Rose Tolerance for Salty Water

[albahhar]

Dear All,

As mentioned earlier somewhere in this forum, I do have a number of rose plants.

Some of them are recently planted, the recently planted ones (10 bushes in total); I am watering them with well water (water I get from the Ground NOT water supplied by the Water Utility). the well water has a TDS of 1600 :O.

Do you think my roses will survive?

Regards,,,

Al

[ElizabethB]

Sorry for my ignorance but I do not know what TDS 1600 means.. I do know that roses are sensitive to salinity. Even a water softener system on a well can damage not only roses but other landscaping plants. Before my home was incorporated into the city water system I had a well with a softener system. I had all kinds of problems with my landscaping and garden beds. In desperation I had a soil test done and the salinity level was very high. The culprit was the softner system. I started disconnecting the softener from the system when I watered. It took a coouple of years but I was eventually able to wash the salt out of the soil. When we hooked up to the city system for the house I kept my well without the softener for use in the yard. After several years the well failed and I had to convert all of my watering to the city system. So sad. Much more expensive and now have to fight chlorine in the water.

Looks like I really don't have an answer to your question other than my ramble. Sorry!!

[cynthia_h]

TDS = Total Dissolved Solids. 1600 probably means 1600 mg TDS/1 L water, but I can't swear to that.

The significance of the numbers is beyond my expertise.

Cynthia H.
Sunset Zone 17, USDA Zone 9

[ElizabethB]

Thanks for the info - so what is a normal rate of TDS? Is 1600 high or low? I am so excited to learn something new!! Thank you so much!

[DoubleDogFarm]

Most people think of TDS as being an aesthetic factor. In a study by the World Health
Organization, a panel of tasters came to the following conclusions about the preferable level of
TDS in water:
Level of TDS (milligrams per litre) Rating
Less than 300 Excellent
300 - 600 Good
600 - 900 Fair
900 - 1,200 Poor
Above 1,200 Unacceptable
Taste of Water with Different TDS Concentrations;
https://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/dwq/chemicals/tds.pdf

Eric

[ElizabethB]

So that was in a water tasting study. How does that translate to the garden? What are acceptable levels for roses, vegetables and landscaping or can you give a link that difines acceptable levels?

Wow - learnig a lot - thanks to you all.

[DoubleDogFarm]

Correct, Taste study.

Try this on for size.
https://waterquality.colostate.edu/documents/irrigationwaterquality.pdf

Eric