is pond water killing my plants???

I've been using dirty old fish pond water for watering my plants between fert, and they seem to be lacking in quit a few nute categories . Well while checking the plant cures i decided to check water ph(don't have a good soil tester) tap was 6.6, and the pond was spiking the chart at 7.6. it may even be higher. Is this my problem, and if so what's the best way to fix.

Stop using your pond water.

There could be allsorts of microbes or bacteria in there can cause you all sorts of problems.

Unless you are sterilising it before you use it i would just allow your tap water to sit out for 24hours or more before using it.

something else you may want to consider is an aquarium air pump and air stone i constantly bubble my nutes before i hand feed my plants.

J

alright i'll stop using the pond water, now how do I stop my plant from dying. Should I try a dunk with epsom salt

I would personally flush it in whatever way you choose just do a little research before you do.

I grow in coco and not in soil so i am constantly feeding my plant so i do not flush with plain water so i cannot comment on how you should best do this as i always flush with lower nute strength until my plants come back.

J

Your plants are "lacking in quit a few nute categories" due to the pH problem. pH too high or too low will lock up nutes, preventing the plant from absorbing them. Flush your plant with pH adjusted water. I am assuming that you are growing soil indoors, flush with 1 gallon pH adjusted water/gallon of pot size(i.e.-3 gallon pot, flush with 3 gallons of water).

Let the soil dry and then resume your feeding schedule. Should clear up the problem. Good luck.

I had this thought too, well not so much "is it killing my plants" as would using pond water on plants work and be safe? I was going to make a new topic but of course used the search first as it was bound to have been asked before, and found this (amongst a few other topics but this is the most recent). Poorly maintained and badly treated pond water may not be the best thing for your plants, true, but is pond water really that bad? What about GOOD pond water?

My dad has a pond with a few Koi Karp swimming around in it. He's spent a lot of money on test kits, methods of aeration, filters (as well as a few slightly dodgy DIY jobbies), and a few under water lights that changed colour, you know in case the fish fancied raving through the night, the lights didn't last very long. His pond is pretty much as clean as it's gonna get; The pH is checked regularly and is a stable neutral (though i'd amend it to 6.5), Amonia and Nitrate are well under control too and the pond is well oxygenated.

While researching this thought i found an article on ehow. The article advises on how to use pond water on plants (ok not specifically weed but it is a plant like any other). The atricle for anyone inclined to read it. Now, it says to add potassium permanganate to the pond water before use, "creating a potassium concentration of two parts per million. This effectively kills any waterborne diseases, fungi or viruses without hurting the plants you want to water". Or just to boil the water for 10 minutes on the hob. Now would this be acceptable? I'm gonna try it on my Tomatoes for the remainder of their lives; they're already producing fruit and, tbh as they're actually my mum's, they're already in a sorry state from lack of nutes. I'm gonna use the water from the pond without sterilizing first just to see what could happen.

I know about the microbes and potential disease (the fish are doing alright) but at the same time i see the algea and fish poop. Yum yum! I'm sure by now the OP has probably been completely discouraged and not given it another thought, but i have an insatiable curiosity and a few cheap test subjects . Let the experiments begin

Hope you sorted your plant problems vkambull