What to do about high sodium levels in well water?

[Herb & Suds]

Plants seem fine, just worried about long term build up

Wouldn’t it make sense if that’s the concern not to reuse the medium?
seems like you are looking for a solution to a nonexistent problem?

 

[bam0813]

I dont want to down play any concerns but imo its a non issue.

 

[natureboygrower]

345 feet

That is a deep well. Whoever orginally had that dug was shitting their pants hoping to hit water.

Ever had problems with the water before? I'd go ahead and water with it personally.

 

[bam0813]

Im in north east our cars rot before the loans paid and there’s no shortage of vegetation on our roadsides….. if you look past the garbage

 

[natureboygrower]

Im in north east our cars rot before the loans paid and there’s no shortage of vegetation on our roadsides….. if you look past the garbage

And nobody warranties body work anymore.

 

[PadawanWarrior]

Plants seem fine, just worried about long term build up

You could water to runoff ocassionally. You can also add a chealating agent like citric acid to help flush out extra stuff.

 

[bam0813]

Wouldn’t a good organic living type soil work it out ? Idk i got enough to worry sbout. Now your gonna have me tripping about my well lol

 

[meangreengrowinmachine]

Wouldn’t it make sense if that’s the concern not to reuse the medium?
seems like you are looking for a solution to a nonexistent problem?

I would really rather not do that as I just transitioned to a 4x4 soil bed and have been working with this soil for a long time.

 

[meangreengrowinmachine]

You could water to runoff ocassionally. You can also add a chealating agent like citric acid to help flush out extra stuff.

I dont think thats a great idea in my 4x4 bed lol maybe I'll just have to do a soil test after this run, and see for myself how the sodium builds up.

 

[meangreengrowinmachine]

Wouldn’t a good organic living type soil work it out ? Idk i got enough to worry sbout. Now your gonna have me tripping about my well lol

I am hoping so. My concern mainly stemmed from a comment I heard on a build a soil video about well tests and that a major concern can be high sodium levels. So I figured I would check with the brain trust!

 

[meangreengrowinmachine]

Pic of the ladies for funs

 

[meangreengrowinmachine]

You could water to runoff ocassionally. You can also add a chealating agent like citric acid to help flush out extra stuff.

I do have citric acid water to use when I feel like phing things (my water is also very high ph naturally like 9ish)

 

[PadawanWarrior]

I dont think thats a great idea in my 4x4 bed lol maybe I'll just have to do a soil test after this run, and see for myself how the sodium builds up.

A little sodium is good for plants. Maybe be careful about the extra sodium you add. Kelp meal is one of those amendments that I know has more sodium than most dry amendments.

 

[meangreengrowinmachine]

A little sodium is good for plants. Maybe be careful about the extra sodium you add. Kelp meal is one of those amendments that I know has more sodium than most dry amendments.

Good call.. I had used kelp meal as a base amendment, I'll cut back and move to something else for that portion. I know a lot of folks have been moving to alternatives just due to the practices of harvesting it. Thanks!

 

[meangreengrowinmachine]

Thanks all for appeasing me!

 

[2cent]

A little sodium is good for plants. Maybe be careful about the extra sodium you add. Kelp meal is one of those amendments that I know has more sodium than most dry amendments.

Bit of a misconception to self collected seaweed and processed washed meals

Salt: Because kelp is harvested directly from the ocean, using it straight from the beach and in the garden may add additional salt, which is unhealthy for plants. Fortunately, you'd have to add a huge amount, much greater than most gardeners will ever add, for the salt to build up. Commercially prepared seaweed fertilizers do not usually pose this problem

Not so directed but knf do a salt fert that increases brix sugar levels
Fermented Sea Water

That said the citric acid will drop the ph by reacting with carbonates and reducing calcium and lowering the ph

but to remove the sodium you need to either distill a shit ton of water or use a ro

One method for reducing sodium in water is the reverse osmosis. It reduces sodium by 94 – 98%, and achieves this by forcing water out of a semi-permeable membrane, which blocks the sodium contaminant. Distillation is another remedy for removing sodium from the water.