The Tropical Fruit Forum
Citrus => Citrus General Discussion => Topic started by: TheWaterbug on August 07, 2017, 04:37:00 PM
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I put a small lemon tree (really a bush) in front of my house, and it happens to be right next to the condensation drain from my air conditioning system. So I re-routed the drain pipe so it fed directly into the tree's well. I figured it would be a good match, since I'll get condensation when it's really hot and the A/C is running most often.
Are there any significant downsides to using condensation for water? I know it's going to be semi-distilled, so it'll lack minerals, but that can be remedied by appropriate soils, mulches, and fertilizers, right?
The tree seemed to like it for the first week; I have a new flush of growth!
Then I found out that I can get up to gallon per hour of condensation 😱, which is way too much for one little tree. So I also need a way to use this source to water other plants in the vicinity. I'm not sure if I can use a classic drip-watering system (as I use for my garden) because this water source has no pressure and very low flow. It's a drip or dribble when it's running, but it will run up to 15 hours a day when it's really hot outside.
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The condensation water should be fine, sort of like using rain water.. Just don't over water the tree. When I was In the US Navy stationed in Okinawa our commanding officer used to collect the condensation water from the air conditioner for his wife's stem iron because of it purity.
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I water all my trees with condense water from the de-humidifier that I collect in a rain barrel for winter use. It is better then my hard well water.
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It is relatively safe, but you should clean the system once in a while....
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/explainer/2011/08/how_gross_is_the_water_that_drips_from_air_conditioners.html. (http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/explainer/2011/08/how_gross_is_the_water_that_drips_from_air_conditioners.html.)
Flag emitters and adjustable flow emitters can be used for low gravity feed systems - https://www.irrigationtutorials.com/drip-irrigation-emitters/ (https://www.irrigationtutorials.com/drip-irrigation-emitters/)
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I had a whole house dehumidification system on the ship, produced 8 gallons/hour. The original install had a conductivity probe to turn on a sump pump. When the sensor stopped working I measured the conductivity of the condensate and found it was very close to zero, like distilled water.