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Limescale marks - hose filter?

marinademarinade Posts: 3
in Tools and techniques
Hello. I'm getting white marks on a lot of my greenery, and also marks on the windows behind my windowboxes. I assume this is scale in the tap water coming through the hosepipe. Can anyone recommend a filter that can be attached to the hose that will prevent this? I can see one or two that mention chlorine, but I'm not sure if these will do the job I want. Is there any other solution? Thanks. 

Posts

  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    You should be watering the soil, not the plants ... watering the leaves is wasteful of water and can create inviting conditions for fungal infections  ... limescale won't be a problem if you keep the leaves dry and the soil wet.

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • Pete.8Pete.8 Posts: 11,340
    Dove's answer is your best solution.
    But to answer your question, I'm afraid the answer is no.
    The limescale can't be easily filtered out for watering plants. You can buy a reverse osmosis unit which will do the job, but it'll take a couple of hours or more to produce a gallon of pure water (and produces about 10 gallons of waste water in the process). They're designed for pure drinking water or marine aquariums.

    Billericay - Essex

    Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
    Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
  • marinademarinade Posts: 3
    OK, thanks for the replies. I take the point about the soil, but it's not that straightforward when you're watering something leafy in a pot!
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    I water these with a hose ... all in pots ... and keep the leaves dry 



    Just use a nozzle rather than a spray and direct the nozzle under the leaves  :)

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • marinademarinade Posts: 3
    Will give that a go, thanks.
  • Kitty 2Kitty 2 Posts: 5,150
    If you have one of these on your hose I find the 'soaker' setting works best. The water glugs out rather than spraying everywhere.


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