laundry water for the garden

Discussion in 'Planting, growing, nurturing Plants' started by hedwig, Aug 24, 2005.

  1. hedwig

    hedwig Junior Member

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    I would like to use the laundry water for the garden or at least drain it in the garden that it is back to the natural cycle.. . (Each load is 58 litres)The washing maschine is under the house. I wonder if I can use the water directly, perhaps letting the hose in a small hole full of gravel . there is a piece of lawn nearby. Or I use an old bath tube which is in the garden, but I don't want to make a mosquito-breed. Is it enough putting a board o it?
    The highest temerature I use is 60 °C, and I wonder which temerature the water must have if it should not damage the plants. Which ingredients of common laundry powders should not get into the garden? ( not in every laundry powder the ingredients are listed)
     
  2. gardenlen

    gardenlen Group for banned users

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    g'day hedwig,

    go right ahead and use it, don't save it though use it fresh and use your bath/shower water as well and if you can the kitchen water. if you want a better washing detergent there is a recipe on my hints page on my web site.

    try to move the hose around so you aren't watering all the sam spots all the time.

    len :D
     
  3. hedwig

    hedwig Junior Member

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    And you're shure that 60 ° water is not too hot?
    I'll try it like this: I dig a (really) small hole, that the water can
    get cold a little bit and then sickering were it does.
    I would like to use much more water, but our house is rented and the commercial sold diverters are quite expensive (at least at mitre 10).
     
  4. Ichsani

    Ichsani Junior Member

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    Hi hedwig,

    Laundry water that is 60C will kill a large majority of your soil microbes in the immediate vicinity, and sterilise your soil to some extent. Little microbes are sooo good for soil (I'm not kidding!), so maybe put the water into a 44 gallon drum to cool down first? Or you could wash your clothes with cold water (unless they're REALLY dirty.. :lol: ), it works fine for mine.

    I put the water from the first rinse on the larger trees, the water from the second rinse on the hardier herbs, and use fresh water for the delicate herbs and vege (no other reason than that is what I am comfortable with) and it works well. It seems the garden is getting WAY more water than I usually give it (cause of the # of washes and small block) I must be be a hose mieser!

    Hope you find something that suits you.

    Ichsani
     
  5. Tezza

    Tezza Junior Member

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    Most hot water if non solar or wind etc would be costing more.Why is your water so hot. Not sure what ours is, but str8 hot for showersnot overly hot for the dish washer (me) lol
    Tezza
     
  6. earthbound

    earthbound Junior Member

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  7. hedwig

    hedwig Junior Member

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    my children are really dirty, so I prefer washing in a higher temperature (in Germany most of the people wash with 90 °C !) , that means better using the olt bath tube and let the water cool.
    The article added was interesting - the big brands were the badest and the cheap home brand was not such bad (I hope it's home brand from Wollworth).
    But modern Frontloaders using 50 litres per load, not 150 like in the article, you save water but the detergent level would be higher I think.
     
  8. david

    david Junior Member

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    The paper on detergent phosphorus and sodium levels was very interesting.

    We use Aware which did well on the phosphorus but still had a bit of sodium in it. (Although less than many others presented.)

    It looks as if pure soap was very good on both counts.

    I wonder what total load of sodium a suburban block could tolerate from detergent in grey-water before it became an issue.

    David
     
  9. matta1

    matta1 Junior Member

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    grey water

    I have to agree with the temp. Maybe the dirt is frozen in Europe! The sunshine during drying will kill any bugs left over but if you must boil your clothes you will have to let the water cool first. If stored for more than a day it smells and ferments. We used to put it through our toilet cistern. Just today at our new home we finished a grey water diversion system. I dug a series if trenched and filed with ag pipe so the water will spread across and through a tree garden area. Just using a trench and filling with rocks would help. I wouldn’t recommend using it directly of food crops such as veggies for fear of micro contamination. But as mentioned many persons use a hose and move it around.
    Don’t advertise it as the health authorities will fine you unless you use an approved grey water system.
    matt
     

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