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[IBC] Water
Good morning,
I have hard water so I try to keep my watering can full so the calcium can settle out and the chlorine can evaporate. The problem is that I never seem to have enough water ready for my trees and it's just going to get worse as the Summer heats up. I'm thinking of buying a barrel or a large pot or maybe a filter. How do you folks treat your bonsai water? If you use a settling vessel how do you keep the mosquitoes out? Thanks, Don Round Rock, TX Zone 8b ************************************************** ****************************** ++++Sponsored, in part, by Sue Crabtree++++ ************************************************** ****************************** -- The IBC HOME PAGE & FAQ: http://www.internetbonsaiclub.org/ -- +++++ Questions? Help? e-mail +++++ |
Chorine is not a problem since most of it is gone by the time the water
leaves the purification facility and the remainder gases off very quickly as you pour water Calcium and other dissolved minerals are more likely to discolor you pots if they are porous but will not harm you trees. If they did fertilizer would kill them. If your water has that many minerals in it you might need to repot more often to keep the pots cleaner. I use well water, no chorine but lots of minerals. Except for a white powder on the exterior of low fired, very porous pots it is not a problem. Billy on the Florida Space Coast ************************************************** ****************************** ++++Sponsored, in part, by Sue Crabtree++++ ************************************************** ****************************** -- The IBC HOME PAGE & FAQ: http://www.internetbonsaiclub.org/ -- +++++ Questions? Help? e-mail +++++ |
I would check with Mike Hansen of MBP Bonsai and the
Austin Bonsai Society about this, since he live in the same area as you and has researched water treatment extensively. Neither chlorine nor calcium should be any problem for your bonsai. The calcium will mess up your pots with deposits over time, however. If you want to store water, there are commercially available mosquito dunks available. They look like a donut. Alan Walker http://bonsai-bci.com http://LCBSBonsai.org -----Original Message----- From: Don Walker Good morning, I have hard water so I try to keep my watering can full so the calcium can settle out and the chlorine can evaporate. The problem is that I never seem to have enough water ready for my trees and it's just going to get worse as the Summer heats up. I'm thinking of buying a barrel or a large pot or maybe a filter. How do you folks treat your bonsai water? If you use a settling vessel how do you keep the mosquitoes out? Thanks, Don Round Rock, TX Zone 8b ************************************************** ****************************** ++++Sponsored, in part, by Sue Crabtree++++ ************************************************** ****************************** -- The IBC HOME PAGE & FAQ: http://www.internetbonsaiclub.org/ -- +++++ Questions? Help? e-mail +++++ |
Don Walker wrote:
Good morning, I have hard water so I try to keep my watering can full so the calcium can settle out and the chlorine can evaporate. The problem is that I never seem to have enough water ready for my trees and it's just going to get worse as the Summer heats up. I'm thinking of buying a barrel or a large pot or maybe a filter. How do you folks treat your bonsai water? If you use a settling vessel how do you keep the mosquitoes out? Since the calcium is in solution, it's unlikely to "settle out." The only material that will actually settle is something carried in suspension -- unless your water is super saturated to the point that the calcium would precipitate when the water cooled. But as others have said, it's nothing to fret about as far as the health of your bonsai goes. Neither is chlorine. Basic rule of watering plants; if its safe for you to drink it's OK for your trees, and actually water with higher-than-drinking- water-standards levels of some materials still may be OK -- or even good -- for your trees. Any garden center sells "mosquito dunks" -- donut shaped cookies containing a bacteria (BT) that attacks mosquito larva. It also comes as granules, which is the way I prefer it since its easier to dole out small amounts for individual trays of water I may keep under some trees such as bald cypress and wisteria. I keep my small fish pond and all the bird baths stocked with BT, which probably helps curb the skeeter population, but with several thousand acres of woods on all sides of my little farm and with all the magnolia leaves on the ground in those woods to serve as skeeter reservoirs, any mosquitoes I could produce domestically probably would go unnoticed. ;-) Anyway, I'd just use your water straight from the tap. Use a spray head on your hose and it will further aerate away the residual chlorine. Jim Lewis - - Tallahassee, FL - Nature encourages no looseness, pardons no errors. Ralph Waldo Emerson ************************************************** ****************************** ++++Sponsored, in part, by Sue Crabtree++++ ************************************************** ****************************** -- The IBC HOME PAGE & FAQ: http://www.internetbonsaiclub.org/ -- +++++ Questions? Help? e-mail +++++ |
Don,
Mike Hanson (and others) will probably be at tonights (Wed the 11th) Austin Bonsai Society meeting. I live near Mike *just* South of Round Rock and have no problems whatsoever with the water from my tap for the health of my trees. It's also important to note that chlorine is a necessary mineral/gas for healthy plant growth. And because we live with slightly alkaline water in our area, no one (that I know of) is growing extreme calcifuges like Stewartia monodelphia. Most of the trees that we grow... even azaleas with an occasional adjustment... can take our water. So rest easy. I look forward to meeting you soon. Cheers, Jim ************************************************** ****************************** ++++Sponsored, in part, by Sue Crabtree++++ ************************************************** ****************************** -- The IBC HOME PAGE & FAQ: http://www.internetbonsaiclub.org/ -- +++++ Questions? Help? e-mail +++++ |
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