what to do when you run out of rain water??

[DirtyCoconuts]

So i have two rain barrels that hold a combined 110 gallons of water.

I discovered last night that my larger barrel has a small leak and my smaller tank is empty.

It has been pretty dry here for about a week and i don't believe there is any rain forecasted over the weekend so.....

I have a couple choices:
A) i have tons of bottled spring water- about 10, 5 gallon bottles ( stay ready for hurricanes) i can use this i imagine but it will be pricey

B) use city water

C) fill one of the barrel with city water now and let it stand for a few days to at least gas off the Chlorine and let some of the junk settle out

D) use my sprinkler well water which is full of iron and stains everything it touches brown and orange

E) winter water break for the plants

F) something else i have not considered


any thoughts would be much appriciated

[Ray]

Originally Posted by DirtyCoconuts

So i have two rain barrels that hold a combined 110 gallons of water.

I discovered last night that my larger barrel has a small leak and my smaller tank is empty.

It has been pretty dry here for about a week and i don't believe there is any rain forecasted over the weekend so.....

I have a couple choices:
A) i have tons of bottled spring water- about 10, 5 gallon bottles ( stay ready for hurricanes) i can use this i imagine but it will be pricey

Spring water might be higher in dissolved solids than your tap water.

B) use city water

What does the water report tell you?

C) fill one of the barrel with city water now and let it stand for a few days to at least gas off the Chlorine and let some of the junk settle out

Most municipalities use chloramine, not chlorine, so sitting open won't do anything to reduce it

D) use my sprinkler well water which is full of iron and stains everything it touches brown and orange

Sounds terrible.

E) winter water break for the plants

Do they need that? Not all do, nor appreciate it

F) something else i have not considered

Acquiring RO or distilled water while you wait for rain?

[camille1585]

Option B, city water would be my next choice, but that will depend on the water quality, and what sort of orchids you have. Filling the barrel with city water will only deal with the chlorine, but won't otherwise affect the water. If there was stuff in that water that would settle at the bottom of a container, I sure as h*ll wouldn't be drinking it!

[mook1178]

Rain Dance

Hire a rain maker
Charles Hatfield - Wikipedia

On a serious note. Fix the hole in the barrel. Use tap water until the next rain. Unless your tap water is putrid, I don't think much damage would happen until you get some rain. I would think waiting a month or so would not be that bad. Watering once a week is only 4 per month.

[DirtyCoconuts]

Ray- forgive my ignorance as i have never had to care about water before....

I found this PDF but not a over arching water report for the whole county or state..is this what you mean?

http://www.coralsprings.org/home/showdocument?id=12720

also, is that bad?

---------- Post added at 04:27 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:24 PM ----------

updated weather report shows rain tues, wed, thurs and Friday....good old Florida.

thanks for the info guys...I am certainly repairing the big barrel and I will also think about another barrel to never have to ask this question again


Ray...E was a joke as only one of my 100+ orchids needs a rest period

And yes, the sprinkler water is AWFUL...i have 400$ in damage to my car paint job from it.

[SouthPark]

Originally Posted by mook1178

Rain Dance
Hire a rain maker
Charles Hatfield - Wikipedia.

That's ridiculous mook. That stuff is fictional.

This is real - click here

When no rainwater is available, it may be necessary to order a truckload of bottled water. I always used our city water without issues. But I think another option would be a solar inverter powered water distillation system - working when enough sun is around - that keeps some tanks filled up.

---------- Post added at 10:54 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:49 AM ----------

Another option is to head on over to a stream or river to pump some water into tanks. Then head home. Temporary workaround.

[Roberta]

Originally Posted by DirtyCoconuts

I found this PDF but not a over arching water report for the whole county or state..is this what you mean?

http://www.coralsprings.org/home/showdocument?id=12720

Weird that the report doesn't include any of the "major" items like Total Dissolved Solids (TDS), calcium, magnesium, hardness. (Not a bad idea to have an inexpensive TDS meter and pH meter just on general principles, they don't tell the whole story but can tell you if things are really bad) Wouldn't worry about either chlorine (which dissipates if it is there at all) or chloramine, at low parts-per-million levels, fish are sensitive but plants don't care particularly. I suspect that the tap water is fine for orchids. But it sounds like there is plenty of rain to take care of things most of the time. Use city water as backup.

[DirtyCoconuts]

Big thanks guys!!!

I went to repair the big barrel and there is probably 5 gallons still in it so I wil be judicious and only water my mounts and the real thirsty chids until I get some rain on Tuesday.


If it doesn’t rain on Tuesday, mook....

---------- Post added at 11:03 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:55 PM ----------

Originally Posted by Roberta

Weird that the report doesn't include any of the "major" items like Total Dissolved Solids (TDS), calcium, magnesium, hardness. (Not a bad idea to have an inexpensive TDS meter and pH meter just on general principles, they don't tell the whole story but can tell you if things are really bad) Wouldn't worry about either chlorine (which dissipates if it is there at all) or chloramine, at low parts-per-million levels, fish are sensitive but plants don't care particularly. I suspect that the tap water is fine for orchids. But it sounds like there is plenty of rain to take care of things most of the time. Use city water as backup.

What is a good brand for TDS meter? There are a ton on amazon and lost appear to be unbranded which is suspicious to me lol

[Roberta]

I got a Primo, quite inexpensive. I also got the calibration solution for the model (the correct calibration solution does vary by model) so that I could check it from time to time. It's not a laboratory-grade instrument by any stretch, but it does seem to keep its calibration reasonably well.

The caution with any TDS meter is to keep in mind that it is really an electrical conductivity meter... non-ionic material in the water could contribute to the TDS but not to the conductivity (so comparison with a "real" TDS that involves evaporating the water in a controlled oven won't be exact) but most of what we're concerned about is the ionic part (salts) so it's useful nonetheless. Also, some ions are more problematical than others. Your water analysis does give a sodium value... that's an important one because too much is toxic to plants. Yours isn't great but not horrid. Calcium (as in hard water) is not so harmful. But if your overall TDS is below around 150 ppm and sodium not too big a part of it, it's fine for all but the pickiest cloud forest orchids (which you probably don't have a lot of anyway) At this point, scientifically exact results are less important than establishing a baseline so that you can determine differences, and spot changes and trends.

My Catts, Cymbidiums, Oncidiums and Paphs are fine with city water that is a lot harder than yours, I think. I only got RO a couple of years ago for the Pleurothallids and other picky plants that have been doing better. Because I'm always trying to find what I can, and can't get away with.

[DirtyCoconuts]

Thank you so much Roberta! Great info as always


And yes, I have no cloud forest orchids lol