[Arid_gardener] Re: Irrigation Well Water in Zip Code 86024

[Dick]

Karen, without having the water tested, you can get a fair idea of salt content by observing the degree of salt burn on the foliage as salt packs in the tips killing cells from the tip and gradually creeping from the tip down the leaf edges until roughly half the leaf is dead and it may fall. The more cells that are killed by salt, the less there are to manufacture carbohydrates by photosynthesis and the plants is, in a sense, on a starvation diet.

If you have severe browning, it would imply that salt content in the root zone is high. It can be controlled pretty well with deep irrigation that flushes excess salt out of the feeder root zone into a water table or zone below. Frequent shallow irrigation adds a little more salt to the feeder root zone each time and constant evaporation keeps it there concentrating the salt level to toxic levels.

Dick Gross, Master Gardener Volunteer
U of A Maricopa County Cooperative Extension

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Olin Miller" <olindmiller at att.net>
To: <arid_gardener at Ag.arizona.edu>; <k.paldan at att.net>
Sent: Tuesday, July 24, 2007 7:46 PM
Subject: [Arid_gardener] Re: Irrigation Well Water in Zip Code 86024


> ----- Original Message ----- From: <k.paldan at att.net>
> Sent: Tuesday, July 24, 2007 1:35 PM
>> Karen 85259 k.paldan at att.net
>> We have some property on the Mogollon Rim (zip code 86024) with community 
>> wells.  The water is very alkaline.  I need to know if this water can 
>> safely be used to water the plants.  [...]  The vegatation is native - 
>> ponderosa and pinion pines, junipers, various shrubs and annuals.
> ================================================
> 
> The well water in the Happy Jack, Clint's Well, Long Valley, Blue Ridge, et. 
> al., region comes from the Little Colorado river watershed which originates 
> from springs in the White Mountains/Mount Baldy Wilderness.  It has a lot 
> less exposure to warm weather and evaporation than our Phoenix Colorado 
> River runoff and, consequently, would be expected to be less salty and less 
> alkaline.
> 
> Do you have any information as to the pH of the well water?  Quite a few 
> people in the Clear Creek Pines developments have acid loving trees like 
> Maple which appear to be doing okay with irrigation, not only from the 
> community well but also from their own wells.  If you see a home with 
> non-indigenous trees or shrubbery, stop in and ask about it.
> 
> Olin Miller, Master Gardener Volunteer
> U of A Cooperative Extension, Maricopa County AZ
> ============================================
> 
> 
> 
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