I have about 50ppm borates in my pool and I backwash onto a planter area in the corner of my yard. Since adding the borates a couple years ago many of the plants in this area have struggled, died, or have brown leaf edges which is a known effect of borates on plants. Anyone else experience this? It seems that backwashing to the street is illegal, backwashing to the sewer is difficult especially where mine is located, and backwashkng to the ground is poisoning the soil. Maybe cleaning the filter manually with the hose would release less water, but seems awfully inconvenient since I backwash 4-5 times a year.
Backwashing Borates killing plants
- Thread starter csloey
- Start date
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Both borates and salt can have a cumulative effect over time in some climates/soil types. In areas with lots of rainfall it isn't usually an issue, as they get at least partially washed out of the soil. But in other areas they accumulate and can eventually build up to levels that can affect plants. The best solution is a cartridge filter, which doesn't require backwashing, or opening up a DE filter and cleaning it with a hose. Unfortunately, there isn't any such alternative for sand filters.
Both borates and salt can have a cumulative effect over time in some climates/soil types. In areas with lots of rainfall it isn't usually an issue, as they get at least partially washed out of the soil. But in other areas they accumulate and can eventually build up to levels that can affect plants. The best solution is a cartridge filter, which doesn't require backwashing, or opening up a DE filter and cleaning it with a hose. Unfortunately, there isn't any such alternative for sand filters.
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