Aery Eltibrizi wrote:
Big question here is to anyone who knows for a fact, can ollas filter out salt so the plants only suck fresh water out from the ollas?
If yes, would the olla's pores clog up with salt residue eventually thereby needing to dig up the pot and clean it from salts( if even possible?) or would the salt not clog up the porous clay pot from releasing fresh water?!
I've read that ollas will accumulate minerals from ground water over time and that a periodic vinegar treatment is advisable if using it. So, they would likely trap some salt residue but it's unlikely they would filter out
all salt. I find no reference of terra cotta being used in a desalination system.
In my raised beds, I've been using a system of ollas that I made from common, unglazed clay pots (2 pots, 1 inverted upon the other and sealed with silicone) for 5 years now. They are kept full at all times by underground piping that connects to a bulkhead fitting in each olla's bottom hole and fed from rain barrels. I fill those with city water every 10-20 days as needed and do not add anything to that water except a little vitamin C to neutralize the chloramine. After 5 years it's possible that they perform a little less well but upon examination I do not yet see any build up. To be sure I suppose one could fill a pot with salt water and taste the moist outer surface.
In regard to the freezing issue someone else raised: I thought they would crack in the winter (we can get to -22C +/-3C) so I had planned to unscrew the ollas' bulkhead fittings from the pipeline and lift them for winter. But it seemed like too much work to excavate them all so I took a chance in year one. As it turned out they weathered the freezing just fine. After 4 winters now in raised beds (which freeze harder) none of them have cracked and only one had the silicone seal release this year. Of course I drain them in the fall and I also heap a little extra soil over the tops (which are normally just below soil level).
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