| MadSci Network: Botany |
First you could look at the label and see if it contains any potentially harmful chemicals to plants, such as sodium, boron, and chlorides or mineral nutrients that plants require, such as potassium, nitrogen, phosphorus, magnesium, calcium, sulfate, etc. Most detergents no longer contain high levels of phosphorus, because phosphates in detergents were once a major water pollution problem. Another thing to do is to contact the manufacturer and ask if they have any information on its effects on plants. Many products had a toll-free phone number on the package. If you have access to an electrical conductivity (EC) meter, an EC reading on the wash water might indicate if there was a problem with high salinity. Do a web search for gray water, because many environmentalists advocate using laundry water, bath water, etc. for plant irrigation. Even if you cannot do any of the above things, it sounds like you have a very worthwhile experiment that you could complete and find out for yourself whether it is harmful or not. References Hershey, D.R. 1993. Evaluation of irrigation water quality. American Biology Teacher 55: 228-232. Gray Water
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