Using rain water

[Ferns Daddy]

I know its a bit early to think about moving orchids out side, but I wanted to know if it was ok to use rain water on my orchids ? I use it to water my potted plants out side all summer. I try not to use city water on my plants in the summer this way I don't get a build up of junk and its also free, I have 3 85gal rain barrels that I use all summer

[dendro photo]

I think it is the best water to use

[james mickelso]

Rain water is great to use on orchids or any other plants. But..... it can harbor fungus and bacteria as well as viruses. Chances are small but it can. I would use it in a heartbeat but then again all my orchids are rescues. Depending on where you live the pH can be high, low, or everywhere in between. That can also be good....or bad.

[goodgollymissmolly]

Originally Posted by james mickelso

Rain water is great to use on orchids or any other plants. But..... it can harbor fungus and bacteria as well as viruses. Chances are small but it can. I would use it in a heartbeat but then again all my orchids are rescues. Depending on where you live the pH can be high, low, or everywhere in between. That can also be good....or bad.

Having been burned repeatedly by attempting to reason with those on the internet who deny science and apparently lack even a minor dose of common sense, I am intimidated by trying again, but here goes.

Suggesting that rain water harbors pathogens harmful to plants (and especially viruses) ignores the rational fact that plants grow in the wild and always (100% of the time) get their water from rainwater or its aged residue in ponds, rivers, lakes, etc. Have we become so civilized that we believe plants originated in greenhouses, window sills and in basements under lights?

I've posted a link at the bottom regarding this and it is substantiated by other studies like the recent article in the International Phalaenopsis magazine. Bottom line...orchids in the wild are not infested with viruses which eliminates rain water and its derivatives as a culprit in virus transmission. Bacterial and fungal infections do not occur from rain water either. However the foliage wet with rainwater might allow those naturally occurring pathogens to infest the plant. Can you blame the rain water for that?

Cultivated orchids and other cultivated plants do have viruses. So who is to blame? Obviously man is the transmission source. Some blame dirty tools but I have never seen a tool flying around my greenhouse on its own. My tools at least only are propelled into action by me.

I realize that I infuriate the internet population when I say it is the biggest source of misinformation and constantly repeated misinformation ever conceived by mankind, but it is. If you want to actually learn something buy a book which is almost always peer reviewed before publication. Anybody can put anything on the internet, most of it totally garbage.

http://www.apsnet.org/publications/P...80n10_1160.pdf

[Wild Orchid]

Originally Posted by goodgollymissmolly

Having been burned repeatedly by attempting to reason with those on the internet who deny science and apparently lack even a minor dose of common sense, I am intimidated by trying again, but here goes.

Suggesting that rain water harbors pathogens harmful to plants (and especially viruses) ignores the rational fact that plants grow in the wild and always (100% of the time) get their water from rainwater or its aged residue in ponds, rivers, lakes, etc. Have we become so civilized that we believe plants originated in greenhouses, window sills and in basements under lights?

I've posted a link at the bottom regarding this and it is substantiated by other studies like the recent article in the International Phalaenopsis magazine. Bottom line...orchids in the wild are not infested with viruses which eliminates rain water and its derivatives as a culprit in virus transmission. Bacterial and fungal infections do not occur from rain water either. However the foliage wet with rainwater might allow those naturally occurring pathogens to infest the plant. Can you blame the rain water for that?

Cultivated orchids and other cultivated plants do have viruses. So who is to blame? Obviously man is the transmission source. Some blame dirty tools but I have never seen a tool flying around my greenhouse on its own. My tools at least only are propelled into action by me.

I realize that I infuriate the internet population when I say it is the biggest source of misinformation and constantly repeated misinformation ever conceived by mankind, but it is. If you want to actually learn something buy a book which is almost always peer reviewed before publication. Anybody can put anything on the internet, most of it totally garbage.

http://www.apsnet.org/publications/P...80n10_1160.pdf

Common sense also tells us that cultivated orchids would not thrive being replanted in a wild and being exposed to all the elements. My 2

[goodgollymissmolly]

Originally Posted by rlilia

Common sense also tells us that cultivated orchids would not thrive being replanted in a wild and being exposed to all the elements. My 2

I guess I don't see how that relates to the subject here, but since you said it there are people artificially propagating species expressly for possible replacement in the wild. hopefully they are being very careful about viruses.

In the case of hybrids I guess some could make it and others not. Who knows?

Anyway that isn't the subject matter here.

[silken]

I use it on all my orchids and the Phrags and Masdies particularly prefer it. But as mentioned above, it depends on where you live and also what kind of roof it is coming off of, pollution levels etc. Since your outdoor plants like it, I would use it.

[Wild Orchid]

Originally Posted by silken

I use it on all my orchids and the Phrags and Masdies particularly prefer it. But as mentioned above, it depends on where you live and also what kind of roof it is coming off of, pollution levels etc. Since your outdoor plants like it, I would use it.

I use to collect rain water but the challenge I encoutered was that it's always icy cold - mainly in the winter months when we get most of the rains in Vancouver. So with that, one has to figure out how to warm it up in large quantities.
And then we might not get that much of rain during the summer, so we're back to tap water anyway... So I figured, the 'kids' will have to live with what I have to offer them.
(Supposely, the BC water is one of the "cleanest". I don't know.)

Lilia

[Paphluvr]

I used it very successfully for years while growing under lights. I had well water at the time that wasn't too hard, but the rain water was better for the plants. This was a collection of roughly 300 plants, 20% of them Paphs.

Do you have a diverter valve? When I collected water I would wait 15-20min. before collecting in order to get any crud off the roof. After collection I pumped the water into holding barrels I kept in the garage. This way I could use rain water most of the year.

[Ferns Daddy]

I use a diverter valve to clean on the junk off the roof first, then let it fill all the barrels, it won't be as bad this year I took down the tree over the garage do there won't be as much junk on the roof,I use it to water all my tropicals and my veggy garden, so I'm going to use it for my orchids too
Thanks for all the help