Salty Water

[billc]

My wife and I recently retired, and built a new home in Pearl, TX (near Gatesville). We're just getting our gardens set up, but have found that the water from our new well is very salty. It's ok to drink, but it killed an English Ivy in about three days!

We'd greatly appreciate any info about how to deal with this problem. We're considering Reverse Osmosis, but this wastes a lot of water, or a rain water collection system. I'd prefer to treat my well water in an economical fashion, so that we can irrigate a large garden area.

Perhaps some plants are tolerant of this water? Does anyone have a list of plants that will tolerate salty water?... Thanks so much for any help!

[Tony M]

bill-
I don't have any suggestions on plants that are tolerant of salty water. There may not be any that will survive the "other" conditions that your location will throw at them if you do find some. Native plants are the best choice because they have existed without supplemental water for years.
If you do decide to go the rainwater harvest route, here is and excellent resource by the city of Austin:
http://www.greenbuilder.com/sourcebook/Rainwater.html#PRO%20ASSIST
Tony M

[Dchall_San_Antonio]

Talk to K Chandler at the Texas Plant and Soil Lab. He's experienced in salt problems.

http://www.txplant-soillab.com/

[CaptainCompostAL]

DcHall_SanAntonio (Dave Hall), one of our great moderators and one of my best OG friends, stated earlier on this forum that Epsom salt is a great remedy for salty water soil issues. The extra magnesium sulfate balances the levels of sodium, calcium, and other micronutrients in the soil so that plants can grow healthy unaffected by this issue.

Also make sure you have plenty of compost, organic mulches, or other organic matter, or compost tea soil drenches, around your plants too. Compost buffers and balances many nutrients, and many mild toxins in soils.

[Dchall_San_Antonio]

The magnesium, calcium, sodium balance is what you should talk to K Chandler about. He knows that stuff. He'll probably ask for a soil sample and a water sample. Then he'll tell you exactly what to do. The nominal cost for his soil testing is worth it for a long term benefit of your yard. You won't have to guess about anything.

You can get your soil tested elsewhere but K is in the salt testing business. Other labs likely will have to special order the salt test materials and then they have to learn how to use them. Go to K.

[Enzyme11]

If your water is "okay to drink(?)" and if you are able to capture rainwater, then you might/should be able dilute the tap water with the rainwater enough to make it usable on plants. One question that Mr. Chandler would address is how badly saturated the topsoil is with salts. If it's heavily saturated, maybe you would need to do a more intensive organic program for awhile even if you begin using better quality water. Your average annual rainfall is ~ 33", so rainwater capture should be a viable option. If your volume needs aren't great or if you need to supplement the rainwater capture, maybe you could investigate building a solar distiller; that should work pretty well for the removal of the salts. Epsom salts might help if the base level osmolarity isn't very high, but at some point the ionic load and characteristics will be too much for many plants to tolerate. In addition, I doubt whether adding the magnesium sulfate would be a viable or economic long-term solution for a large garden.