Using rain water to fertilize
 

When I use rain water to fertilize my plants, do I need to treat the water with anything to prevent disease?

Rain water is fine. It's what they would have naturally. All you need to add is fertilizer.

I agree with Vanda Lover. You should use a fertilizer with micro-nutrients in it when fertilizing orchids. It would be especially important when you mix it with rain water because the water doesn't have any minerals at all in it.

I try to use either rain water, or melted snow as much as possible. I have done so for a few years now and never had a problem related to the water. No matter what water you use, you have to make sure that there is enough air flow for the leaves to dry off in a reasonable time, and that there are no pools of stagnant water anywhere. BTW, I live in an apartment and have to store my water in empty milk jugs, so it's not as if it can be collected on a daily basis.

The fertilizer I use is 'Feed Me! MSU Orchid Fertilizer-RO/Rain/Tap Water Version' from rePotme.com. I fertilizer weakly weekly. Does anyone have experience with this fertilizer?

Plants love rainwater...

You should really know what could be in it though. If you live close to crops that get dusted you could have pesticides all in the water.

If you live in the city you could have many things in it from bird poop to rat poison.

Always let it rain for some time before you start collecting. The water should be clear with no turbidity. Turbidity is a measure of the degree to which the water loses its transparency due to the presence of suspended particulates.

The more total suspended solids in the water, the murkier it seems and the higher the turbidity.

I treat my rainwater with Consan 20 to be safe. I think Im safe anyway :twocents:

I use MSU and have two versions. The one is for R/O or rain water (few minerals) and the other is for tap water/well water (high mineral) I never heard of one for tap water and R/O & rain combined. The two I have are quite a different formula based on water type. As far as I know MSU is a highly recommended well balanced fertilizer for orchids.

Do you get yours from rePotme.com? Their description shows one for RO/Rain/Tap Water and one for just well water. I hope I'm using the right one. :dunno:

I bought a large rainwater container from Home Depot that can be attached to the drainpipe and I am lucky to have a pipe just outside my kitchen window...but I make sure that the water flowed a minute or so before I collect it because debris from the roof can have dead leaves and debris that might decay and form bacterias to contaminate the water

MSU is a complete fertilizer and it's supposed to be pretty good. It sounds like you're using the right one.