In a message dated 7/14/2003 4:21:27 AM Eastern Daylight Time,
writes:

Hi. The town water supply in my town is heavily chlorinated (you can smell
the chlorine when the hose is turned on). What effect would this have on my
bonsai?


Those who are supposed to know claim that the chlorine used in treating
drinking water dissipates as a gas well before it get to a plant or us, thus the
smell. I think this would be especially true if you use a watering nozzle
that creates a shower effect when watering you trees.
You can also let chlorinated water stand a few hours, that is what you do
for a fish tank.
Billy on the Florida Space Coast

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Hi Tony,

I do not like to water my trees with chlorinated water but I am
also too
cheap to buy a R/O system. Chlorine is a very reactive
chemical and while
it does not appear to have any short term effect I do not
advise using it
over the long term. If you do have to use it try and use a
breaker nozzle
to allow as much aeration as possible which will let a fair
amount of the
chlorine to "boil off".

If you can drink it, you can water your trees with it. Chlorine
is quite volatile and will dissipate quickly. If you want, you
can fill a bucket or barrel with household water and let it stand
for a few hours, then dip your sprinkling can in it and water
away. But I can't imagine, with all the salts you are putting
into your soil when you fertilizer, that the amount of Cl2 in
your drinking water is going to do anything -- good or bad -- to
your trees.

Jim Lewis - - Tallahassee, FL - The phrase
'sustainable growth' is an oxymoron. - Stephen Viederman

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Yepper Jim you are correct about chlorine being volatile in fact among the
non-metals only fluorine is more chemically active. What concerns me is the
chlorides and chlorates which may occur. Also long term effects on humans
and on bonsais are very different due to the life span between the two (I
should have the grace of aging that these trees do) and this is just my
thoughts on chlorine. Also I do enjoy as many sides as I can, makes me grow
without any weight gain.

Thanks for the input.
Robert
"Jim Lewis" wrote in message
news:000e01c34a0f$512d6440$a7112cc7@pavilion...
Hi Tony,

I do not like to water my trees with chlorinated water but I am
also too
cheap to buy a R/O system. Chlorine is a very reactive
chemical and while
it does not appear to have any short term effect I do not
advise using it
over the long term. If you do have to use it try and use a
breaker nozzle
to allow as much aeration as possible which will let a fair
amount of the
chlorine to "boil off".

If you can drink it, you can water your trees with it. Chlorine
is quite volatile and will dissipate quickly. If you want, you
can fill a bucket or barrel with household water and let it stand
for a few hours, then dip your sprinkling can in it and water
away. But I can't imagine, with all the salts you are putting
into your soil when you fertilizer, that the amount of Cl2 in
your drinking water is going to do anything -- good or bad -- to
your trees.

Jim Lewis - - Tallahassee, FL - The phrase
'sustainable growth' is an oxymoron. - Stephen Viederman


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Yepper Jim you are correct about chlorine being volatile in
fact among the
non-metals only fluorine is more chemically active. What
concerns me is the
chlorides and chlorates which may occur.

Drinking water is chlorinated at about 0.3-0.5 mg/l (1 mg/l = 1
part per million, so this is 1/3 to 1/2 parts chlorine per
million parts water). That's still enough to taste or smell.

To contrast, one of the standard fertilizers I use for my trees
contains 0.1% Chlorine, I dilute the fertilizer a bit, but . . .
The fertilizer also contains nitrogen, phosphate, potash,
calcium, magnesium, boron, cobalt, copper, iron, manganese,
molybdenum, sodium, and zinc in percentages ranging from 9.0%
down to 0.00015%. You would NOT want it in your drinking water.
But my trees seem to like it. Your drinking water with its small
amount of chlorine would be a simple chemical compound in
comparison.

Also long term effects on humans and on bonsais are very
different due to the life span between the two

Well, the potential for human damage from chlorine may even be
greater because of the carcinogenic compounds that can sometimes
be formed when chlorine reacts with some organic materials in the
water. This is a subject of some current controversy.

The physiologic differences between plants and people simply
cannot be compared; neither can the life spans of two such
disparate organisms. I can see no relationship between either
and chlorine in drinking water.

(I should have the grace of aging that these trees do)

Well, we get heart rot, cankers, borers, and bacterial, viral,
and fungal diseases just like trees (we call them different
things). And an old, rotten tree doesn't seem to me to be dying
too gracefully; when trees get sick, Ma Nature simply forgets
about them and lets them be attacked by everything virulant in
the neighborhood.

and this is just my thoughts on chlorine.

Well, _I_ wouldn't worry about chlorine in drinking water and
your bonsai (note: NOT bonsais). But if you do, just let the
water stand for a bit. No biggie.

There are worse things to worry about, so save your concern for
them.

Jim Lewis - - Tallahassee, FL - The phrase
'sustainable growth' is an oxymoron. - Stephen Viederman

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In our new house I have a pair of whole house filters (Sears, $35 each)
with a sediment filter first & chlorine/other general stuff filter second
(Sears, about $5 and $7). I am also going to either run the water line up
into the utility room so I can put a whole house with chlorine filter on
the outside faucets, or run the outside faucets so they use the 2 existing
filters. The trees will be in back with one water garden & later koi pond
and I will also have a couple potted trees in the front yard, along with
the goldfish pond, 2 water gardens & other container plants.

Dusty
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In a message dated 7/15/2003 1:52:25 AM Eastern Daylight Time,
writes:

In our new house I have a pair of whole house filters (Sears, $35 each)
with a sediment filter first &chlorine/other general stuff filter second

I am not a chemist but I know some filters/conditioners add things to
the water.
How would a chlorine filter work? Since it is a dissolved gas how can
you "filter" it out?

Billy on the Florida Space Coast

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"Billy M. Rhodes" wrote:

In a message dated 7/15/2003 1:52:25 AM Eastern Daylight Time,
writes:

In our new house I have a pair of whole house filters (Sears, $35 each)
with a sediment filter first &chlorine/other general stuff filter second

I am not a chemist but I know some filters/conditioners add things to
the water.
How would a chlorine filter work? Since it is a dissolved gas how can
you "filter" it out?

Billy on the Florida Space Coast

I'm not a chemist either, but my understanding is that it evaporates. Is that
correct? Letting it stand for awhile can take care of that.

Craig Cowing
NY
Zone 5b/6a Sunset 37

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