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water using lake water to water pepper plants

M

Mr Goshen

Hello, I'm new to the forum and this is my first year growing peppers.
I've been having trouble with not having enough chemical free water, tap water here is really chlorinated and there has been very little rain to collect, filtering is just to time consuming and I have a lot of plants to water, I was thinking about using lake water since I live less than a mile from one, just fill my water barrels up with it and be done, would any small aquatic bugs or anything naturally in the lake water be harmful to my pepper plants? thanks.
 
:welcome: ,,, i dont have a answer for you,but enjoy your stay. im sure you will get 30 diffrent answers though,lol.
 
If you fill your water barrels, and leave them be for a bit, the chlorine will work its way out in a few days anyway.
 
The lake isn't polluted as far as I know, It's out in the boonies, the tap water here has a chemical called chloramine among other things that apparently doesn't just evaporate out of the water by leaving it sit.
 
If the system is fairly open, a weeks worth of exposure to air and sunlight (mostly sunlight) will degrade chloramines. Otherwise, lake water would likely be fine, depending on how your store it. Though you might bring in a few more mosquitos than you'd like.
 
I can't think of any creatures in a lake that would survive long enough to be a problem in your garden.
 
Bugs larvae may be in it. And sitting warm and stagnant will help them hatch (if any).

Search "garden hose filter".

It will remove 85% or so of chlorines, and much easier than hauling barrels.
 
Gotrox said:
Bugs larvae may be in it. And sitting warm and stagnant will help them hatch (if any).
Click to expand...
If he keeps the water sitting there it'll hatch mosquitos and the like, but if he puts it right into the soil it'll be fine. Any water-born larva won't do much damage once they hit the soil and dry out.
 
Pick up a fish tank and you will have an endless supply of the best water you can give your plants. I have several tanks and since I need to do monthly water changes anyway it's 1 hobby helping the other.
 
YES to lake water. There are disolved minerals, detritus materials, and organic materials mixed in. I think you will find no need for any ferts after that.
 
Sure you can use lake water but I'm suspecting you have jumped to an unlikely conclusion about the effects of using your tap water. There are standards required for drinkable water and yours is probably not all that unique. Lots of people, myself include use tap water with acceptable results although I do think the lake water will have more nutrients that may benefit the plants.

On the other hand that's a heck of a lot of work to go back and forth a mile for a sufficient amount of water to support a "lot" of plants, especially with the daytime temperatures as high as they are, unless you happen to have all the equipment like a pickup truck, hose, water pump, etc... and even then you may get tired of making the trip. There's a pond only 100 yards or so away from me and still I don't use the water... well there's also the issue of it not being on my property but they probably would let me take the water if I asked.
 
The garden hose filter sounds like a good idea, I checked them out and some of them remove most of the chlorine and chloramine and other bs in the tap water, If we could just get some RAIN!!!! arrrgghhh!!...thanks for all the input so far :)
 
I have looked this up myself and tried it. It worked very well for me. Just try not to use stagnant water. I used water from a pond but it is somehow always moving around and there are ducks which help to add nutrients. If it is a lake I say even better.
 
I use nothing but tap water for my plants and it doesn't seem to bother them...
 
nothings free DD...
 
Don't know if it's a public lake or not, but there are probably restrictions on pulling water out of it. If it's private then heck ya go for it.
 
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