There is an increasing trend to use greywater for irrigation in households. This is partly due to the notion that greywater is of better quality than wastewater and therefore does not need extensive treatment beyond addressing public health issues. The aim of the study was to evaluate the environmental impact and health risks associated with the use of greywater for irrigation on a small private farm. Over a three-year period, each of three plots on a farm was irrigated with either freshwater, fertilized water, or greywater. Irrigation water and soil from the plots were analyzed for a wide range of chemical and microbial variables. Results suggest that greywater may be of similar quality to wastewater in several parameters such as BOD and faecal coliforms. For some other variables such as boron and surfactants, greywater may even be of worse quality than wastewater. Long-term irrigation of arid loess soil with greywater may result in accumulation of salts, surfactants and boron in the soil, causing changes in soil properties and toxicity to plants. Faecal coliforms did not survive in the soil. Treating greywater before using it for irrigation is recommended, even in places where this is not a requirement.
Planting depth during container production may influence plant growth, establishment, and subsequent landscape value. A lack of knowledge about the effects of common transplanting practices may lead to suboptimal performance of planted landscape trees. Planting depth, i.e., location of the root collar relative to soil grade, is of particular concern for posttransplant tree growth both when transplanted to larger containers during production and after transplanting into the landscape. It is unknown whether negative effects of poor planting practices are compounded during the production phases and affect subsequent landscape establishment. This study investigated effects of planting depth during two successive phases of container production (10.8 L and 36.6 L) and eventual landscape establishment using lacebark elm ( Ulmus parvifolia Jacq.). Tree growth was greater when planted at grade during the initial container (10.8 L) production phase and was reduced when planted 5 cm below grade. In the second container production phase (36.6 L), trees planted above grade had reduced growth compared with trees planted at grade or below grade. For landscape establishment, transplanting at grade to slightly below or above grade produced trees with greater height on average when compared with planting below grade or substantially above grade, whereas there was no effect on trunk diameter. Correlations between initial growth and final growth in the field suggested that substantial deviations of the original root to shoot transition from at-grade planting was more of a factor in initial establishment of lacebark elm than the up-canning practices associated with planting depth during container production.
