vege gardens so long as you use the under the mulch
system, it could pose problems if sprayed over foliage. maybe consider
running 3/4" hose from tank and into each garden bed then drill holes
in hose to act like drippers the size of holes dependent on how fast
you want the water to drain, say the holes could be anywhere between
1/8" and 5/16" drill size start smaller and open out as you
experiment. i'd suggest 1/2" size hose for the final in the beds but
at least 3/4" up to then. i use a single 1/2 hose and it'll clog very
occassionaly, but the above suggestions should be easier to keep clear
and not as cloggable as dripper nozzles.if need be you could fit cut
off valves so that you can spread the water around among the beds on a
rotational system.

len

snipped
--
happy gardening
'it works for me it could work for you,'

"in the end ya' gotta do what ya' gotta do" but consider others and the environment
http://members.optusnet.com.au/~gardenlen1/

my e/mail addies have spam filters you should know what to delete before you send.

g'day amy lou,

the reason i like going for the under mulch system is that you get
max' value from the water, the other way you lose water to evaporation
regardless of the hype about possible illness or pandemics, which
obviously i am pretty cavalier in my opinions on that one, having
grown up in a time when everyone's grey water ran into the gutters
(street) or down in the back corner of the back yard, never lost a
friend to some fatal exotic disease, just some skinned knees from
slipping over in slimy gutters (our playgrounds among other places).

modern society too full of hype and imaginary fears.

len

snipped
--
happy gardening
'it works for me it could work for you,'

"in the end ya' gotta do what ya' gotta do" but consider others and the environment
http://members.optusnet.com.au/~gardenlen1/

my e/mail addies have spam filters you should know what to delete before you send.

"len gardener"

use it in the vege gardens so long as you use the under the mulch
system, it could pose problems if sprayed over foliage. maybe consider
running 3/4" hose from tank and into each garden bed then drill holes
in hose to act like drippers the size of holes dependent on how fast
you want the water to drain, say the holes could be anywhere between
1/8" and 5/16" drill size start smaller and open out as you
experiment. i'd suggest 1/2" size hose for the final in the beds but
at least 3/4" up to then. i use a single 1/2 hose and it'll clog very
occassionaly, but the above suggestions should be easier to keep clear
and not as cloggable as dripper nozzles.if need be you could fit cut
off valves so that you can spread the water around among the beds on a
rotational system.

This is a brilliant idea!! I'm going to try it. Thanks Len.

Amy

"len gardener"
modern society too full of hype and imaginary fears.

I agree Len. It may interest you to know that the reason I decided to start
recycling greywater was because previously all our greywater was going
through our septic tank and into a sullage pit. From there is was supposed
to seep out naturally and disappear but when my family moved here the
sullage pit simply was not able to cope with the amount of greywater we
produced. So we had one hell of a wet, boggy backyard. The new system allows
me to spread that water around to areas that really need it so its no longer
all going into the one spot.

In winter when I really have no need for the greywater I simply spray it on
the grass around the yard. Evaporation is not a problem. In fact the more it
evaporates the better.

In summer I am glad to have the extra water for the garden.

Amy

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g'day amy lou,

good one we also use a composting toilet that uses no water at all so
no water is wasted or going to pollute the aquafa that we can't
control.

len

snipped
--
happy gardening
'it works for me it could work for you,'

"in the end ya' gotta do what ya' gotta do" but consider others and the environment
http://members.optusnet.com.au/~gardenlen1/

my e/mail addies have spam filters you should know what to delete before you send.