greenhouse-tomatoes: Systems to remove calcium in irrigation water

[Mary Peet <mary_peet@ncsu.edu>]

greenhouse-tomatoes - an email list for growers of greenhouse tomatoes.
Sent by Mary Peet <mary_peet@ncsu.edu>.
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One of our NC growers was told by an independent laboratory that the calcium
in his water was too high and that he needed to install a treatment system
which would cost several thousand dollars. The grower is not having problems
with the crop that appear to be related to high calcium or hard water except
a buildup on the evaporative pads, however.

Does anyone have experience with a system sold by Energy Systems Plus
(E.S.P. Technologies). They refer to their system as using copper ionization
to 'negatively charge the ions in water' and 'remove free electrons'. They
don't appear to have a website, so I don't have any technical details and
may not have accurately described the system.

Any other suggestions for good inexpensive solutions (besides acidification)
to improve hard water for greenhouse tomato production?

The analysis was:
pH     6.79
Hardness (ppm)     448.05
Hardness (grains/gal)    26.2
Conductivity (mmhos)     0.86
SAR     0.62 or 0.82 - very hard to make out on faxed copy
Adjusted SAR     1.21
Residual sodium carbonate    -3.93

-- 
Mary M. Peet
Professor
Box 7609
Dept. of Horticultural Science
North Carolina State University
Raleigh, NC27695-7609
Phone: 919-515-5362
Fax: 919-515-2505
websites: Greenhouse Food Production:
<http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/greenhouse_veg/>
Sustainable vegetable production: www.ncsu.edu/sustainable/
Partial resume: <http://myprofile.cos.com/mpeet>