Thanks for the response. My understanding was that softened water should not be used to water plants but maybe that's just indoor potted plants? I wondered if the flood irrigation would flush the salt out the same flooding a potted plant will flush out the salt but I thought I read something on this forum a few years ago about the build up of salt due to flood irrigation, "Flood irrigation has its ... minuses - inconvenient schedules, salt buildup, ...." http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/azgard/msg0911311426181.html Also, what about the chlorine? I'm planning to take out about 1/2 the Bermuda next year and put in dessert landscaping so obviously that won't be watered with either the flood irrigation or the pool water. I am mostly concerned about the potential build up of salts in the soil in those areas prior to the conversion. meo

It's not just salt water they want. We have a fresh water pool and it's not so much the water, but the white pipe around the return from the pool filter. My husband made valves where the water returns to the pool with 2 different shut offs. Depending how you adjust them one pipe returns the water directly in the pool. One has a spray head that sprays the water into the air over the pool to keep the water cooler in the summer because it gets way too warm if not. We live in South Texas, enough said and with adjustment it also makes water run down the slide.. The honey bees congregate all around the center of that pipe and more and more keep coming. Last year it was the white stair rail going into the pool, however we've been blessed so far, they are not aggressive at all. When I hook up the pool vacuum, I have to have my face ,hands and arms right in the middle of them swarming around me to get it hooked up and they haven't even attempted to bother me, Thank God!! I was a little concerned at first, but so far so good. Anyway, just saying, it's not the salt.

I move my plants into the shower before watering. That way, I can water them from the top, and continue to water them (even as water pours out the bottom) until the soil is thoroughly saturated. You'll know when this happens, because the pot becomes noticeably heavier. As for bottom watering, it depends on what you mean. Diane is right, leaving your pot sitting in a tray of water will most likely kill the plant. But if you simply mean placing the pot in a bucket of water and moving it once the soil becomes saturated (after a few minutes), you should be fine.

This is somewhat dependent on what your pool is made of. Some softer stone and lower grades of stainless can be adversely effected by a SWCG. There are ways to negate those effect though With the use of proper bonding and the addition of zinc anodes in the water flow. There are lots of materials that are unaffected. What is your pool going to be using? That is the important question. The proper sizing of ozone is also important but typically, not needed for the majority of residential pools. It may augment the chlorine on large pools that see heavy use but smaller pools, typically those under 30,000 gallons won't benefit and it will actually run up the pool's chlorine demand some. Scott