We have limited water from a spring at home. Summers can be long and very dry. Accordingly, I back flush our sand filter into 5 gal. buckets and kiddie pools and let it sit in the hot sun for several days. After burning off the chlorine, I siphon the water to a few trees near the pool that appear to be stressed by the dry summer. (We haven't even had any thunderstorms this summer.)
Furthermore, I have no other way to get rid of pool water other than by watering plants and trees, because we live in a forest and it will end up watering plants no matter what I do with it!
Our pool water chemistry is doing great without borates but I've been thinking about the upcoming end of season closing and how 50 ppm of borates might be a good thing to slow down algae growth over the off season. I wanted to avoid PolyQuat too. The pool will be covered with a heavy sunlight-reflective tarp but perhaps borates offer an edge.
But I started to think about our trees. PolyQuat vs. Borates on the trees. Which is worse? Do I need either, given the heavy tarp and mostly cloudy off-season days and temperatures often below freezing (2100' elevation above Peck, Idaho).
chem geek kindly posted this link, which seems to indicate our trees might suffer from adopting borates in the pool:
http://www.inchem.org/documents/ehc/ehc/ehc204.htm#SubSectionNumber:9.1.1
I found his link here:
https://www.troublefreepool.com/threads/90257-Borates-Why-and-How?p=812900&viewfull=1#post812900
Under section 9.2.2 Terrestrial we find:
Irrigation water is one of the main sources of high boron levels
resulting in toxicity in the field. Few irrigation waters contain
enough boron to injure plants directly. However, it is the continued
use and concentration in the soil as a result of evapotranspiration
that lead to the eventual toxicity problems (Gupta et al., 1985). In
waters used for irrigation, Wilcox (1958) reported a critical boron
concentration of 0.3-1.0 mg/litre for sensitive crops, such as citrus
and other fruits. Semi-tolerant crops, such as potatoes, tomatoes, and
oats, tolerate concentrations of 1-2 mg/litre; tolerant crops, such as
sugar beets, onions, and carrots, can withstand concentrations of
2-4 mg/litre.
...and it continues.
What do others think here? Backwash water is not the only source of water for the trees (even in the summer) but those critical concentrations are quite low!
Also, drainage is good around the trees so maybe the borates will be flushed and diluted by our mostly off-summer 24" of average precipitation per year. We live on a bench on a steep canyon hillside.
Thanks!
Furthermore, I have no other way to get rid of pool water other than by watering plants and trees, because we live in a forest and it will end up watering plants no matter what I do with it!
Our pool water chemistry is doing great without borates but I've been thinking about the upcoming end of season closing and how 50 ppm of borates might be a good thing to slow down algae growth over the off season. I wanted to avoid PolyQuat too. The pool will be covered with a heavy sunlight-reflective tarp but perhaps borates offer an edge.
But I started to think about our trees. PolyQuat vs. Borates on the trees. Which is worse? Do I need either, given the heavy tarp and mostly cloudy off-season days and temperatures often below freezing (2100' elevation above Peck, Idaho).
chem geek kindly posted this link, which seems to indicate our trees might suffer from adopting borates in the pool:
http://www.inchem.org/documents/ehc/ehc/ehc204.htm#SubSectionNumber:9.1.1
I found his link here:
https://www.troublefreepool.com/threads/90257-Borates-Why-and-How?p=812900&viewfull=1#post812900
Under section 9.2.2 Terrestrial we find:
Irrigation water is one of the main sources of high boron levels
resulting in toxicity in the field. Few irrigation waters contain
enough boron to injure plants directly. However, it is the continued
use and concentration in the soil as a result of evapotranspiration
that lead to the eventual toxicity problems (Gupta et al., 1985). In
waters used for irrigation, Wilcox (1958) reported a critical boron
concentration of 0.3-1.0 mg/litre for sensitive crops, such as citrus
and other fruits. Semi-tolerant crops, such as potatoes, tomatoes, and
oats, tolerate concentrations of 1-2 mg/litre; tolerant crops, such as
sugar beets, onions, and carrots, can withstand concentrations of
2-4 mg/litre.
...and it continues.
What do others think here? Backwash water is not the only source of water for the trees (even in the summer) but those critical concentrations are quite low!
Also, drainage is good around the trees so maybe the borates will be flushed and diluted by our mostly off-summer 24" of average precipitation per year. We live on a bench on a steep canyon hillside.
Thanks!
Last edited: