My Greywater Orchard Irrigation Project

[Lacy Blues]

I LOVE this! We have a filtration system on our well that pumps out multiple gallons of water (for some reason) every night at midnight and we're planning to use it for an orchard when we can get the money to get the trees and fencing to keep out the cute little bunnies!

I live in northern Nevada, east of Reno, and my soil is alkali clay. Is your soil the same down there? I'd love to know where your worms came from! Did they just show up with the moisture and mulch?

 

[muckmuck]

What laundry products do you recommend for those of us who want to use our grey water? We can do this at our acreage.

I am currently using http://www.ecos.com/ laundry soap. Why? Because they carry the bulk size at Costco and their laundry soap is bio-compatible. The big thing is NO BLEACH!!! In fact that is going to be my next modification to my system, installing a 3-way valve so I can redirect the wash water into my septic system when bleaching clothes. From my research though the big things to avoid is salt which is a main in ingredient in powdered detergent, bleach, and enzymes. Everyone but the true eco-freaks said that phosphates were only an issue if the water was being discharged into a waterway and that at least in my area the soil is phosphate deficient so it would be beneficial to certain extent. So basically start with non-enzyme, bleach free liquid detergent.

I LOVE this! We have a filtration system on our well that pumps out multiple gallons of water (for some reason) every night at midnight and we're planning to use it for an orchard when we can get the money to get the trees and fencing to keep out the cute little bunnies!

I live in northern Nevada, east of Reno, and my soil is alkali clay. Is your soil the same down there? I'd love to know where your worms came from! Did they just show up with the moisture and mulch?

How far East? My son teaches at Pyramid Lake High School. The worms showed up on their own and yes our soil down here is the same. The UNR orchard (here in vegas) recommended not going crazy trying to improve the soil in the hole when planting, they said the clay will form an artificial pot around the good soil. They recommended the heavy mulch and letting nature do the work of getting the nutrients down into the root zone. That isn't a water softener on your well is it? If so that water would be the backwash from the resin tank and might be to salty to use.

Max

 

[Lacy Blues]

How far East? My son teaches at Pyramid Lake High School. The worms showed up on their own and yes our soil down here is the same. The UNR orchard (here in vegas) recommended not going crazy trying to improve the soil in the hole when planting, they said the clay will form an artificial pot around the good soil. They recommended the heavy mulch and letting nature do the work of getting the nutrients down into the root zone. That isn't a water softener on your well is it? If so that water would be the backwash from the resin tank and might be to salty to use.

Max

I live in Fallon, so about an hour east.

umm... I don't think its a water softener, it is supposed to be...

I've got the paperwork right here... it's called Iron Breaker III It says that the unit "adds oxygen to the filter media during the draw cycle. The water then passes through the filter media which oxidizes and removes the iron (all in the same tank). Eventually water passing through the Iron Breaker III depletes the oxygen and the unit needs regeneration. During regeneration the iron is back-washed out. The tank then empties and replenishes the filter media with oxygen from the atmosphere and shifts back into service."

It is to be installed before a water softener so it can't be a water softener. We have an artesian well and the water is natually pretty soft. Almost killed myself during showering when we first moved here. The floor was very slick... then we got a mat for the floor. The guy said we didn't have any iron in our water but we did have a lot of tannins and this system is used to remove them (I think). Our water was pretty brown but it wasn't sediment, it was stained water. Where the tannins come from I don't know.

 

[muckmuck]

I live in Fallon, so about an hour east.

umm... I don't think its a water softener, it is supposed to be...

I've got the paperwork right here... it's called Iron Breaker III It says that the unit "adds oxygen to the filter media during the draw cycle. The water then passes through the filter media which oxidizes and removes the iron (all in the same tank). Eventually water passing through the Iron Breaker III depletes the oxygen and the unit needs regeneration. During regeneration the iron is back-washed out. The tank then empties and replenishes the filter media with oxygen from the atmosphere and shifts back into service."

It is to be installed before a water softener so it can't be a water softener. We have an artesian well and the water is natually pretty soft. Almost killed myself during showering when we first moved here. The floor was very slick... then we got a mat for the floor. The guy said we didn't have any iron in our water but we did have a lot of tannins and this system is used to remove them (I think). Our water was pretty brown but it wasn't sediment, it was stained water. Where the tannins come from I don't know.

Sounds like you have a great source of water to use! If nothing else I think I would see if I could get a tree service company to dump a couple of loads of chipped up tree waste on the area you want to eventually plant. Then run a line from that discharge into the (hopefully your well is at high spot) uphill side and see what nature brings your way!

Max

 

[Lacy Blues]

That is almost funny... it is SO flat here! But I have mountains in the not too distant that I can gaze at

I suppose I can find out if there is any kind of a slant to this property.

This is what I want to eventually do... We have mosquitoes here because of the irrigation canals that run all over the place... I want to get some muscovy ducks (who eat mosquitoes and their larva) and put a stock tank outside to catch that discharged water for them to swim in. After they have been in it a couple days, I want to release part of that water onto the orchard. It should contain plenty of fertilizer by then too.

Apparently the water system discharges every 3 days, according to the booklet, so I just have to figure out how much water is being discharged.

You have your orchard on a drip system... how often do you run it? Do you have dwarf fruit trees? I was imagining that spacing them that closely you would have to have but maybe not? I think I'm going to see if I can find the book you mentioned.

 

[Lacy Blues]

Could you share the ISBN number on that book? Amazon doesn't have it and I think they are probably the biggest online book source. They have several under that subject but I don't see the exact title. Perhaps the number on the label will help me target the actual book?

Ok, nevermind, I found it by looking up the author. Stella Otto, right?

 

[SunnyAlberta]

I am currently using http://www.ecos.com/ laundry soap. Why? Because they carry the bulk size at Costco and their laundry soap is bio-compatible. The big thing is NO BLEACH!!!

Thanks Max!

 

[muckmuck]

Could you share the ISBN number on that book? Amazon doesn't have it and I think they are probably the biggest online book source. They have several under that subject but I don't see the exact title. Perhaps the number on the label will help me target the actual book?

Ok, nevermind, I found it by looking up the author. Stella Otto, right?

You had me confused, I didn't think I had mentioned any books. Dave Wilson Nursery: http://www.davewilson.com/homegrown/gardencompass/gc01_mar_apr_01.html is where I got most of my orchard info. They have great info on their site and fantastic how-to videos on you tube. My drip system is gravity fed which sounds like it may not work for you, unless the discharge from your filter is high enough to get a surge tank (plastic garbage can) high enough off the ground to create some pressure. This http://www.besthomewatersavers.com/products/IrriGRAY-Kit-%2d-Graywater-by-gravity.html is the system I used and am very happy with, again they have some great info on this site if you surf around on it. As to when to water, the short answer is whenever the water is created. The idea is to keep a uniformally moist area instead of the traditional wet and dry cycles of the usual drip system. The guide on this page http://www.besthomewatersavers.com/pages/Graywater-Guide.html is an excellent information resource. Hope this helps!

 

[tom e]

We had a kitchen sink that kept backing up.. We just took it off the septic line after the p-trap and diverted it through the wall. Raised foundation so I just put a plastic 55 g drum outside to collect the water and attached a hose bib to the bottom of it. Now the hose can be moved to under whichever tree we want to water! It's not perfect, because sometimes we have junk clogging the line, but I just put it on the real hose bib (lots of pressure) and blast it out whenever it needs cleaning. Cheaper than having that sink rootered over and over for sure!
I would LOVE to do something similar with the washing machine, but it isn't on the same side of the house- don't know what I'd water out there..

 

[muckmuck]

Almost all of the material I have read talked about how diverting your greywater out of the septic system you could drastically extend the life of even a failing leach field.