Author Topic: Finally bought a rain barrel  (Read 1029 times)

BQ McFry

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Finally bought a rain barrel
« on: April 24, 2021, 06:59:56 PM »
Well, technically a 45 gallon trash can from a discount store  ::) not a true rain barrel. I've actually lived 8 years in my house without any trash can, since I am alone, and could just take a grocery bag of trash out of the house every 3-5 days which I'd chuck at a big box store or gas station.

I was surprised to learn just how easy it is to collect 40+ gallons of water off my roof from one storm. And my house is only about 1300 SF, so not a huge roof area.

Even though my gardening is not too intensive, it's about 6-10 gallons a day which I spread by a watering can - I was noticing this in my city utility bills.

Hopefully I will notice this change, too.  8)

Pokeweed

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Re: Finally bought a rain barrel
« Reply #1 on: April 25, 2021, 08:48:30 AM »
Rain water is awesome for your plants. It has all kinds of ion exchange and polarity wizardry going on. Use it to make compost tea as well! D

Giannhs

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Re: Finally bought a rain barrel
« Reply #2 on: April 27, 2021, 11:32:38 AM »
Compared to rainwater, faucet water is poison for the plants! Somebody with a good knowledge of physical sciences has told me "if you must use faucet water, leave it in the container for about 10 minutes before using it, so that the chlorine content has time to evaporate". When it rains i collect as much as i can, but i don't have the facilities for it that a good house can have; i mean, the means to collect from the roof and the space to set up a tank or barrel. The biggest container i use receives water from the neighbor's drain pipe, and when that is full, i transfuse to smaller containers and watering cans by means of an old hose from an old hand-shower (making use of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communicating_vessels). It is fun to watch the water moving through the hose to the smaller container.

spencerw

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Re: Finally bought a rain barrel
« Reply #3 on: April 30, 2021, 01:33:44 PM »
nice! i used to have two 55 gallon drums set to fill into each other off my nursery roof. we ran out a few times and had to haul down to nursery. i recently set up a 270 gallon ibc tote, im sure you can find them much cheaper than i can. got that baby filled in a few days. weve also got a 10,000 gallon tank off our barn. but the barn is quite far from the nursery. free water is the only way to go!
heres a photo of the 55 gallons. now where the second drum is theres an ibc tote.


BQ McFry

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Re: Finally bought a rain barrel
« Reply #4 on: May 22, 2021, 07:13:00 PM »
So... what would be better than free water from the sky?  ??? How about: free water during a drought!  8)

So we're having a dry spell in my area, and I emptied by 45 gallon reserve. I thought... "Hmm, there are thousands of gallons a minute of water just flowing away from me where my street crosses a creek."

Getting access to this water is debatably not that hard - one quadrant is undeveloped land, another a lightly used pasture, then across the bridge is what appears to be an abandoned farm (with a no tresspassing sign), and then one very wooded property for which that neighbor probably would not see me. Still, with so much brush to bushwhack and some steep-ish slopes, I decided the water isn't tempting enough for me to get snake-bit or twist an ankle for.

The best way to get the water without trespassing or asking anyone's permission - was to lower a small bucket from the bridge a few times, nab some, pour that into a 5 gallon bucket, and tote my "water rustling" success home.

It's not the prettiest water, I would not drink it directly... and I wash my hands afterwards. But this is the creek that flows to the treatment plant, so it can't be all that bad.  ::)

I suppose if I got serious enough about gardening, my own property would be a good candidate for an irrigation well. It drains in a bit of a U-shape so sinking a well in one corner probably would offer plenty of water year-round.
« Last Edit: May 22, 2021, 07:14:59 PM by BQ McFry »