Ok to water from a shared bucket?

[james mickelso]

My landlord has discouraged me from watering all my orchids with the hose along with the problem of how much TDS as Calcium carbonate, manganese, and sodium chloride is in my water. Before I started using RO to water my orchids they languished. They grew poorly. But buying water by the gallon is expensive too. So I blend. Getting an RO unit is not doable either. And my orchids sit on shelves above one another. Here's my set up.

[marcoeverard]

Wow what a great collection. I have installed 2 x 210 litre (50 gallon?) water butts to collect rainwater from the roof so I hope that will provide enough water but will probably put in an RO as well - but hey it is pouring down right now so maybe I will be ok.

[james mickelso]

Raining?? Rain?? What's that??

[marcoeverard]

Come to the Uk - you'll find out

[james mickelso]

We get 8-9 inches of rain a year if we're lucky. This year it's half that.

[RosieC]

We've had masses of rain in the UK the last week or two, that followed a three week hot dry spell. It's been nice and hot as well even with the heavy rain showers (at least where I am), unlike last year that was just rain and rain and rain and hardly any sun all year.

I only have 2x 100l water butts, but while they were empty a couple of weeks ago they are now always full.

[Cym Ladye]

Jim,

You could set up a catch trough under each shelf with a holding container at the end of your orchid benches for the hose water runoff for use in the yard. That would keep contamination from the upper pots to the ones underneath and allow a thorough drenching of each plant.

I love the green edges of the lawn around the shelving!

CL

[Wild Orchid]

Originally Posted by NYCorchidman

I take my orchids to the sink or bath tub to water & drain well.
It takes a few hours, but I think it is a good way to water them for indoor growers like me.

I wish I had a greenhouse though so I don't have to carry all the pots back and forth.

well,,,

I wish that too - DITTO!

---------- Post added at 05:40 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:35 PM ----------

Originally Posted by marcoeverard

Wow what a great collection. I have installed 2 x 210 litre (50 gallon?) water butts to collect rainwater from the roof so I hope that will provide enough water but will probably put in an RO as well - but hey it is pouring down right now so maybe I will be ok.

Soon after I started collecting rain water on the balcony, the manager made notice of "too much water on the building property". I had to discontinue doing this and revert back to Vancouver tap water.

Also in the winter the water is so cold, it needs to be warmed up before it can be used. It became a chore I no longer can afford. So - back to what one has on hand and 'kids don't seem to mind. (I realize, everyone's water supply is different.)

[james mickelso]

There in lays the problem CL. Water here is like concrete. Very high TDS and salts. I seldom ever use the hose to water. When I used to water using our water from the faucet the orchids languished. Hardly ever looked good and growth was slow. I switched to RO from the store machines ($.30 a gallon and they really took off. Landlord says no to RO system. Water and sewer rates are tied together here in Oceanside.

[cbuchman]

My water is very hard - as humans, we try not to drink it.... The tap water is so hard that sphagnum breaks down in less than a year into a brown gooey mush (and we all knowwthat that results in!). So I use rain water from a rain barrel most of the year. I can't use it when it is freezing outside (since the frozen water would break the rain barrel). So I do use tap water for about 3 month and try to flush with bottled water once a month. You can see the difference in the orchids' response.