Remedying (Hard) Mains Water Quality for Optimal Spray Applications

[Robert]

We fundamentally have hard water and when last tested gave the following characteristics:

7.8 p.H.
20.60 "Hard Water"
371 ppm Bicarb

Currently our only real adjustment for this quality is the addition on 0.25l/ha (100l) of X-Change with Glyphosate applications. I suspect we need to pay more attention in other applications too in our combinable crop rotation to eek out every last percent of the pesticides' dwindling efficacy. Please can someone highlight what other applications will benefit from water conditioning and any suitable products to achieve this optimal spraying water? Not necessarily a small or straightforward topic I know, but keen to improve our understanding and application results.

Many thanks

 

[Brisel]

Read the Adjuvant Academy thread along with a search for any other water conditioner threads in Cropping.

Hard water also affects;

Sulphonyl urea herbicides
“Dim” type herbicides eg Laser, Centurion Max
Organophosphate insecticides
Pyrethroid insecticides
Phenmedipham
As well as glyphosate as you’ve already mentioned.

 

[yellow belly]

Collect rain water

 

[MrNoo]

Collect rain water

Exactly what I do here, get a load of tanks and filters, it's free for once, in a very hard water area here

 

[yellow belly]

Exactly what I do here, get a load of tanks and filters, it's free for once, in a very hard water area here

Do you have any problem with contamination from algae or moss

 

[marshallfarm]

Dosatron connected to a 200l drum of water conditioner is what we use. http://www.dosatron.com/

 

[APJ]

We have sprayed everything this year with rain water, made an amazing difference to the way our herbicides have worked, you just need plenty of storage tanks we’ve got roughly 50000 litres of tanks now hope to double this for next year.

 

[MrNoo]

Do you have any problem with contamination from algae or moss

Not as yet and I dont use a filter, instead I have a separate tank where all the crud etc settles out before the level rises enough to start filling the main tanks. It has been in place for nearly 5+ years

 

[Andy Howard]

Is there any grants for rainwater harvesting in your area?