Rain water

[CharlieRoss]

It's raining so I was wondering if anyone collects rain water and uses it on their indoor plants? I spent most of my late teens and 20s working on a golf course and then running a lawn care service and I always knew that irrigation never compared to a good rain coming down. Does anyone do this?

 

[BeanTownFan420]

Rain water should be ok to use Ph maybe acidic and you may introduce other pathogens from rain water but for the most part I think you should be fine.

 

[Enr0n]

Just make sure to get clean water, if you don't then you stand a chance of introducing unwanted elements in it.

 

[SmokingWings]

Do a pH test every couple of rainfalls. That will let you know if you get the occasional acid rain though around here the change in pH level is not enough to worry about. Rain will pick up some dust and other particles on the way down but it is the same stuff that has been dumped on plants for the last million years or so.

If you set up a collection system try to figure out a way to keep sticks and leaves out of the collection container.

 

[billyran]

I have a more casual approach. I collect rain water in a 50 gal barrel and make a worm , kelp , fish meal tea and water just like it is between waterings for my plants I never pH my teas and my plants always love it.

 

[SmokingWings]

I have a more casual approach. I collect rain water in a 50 gal barrel and make a worm , kelp , fish meal tea and water just like it is between waterings for my plants I never pH my teas and my plants always love it.

I am also on the casual approach. Just saying that by taking a couple of pH readings over the last several years I have found that my rainfall stays within a range of 6.1 to 6.3 and that seems good enough for my soil growing.

 

[billyran]

This is my first year ever growing outside and watching my plants in the natural wind and rain and bugs I think has given me a new way of thinking about my indoor growing

 

[CharlieRoss]

I have a more casual approach. I collect rain water in a 50 gal barrel and make a worm , kelp , fish meal tea and water just like it is between waterings for my plants I never pH my teas and my plants always love it.

So you do this and dont have to add any bottled nutrients?

 

[billyran]

I still use general hydroponics , but l use much less of them now. I just gave my outside plants a feeding of Kool bloom , they have two maybe three weeks left and we've already had a couple of frost where I live here in Michigan. I was just trying to build a cage around them so I can put a tarp up quick we have rain predicted for the next 5 days.

 

[CharlieRoss]

I still use general hydroponics , but l use much less of them now. I just gave my outside plants a feeding of Kool bloom , they have two maybe three weeks left and we've already had a couple of frost where I live here in Michigan. I was just trying to build a cage around them so I can put a tarp up quick we have rain predicted for the next 5 days.

If you built the cage with clear plastic then it could also double as a greenhouse, which should help with the frost and the rain as well.

 

[StoneOtter]

Hey CharlieRoss, I have used it and it's the best. I don't lately only because I can't rely on having enough so I go with RO. Rain is the shizz!

 

[SmokingWings]

I have a more casual approach. I collect rain water in a 50 gal barrel and make a worm , kelp , fish meal tea and water just like it is between waterings for my plants I never pH my teas and my plants always love it.

So you do this and dont have to add any bottled nutrients?

In one way @billyran is making his own bottled nutrients when the kelp, fish meal and what is probably worm castings are added to the rain water.

One really nice thing about rain water is that while the drops are falling through the air they are picking up nitrogen. Nitrogen is necessary for plant growth and rain is the major source for it in the surface of soils. Lightning will create more nitrogen in the air so thunder storms will produce rains with even more of that major nutrient.

 

[parnelli]

I use rain water for my indoor plants. I've found that the well water that we have has a ph in the high 7's. The rainwater I collect from my drain spouts has a ph in the mid 6's. By using rainwater I don't have any issues with soil ph.

 

[TorturedSoul]

Lightning will create more nitrogen in the air

I thought that was O₃ (ozone).

EDIT: Okay, I looked it up. Each flash of lightning turns, on average, seven pounds of nitrogen into NO_x. And, since most lightning is intracloud (as opposed to cloud-to-ground) - and thunderstorms produce strong updrafts that helps transfer NO_x upwards - most ends up at higher altitudes. I learn something every day, lol.

NASA - NASA Researchers Explore Lightning's NO_x-ious Impact on Pollution, Climate

Every year, scientists learn something new about the inner workings of lightning.

www.nasa.gov

 

[Fuzzy Duck]

Well for a very, very, very long time people all over the world have collected rain water which in general is mildly acidic.

Did you know that the nutrients you use are also acidic in nature ?

So people of world have used rain water on their gardens to grow veggies etc whether they contain impurity's depending on where you are in the world is another question at hand, you may wish to think about 3rd world countries or developing industrial nations of the world !


We got this far since the industrial revolution we are still still ticking & living longer or what ever stitch up your country made... Lolz & ya worried about rain water.

 

[TorturedSoul]

Well for a very, very, very long time people all over the world have collected rain water which in general is mildly acidic.

The fact that something was done for an extended period of time is not an automatic recommendation. For example, when people became ill, they used to get bled. I'm going to pass on that.

We got this far since the industrial revolution we are still still ticking & living longer or what ever stitch up your country made...

My country doesn't rank especially high. It's something like 38th. Incidences of cancer, Alzheimer's disease, et cetera have been on the rise for some time. Much of that is likely due to pollution. Our air and water might be (probably is) cleaner than, say, London's during the 19th century when it was turning the buildings black, that doesn't mean it's clean. To go back to that "very, very very long time" you mentioned, for the greatest part of that, major industrial pollution wasn't a thing.

 

[Weaselcracker]

Rainwater is all I’ve used for pretty well everything water-related for the last 25 years or so. Mine has a pH of around 5.6 which I think is standard for clean rainwater. Basically treat it as distilled water- like you may need to add calmag depending how you grow.

Depending what you are doing with it, pay attention to what you are collecting it with. For example if it’s coming off a new asphalt shingle roof then it’s probably not something you want to drink, and possibly not even feed your plants with.

 

[yogi gardener]

It's raining so I was wondering if anyone collects rain water and uses it on their indoor plants? I spent most of my late teens and 20s working on a golf course and then running a lawn care service and I always knew that irrigation never compared to a good rain coming down. Does anyone do this?

yes 2 rain barrels 60g each and a hand dug 2500g pond.

 

[parnelli]

I pull my rainwater off the roof drains - I agree with Weaselcracker about a new roof - my roof is 25 years old, I get some shingle sediment in my collection pans which I filter out b4 giving it to my plants. For really old roofs I would be concerned about asbestos contamination.

 

[Kapncannabis]

My well water tests about 8, My rain water collected off a metal roof tests about 7, So I generally have to use ph down with most nutrient feedings either way. I will use the rainwater when I have it collected fresh but do not always have it.