Grey laundry water for garden watering?

[Gas Bag]

X-No-Archive:

I was hoping to get some advice regarding the use of grey water from the laundry for garden watering =96 mainly lawns. I=92m not at all asking about the legality of it, which is not at all an issue. Rather I am trying to find out whether or not the grey laundry water is likely to stuff up my lawns. I use different sorts of washing powders, switching between different brands, but I typically add:

NapiSan OxyAction MAX

this sort of grey water ok for lawn watering? What if this grey water was used for deep soil irrigation near plants and shrubs? (This is much less of an issue at this stage). I really would appreciate some advice. Thanks.

[Jonno]

Have a look here. >>>

seems to have all the answers...

[len gardener]

g'day gas bag,

pity to waste it resource wastefull lawns but whatever, it won't harm the lawn well never did when i was that way inclined.

we use ours on our vege' gardens etc.,. but then we make our own laundry gel and have never found the need to add things like nappy san whatever, mostly promotion gimmicks.

On Thu, 1 May 2008 01:22:16 -0700 (PDT), Gas Bag wrote: snipped With peace and brightest of blessings,

len & bev

-- "Be Content With What You Have And May You Find Serenity and Tranquillity In A World That You May Not Understand."

[Laura at theGardenPages]

I know, I hate to see all that water to down the drain too! I've used my laundry water for the lawn and shrubs with no problem. I haven't tried it on veggies.

If you use boi-degradeable SOAP not detergent you can use the wash water. The rinse water is fine by you have to be careful about that fabric softener.

Plus, deep watering is better for shrubs than a sprinkling anyway. Good for you!

[0tterbot]

I was hoping to get some advice regarding the use of grey water from the laundry for garden watering ? mainly lawns. I?m not at all asking about the legality of it, which is not at all an issue. Rather I am trying to find out whether or not the grey laundry water is likely to stuff up my lawns. I use different sorts of washing powders, switching between different brands, but I typically add:

NapiSan OxyAction MAX

this sort of grey water ok for lawn watering? What if this grey water was used for deep soil irrigation near plants and shrubs? (This is much less of an issue at this stage). I really would appreciate some advice. Thanks.

[Charlie]

I agree with this very much. Lawns are an long outdated waste of resources and land, reminiscent of masters and subservients and attitudes from a time long gone and best forgotten. Let alone a major source of poisoning and pollution.......

And to you as well

Charlie

[Billy]

Perfect storm indeed. We had good rain Nov. to March and then the driest March-April ever. We are looking at sever water rationing at the same time the price of food is skyrocketing. I think I need a water tank.

[FarmI]

I was hoping to get some advice regarding the use of grey water from the laundry for garden watering ? mainly lawns. I?m not at all asking about the legality of it, which is not at all an issue. Rather I am trying to find out whether or not the grey laundry water is likely to stuff up my lawns. I use different sorts of washing powders, switching between different brands, but I typically add:

NapiSan OxyAction MAX

this sort of grey water ok for lawn watering? What if this grey water was used for deep soil irrigation near plants and shrubs? (This is much less of an issue at this stage). I really would appreciate some advice. Thanks.

There is a chap whose sig block is George.com from NZ and he has made up a grey water system for watering his lawns. If you can attract his attention he may be able to help you out with the necessary info.

[George.com]

don't drag me into this debate, I'm just an innocent bystander. I will provide my expertise if someone answers my post about community gardens in Sydney.

My experiments with waste water was limited to our summer drought. 4 + months of fa water so I used the water from the washing machine on to the lawn by way of a surge tank (old rubbish bin) and scavanged washing machine pipe joined together with a gravity fall off the back deck. The system worked well. I was initially worried about salt build up from the washing powders. I brought some non-phosphorous powder but I also used some low(ish) phosphorous powder as well. Upon reflection I was not too worried about salt levels in the powder. My problem was a long drought by local standards. I simply wanted to try and nurse the lawn through. 2-3 loads of washing machine water a week was not enough to keep the lawn green but it did mitigate some of the effects of the long drought. We have heaps of rain in winter so salts in the soil will be washed through by constant rainfall. Since mid april we have had roughly 3-4 inchs I guess. That is enought to kick start growth and rains will continue through the winter. As a stop gap measure it worked okish. year round however the salts in the washing powder would worry me.

Now, if someone wants to answer my Sydney query: Does nayone living in Syndey know of any community/permaculture/organic gardens within the sydney city?

A woman from NZ is over in your city sometime shortly and is interested in visiting such gardens to see how it is done.

Any contacts or websites is appreciated

rob

[enigma]

Charlie wrote in news: [e-mail]:

hm? the original manicured wide sweeping lawns at country manor houses were sheep pastures... the whole gardners mowing lawns thing came much later. Britan, at the time, had enough moisure to support broad pastures & the sheep groomed & fertilized. it was a gain, not a loss as it is now. lee

[Jan Flora]

Get some food-grade poly drums and set them up to catch the rainwater from the downspouts on your house. If you want to spend a lot of money, you can buy rain barrels that have hose bibs already installed in them. I think Gardener's Supply sells them.

A caveat: you may want to put a piece of plywood or something over the top of the barrels, to keep debris out. At the very least, put a little piece of wood -- a stick or something -- in there, so little birds won't drown. If they get in there, they can climb onto the stick, dry out and fly away.

Food grade poly drums are available from canneries. They buy their vinegar in them.

Jan

[Sheldon]

Why would food grade drums be necessary for catching rain water running off a non food grade roof... to do what... pour on the non food grade ground. Am I missing something, or why wouldn't an ordinary plastic trash can be suitable?

You can buy low quality for like $10-$15 but they will decay from UV exposure and probably crack from freezing temps.

I have two of these, excellent quality:

[Bill]

Last cistern I saw was in Ohio in 1968. Living in NJ no need at this time. Ground water is about 20 feet down. My well is about 40 feet down but all the new is about 100. Nitrates are the major contaminate and old gasoline tanks and oil residues.

Bill

[David Hare-Scott]

I would encourage you to use your greywater on the lawn (or scrap the lawn - but that is another story). Many cleansing products are fairly harmless but there are some potential problems. Some even have a mild nutrient effect from phosphourus compounds.

One problem is that some contain sodium salts in fair concentrations, if this were allowed to accumulate without being leached away it could sodize your soil. Too much sodium displaces necessary minerals (potassium, magnesium, calcium, etc) which is harmful to plants. This is particularly a problem with dishwasher powder that typically has much washing soda (sodium carbonate) in it. So you should avoid such products or only use greywater from them if it will be well diluted.

The other problem is that antibacterial products like napisan will kill bacteria (duh!) in your soil, which is undesirable as in this natural environment they have a positive role. The modern super-clean attitude where every microbe should be dead is not right for the garden (nor for humans either but that is yet another story). Consider if napisan is important to your normal wash or could you and your lawn do without it.

There are web pages devoted to this issue which contain lists of laundry products and ingredients or ratings for them.

David

[Billy]

Also beware of mosquitos.

[Omelet]

That is likely to happen. Use BT dunks.

[Billy]

That will keep mosquitos out of standing water?

[Jonno]

Put in some goldfish. Theyre organic eat mossies, and you can always eat them when they grow big enough.

[FarmI]

What are you contemplating windmills for? To pump water from your well?

[enigma]

"FarmI" wrote in news:481c42d0$0$14283$ [e-mail] .au:

electricty generation. i'm on a ridge & there is always some breeze. i don't expect to make money, but if i can offset the US$300+/month in electric bills a little, i'd be happy. lee