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water hard well water or rain water for my peppers

magicpepper

magicpepper

i am out in the boonies and always run out of rain water.
so i start switching between my hard well water and the rain water, and when i say hard well water, that is really an understatement.
we have 2 water softeners as well as an iron filter just to get the water soft, where the hose hooks up is before the softeners and iron filter.
its straight and pure directly from the ground, but what i am wondering is which is actually better for my hot peppers?  i am looking for any and all opinions and experience with the two.
 
the township i live in is called stone mills, there's lots of limestone,chalk and dolomite, deep down and there is more rocks, boulders and stones then there is dirt, so its high in calcium, magnesium, and iron, plus a few other minerals i am probably missing or forgetting about.
 
I too have hard well water and it has been working well for my peppers all four seasons I have lived here as and added plus I've never had to add micro nutes other than a little calcium for my tomatoes and chinenses
 
thats good, i use both but i was afraid that the well water would add to much nutes to the plants, i know rain water is considered soft water though, is has hardly any minerals in it, just what it picks up from the atmosphere. where as well water (mine anyway) is full loaded with minerals. there is so much calcium in the water it is built up calcium deposits on everything, and leaves rust stains on everything as well. but most well water does. 
 
Rain water is obviously optimal, as it is what it is supposed to be getting just like if we could all amend our soil to the point we never had to add liquid or chemical fertilizer that would also be optimal, but most of us aren't that lucky for the most part! Obviously, the closer you get to its natural growing environment the better, but my red clay, sure as hell isn't as mineral and nutrient rich as a jungle or rain forest floor, but I'm working on it!
 
the well water is rain water, just filtered into the ground and extra minerals added to it lol.  but yes i do see and understand your point, and to be able to plant it and walk away would be awesome, eventually i will get to that point, got to build a greenhouse and setup a extremely slow drip system maybe?  but all my plants are in pots though because the growing season here is 90 to 120 days if i am really really lucky. 
 
I understand, I grow at least half of my peppers in containers every year, but I'm working on the most natural possible container soil, starting w/ forest soil and decomposing hardwood chips and adding compost and vermicompost
 
chile_freak said:
I understand, I grow at least half of my peppers in containers every year, but I'm working on the most natural possible container soil, starting w/ forest soil and decomposing hardwood chips and adding compost and vermicompost
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not bad, im always trying to find the right combination of substraits to get as close to the natural soil most hot peppers originally grow in, or even better then what they originated in lol
 
that i do, i just never know which is better, soft rain water, or hard well water. for those that dont know, soft meaning very little minerals and hard meaning its almost chunky from all the minerals lol guess ill just water them with a little bit of both
 
Oh yeah well water is great! I used it last year at my parents house and had my best grow yet... It's loaded with minerals and no clorine or fluoride is a plus.
 
magicpepper said:
 
how do you pull that off, if you dont mind me asking?
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Mix up a good viable organic soil and all it needs is water all season.
I have compost/ewc, sphagnum peat moss and red lava rock in equal parts as the base and then I add kelp meal, Espoma Tomato Tone, alfalfa meal, crab meal, neem cake and glacial green rock dust.
It is not lacking in any nutrients with this mix.
All I have to do is dechloramine my water as they put chloramine in it here and that's it.
No pH testing, no ppm meters, no guessing what nutrients a plant needs especially Cal-Mag. :rolleyes: :rofl:
 
Proud Marine Dad said:
Mix up a good viable organic soil and all it needs is water all season.
I have compost/ewc, sphagnum peat moss and red lava rock in equal parts as the base and then I add kelp meal, Espoma Tomato Tone, alfalfa meal, crab meal, neem cake and glacial green rock dust.
It is not lacking in any nutrients with this mix.
All I have to do is dechloramine my water as they put chloramine in it here and that's it.
No pH testing, no ppm meters, no guessing what nutrients a plant needs especially Cal-Mag. :rolleyes: :rofl:
Click to expand...
 
geez thats a great mix, think im going to save that and try it.   yea good ol cal/mag hahaha its actually the most common thing everyone doesnt give to their plants, its like its a hidden thing or something? everybody always worries about is nitrogen (N), phosphate (P2O5)  potash (K2O) 
 
I use well water when the plants need it.  As of right now they are getting rain water.  Probably too much of it.  We're having a very rainy late spring here and some of the plants aren't taking it well.  Looks like baccatum really enjoys it though more than the rest of them.  We are already in surplus of I think 9" for the year here and hurricane season hasn't even started.
 
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