Is well water killing your plants? The average person does not often consider the quality of the water they use to irrigate and nourish their plants. They fill a container with water from the nearest water dispenser valve and sprinkle it onto the flowers, crops, and plants on the outside and inside of their homes.
Unfortunately, well water still has the potential to damage or even kill plants if certain environmental conditions have affected or contaminated it. That is why you need to regularly test your well water and incorporate the proper filtration solutions to ensure it contains the appropriate levels of mineral nutrients needed for fast and healthy plant growth.
Depending on where you live, your home may source water from an underground well or a public utility. City water from a local water treatment plant may seem sufficient for watering plants because most contaminants have been removed and filtered out of it. So, does that mean it is better for plants than well water?
Well water comes right from the ground, which means it has a high concentration of natural minerals like iron, sodium, calcium, nitrites, nitrogen, and magnesium. Some people believe well water is better for plants because it is better for humans. After all, well water is much fresher and cleaner than city tap water due to all its mineral nutrients and lack of chemicals. Why wouldn’t humans and plants both benefit from it?
Understanding Plant Growth
Plant growth requires water with the proper balance of mineral nutrients. Like humans, plants need their own sets of macronutrients and micronutrients to grow and prosper. The most critical ones are as follows:
Macronutrients
- Nitrogen
- Potassium
- Phosphorus
- Magnesium
- Calcium
- Sulfur
Micronutrients
- Copper
- Boron
- Iron
- Zinc
- Manganese
Each type of nutrient plays a vital role in stimulating certain aspects of a plant’s growth and developmental processes. These processes include enzyme functions, respiration, root development, seed production, photosynthesis, vitamin intake, cell wall durability, etc. If a plant does not get enough of these nutrients, it will grow poorly and be at a higher risk of disease and pest infestation.
How Well Water Can Kill Plants
Well water contains most of these vital mineral nutrients because they seep into the groundwater from the soil above. However, it can also have high levels of heavy metals, bacterial contamination, and pH for the same reason. Remember that groundwater frequently moves and flows, making it susceptible to contaminants from plumbing and local environmental conditions.
The nutrient levels in the well water could be the result of how you treat your lawn. For example, if you use a lot of fertilizer on your lawn, it could create a nutrient-dense well water supply because extra nutrients from the fertilizer will make their way into the groundwater. Therefore, you must take the necessary precautions to balance the levels of nutrients in the well water to avoid damaging or killing your plants.
Look for the following signs to know whether your well water is killing your plants:
- Roots grow too slowly
- Brown leaves amid other green leaves
- Brown leaves falling off their stems
- Added fertilizer has little to no effect on the flowering or growth of the plants
- White powder deposits accumulating on the surface of the soil
If you irrigate your plants with well water and notice one or more of these signs, then you need to take the appropriate steps to treat your well water.
How to Treat Well Water to Sustain Plant Growth
Here are the primary reasons why well water kills plants:
- Excessively high or low levels of nutrients (e.g., zinc, magnesium, nitrogen, iron)
- Excessively high levels of heavy metals (e.g., mercury, lead, arsenic)
- The presence of bacterial contaminants (e.g., salmonella, E. Coli)
- pH levels significantly under 5.0 or above 7.0
- High levels of salt and sodium
You must regularly test and treat your well water to ensure that none of these problems are present. Below, we will go over the solutions for doing this:
Balancing the Nutrient Levels
Hard water is the number one reason homeowners kill their plants with well water. When well water contains high concentrations of calcium and magnesium, it is too hard for the plants to absorb the water fully. As a result, white deposits accumulate on top of the soil and slow down plant growth.
Installing a water softener will help make the water softer and easily absorbable. Try to use a salt-free water softener to avoid increasing the sodium levels of the water. In addition, testing the pH levels of your well water is the best way to monitor the levels of calcium and magnesium.
Reducing Heavy Metal Levels
The most cost-effective way to remove heavy metals from well water is to install an adequate filtration system to filter out the heavy metals, such as a reverse osmosis filtration system.
Distillation is another effective method for removing heavy metals. The only setback is that it consumes more electricity, so be prepared for the extra expense on your monthly power bills.
Eliminating Bacterial Contaminants
You can eliminate most fungi, algae, and bacterial contaminants by adding chlorine to the water or exposing it to UV lighting. For instance, a chlorinator should be installed regularly to inject chlorine into the well water tank and ensure that the bacteria remains dead before consumption.
Chlorine is what public water utility companies use to treat the tap water they provide to residents. Just make sure you do not add too much chlorine to your well water. Only add enough to kill the bacteria, fungi, and algae present, if any.
Maintaining Adequate pH Levels
Many people have acidic soil on their property, which drives their pH levels down to under 5.0. This causes plant leaves to turn yellow and brown. The pH level of your well water should be anywhere between 5.0 and 7.0 because this is the ideal pH range for healthy plant growth.
To increase the pH level beyond 5.0, you can add magnesium and calcium to the water to neutralize its acidic content. Installing an acid-neutralizer device is the best way to do this.
Reducing Salt and Sodium Content
Are you using a water softener to remove calcium and magnesium from your well water to make it softer? As mentioned above, using a salt-based water softener can raise the sodium levels of your well water.
Install a salt-free water softener to avoid adding salt and sodium to the well water. Of course, you may not even need a water softener at all if you have balanced the nutrients in the well water properly. Continue to test the pH levels to verify the nutrient balance.
If you still have a sodium problem in your well water, consider installing a de-ionization, reverse osmosis, or distillation filter.
Conclusion
Hopefully, this article gave you a detailed explanation of why well water is killing plants. Initially, it will be a challenge to remove contaminants and balance the nutrient levels of your well water. But once you can learn to do it successfully, your plants will grow better and faster than ever before. You will never want to use ordinary city tap water on your plants again.