Rainwater for plants

dnlfacundo

dnlfacundo

Active Member
i have been feeding my plants with regular distilled water for about 3 weeks know and just ran out yesterday.Its a bitch because just 1 gallon of water is just for one feeding for my 4 plants and its also a pain always going to the store.The other day it it was raining all day long so i decided to put a jug outside to fill it up with water and see if it will benifit my plants.The next morning i tested the water with my ppm pen and in amazement it was 0ppm so im guessing thats good but dont know for certain.Is this water the next best thing instead of distilled and has anyone had any problems with rainwater?
 
YungMune

YungMune

Well-Known Member
dude, rainwater is the best water you can use for plants....thinkabout it...all plants are living outside and is fed by what? anyway, if you dont want to keep buying distilled water just fill up a large bin with water and let it sit for 2-3 days. ohyea rain water is pure..distilled water is just filter and still has shit in it.
 
dnlfacundo

dnlfacundo

Active Member
so does that mean the ph balance of rain water is a perfect 6.5 or do i still have to adjust it to were i want it.
 
ital farmer

ital farmer

Well-Known Member
miggzeh said:
with rainwater is depends where you live as it dissolves stuff in it in its way down to earth.
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Yeah, places in Nebraska are close to pH neutral, while Ohio's rainwater is like 4. You should be able to google up some rainwater data in your area.
 
godsbestgift

godsbestgift

Active Member
ital farmer said:
Yeah, places in Nebraska are close to pH neutral, while Ohio's rainwater is like 4. You should be able to google up some rainwater data in your area.
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I use 2 different types of water, Rain water and i boil tap water and add 1 drop of Dechlorinator : Removes Chlorine, Chloramine, and heavey metals that are found in sink water. This shit cost only 4.99 at pet stores, or walmart. I do not have a PH meter, and i will not be getting one, so as an ALTer. i will get the PH test strips for way less i think 6.99. This (Next to a good Lighting System) is probably the most important "thing" in a plants growth cycle. <----5thxGrower
 
CrackerJax

CrackerJax

New Member
You could make your own distilled water.... it's very easy...


How to Make Distilled Water in a Coffee Pot
Step 1 Put a large pot of water on the stove. Inside the pot, put a fire brick. Atop the brick, place your coffee pot.
Step 2 Place the rounded lid on top of your large pot of water on the stove. Turn the heat up on the stove and bring water in the pot to a boil. Lower heat, but continue steady boil.
Step 3 As soon as the water in the pot begins to boil, place at least three trays of ice cubes on top of the rounded pot lid
Step 4 As the steam rises, it will hit the cold pot lid and condense. As this occurs, the steam turned back into water will roll off of the cold lid and fall down into the coffeepot below. What you end up with in the coffeepot is distilled water.
 
Uncle Ben

Uncle Ben

Well-Known Member
Rainwater is the best source. It contains nitrates (especially after a thunderstorm), microbes, and is pure. Most tap water is fine too. If you want to improve plant responses, health, and vigor, get of the noise level (pH adjustments and such) and learn what makes a plant tick, which includes plant nutrition.

Forum myths - worrying about pH when growing in soil is ridiculous. It just shows that few if any have ever done tests to show just how much soil buffers your water's pH. Now for those that still don't get it, you don't need to worry about pH if you're growing organically.

UB
 
T

TrippyConcious

Member
Good idea and very resourceful as well, using the rain water for your plants. I agree with Uncle Ben up there with the nitrate content of the rain, along with the microbes is very beneficial to your plant. I would just recommend that you account for the extra nitrogen in your NPK ratio with your nutes. Way to use mother nature to the fullest!
 
ttystikk

ttystikk

Well-Known Member
YungMune said:
dude, rainwater is the best water you can use for plants....thinkabout it...all plants are living outside and is fed by what? anyway, if you dont want to keep buying distilled water just fill up a large bin with water and let it sit for 2-3 days. ohyea rain water is pure..distilled water is just filter and still has shit in it.
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NO. distilled water is DISTILLED, that is, boiled and the condensate recovered. There is no filter in the traditional sense.

Rainwater is naturally distilled and while it can pick up impurities on its way back to ground level, it's usually pretty pure.

I use the condensate water from my air handlers all the time.
 
Indacouch

Indacouch

Well-Known Member
Rain water is awesome stuff to use .....however I have a knob on my hose that I turn and it's like an endless supply of delicious water my plants love very much with no issues .....I usually fill my tanks so the water sits for a few days but sometimes I get lazy and forget and water straight out of the tap .....3 gardens two of them regular tap and the other is from a well ....good soil will buffer ph so there's no issues with that in my situation as far as adjusting .......not sure what your growing in because you didn't post or I missed that part ....either way letting tap sit out a few days works fine ...and like I said il go straight from the hose with no issues whatsoever ...either way GL to you
 
ttystikk

ttystikk

Well-Known Member
dnlfacundo said:
so does that mean the ph balance of rain water is a perfect 6.5 or do i still have to adjust it to were i want it.
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Pure water has NO pH because there aren't any minerals in it to impart one. This can also be expressed as pH 7 but it's really not the same thing because there's no buffering.
 
OldMedUser

OldMedUser

Well-Known Member
I'll just keep buying good RO water for $3/5USG and not have to even consider water being a problem should I have issues with my plants. Boiling tap water to make distilled is the most expensive way to get a little bit of water and only going to be good for a couple tiny plants. My four flowering girls take a gallon+ each every 4 days. I stopped using my Polar Bear distiller after running a meter on it and then calculating out my energy costs at twice what the RO water cost. Selling that pig off soon and it was $3000 new. Previous owner bought it and I got it when I bought the house.

Rain water is the cheapest but can be acidic if you live on the eastern side of north America because of all the coal fired electric generation that goes on out there. Much better than it was 30 years ago when acid rain was killing lakes and forests all over eastern Canada and legislation was finally brought in to force US power producers to start scrubbing the pollution out of the smoke stacks. Most of the acid was nitrates so at least there was some free fertilizer in it tho the lead and mercury levels were thru the roof.

Hard tap water is the biggest problem for indoor growers with all sorts of crap in it. If you're going to use it then contact your supplier for a copy of their water analysis reports. Should be free. At least with hard water you don't need nor should you add CalMag even with coco as the water will supply more than the plants can use depending on it's composition that you'll find out if you get a report.

:peace:
 
Portlandia

Portlandia

Member
OldMedUser said:
I'll just keep buying good RO water for $3/5USG and not have to even consider water being a problem should I have issues with my plants. Boiling tap water to make distilled is the most expensive way to get a little bit of water and only going to be good for a couple tiny plants. My four flowering girls take a gallon+ each every 4 days. I stopped using my Polar Bear distiller after running a meter on it and then calculating out my energy costs at twice what the RO water cost. Selling that pig off soon and it was $3000 new. Previous owner bought it and I got it when I bought the house.

Rain water is the cheapest but can be acidic if you live on the eastern side of north America because of all the coal fired electric generation that goes on out there. Much better than it was 30 years ago when acid rain was killing lakes and forests all over eastern Canada and legislation was finally brought in to force US power producers to start scrubbing the pollution out of the smoke stacks. Most of the acid was nitrates so at least there was some free fertilizer in it tho the lead and mercury levels were thru the roof.

Hard tap water is the biggest problem for indoor growers with all sorts of crap in it. If you're going to use it then contact your supplier for a copy of their water analysis reports. Should be free. At least with hard water you don't need nor should you add CalMag even with coco as the water will supply more than the plants can use depending on it's composition that you'll find out if you get a report.

:peace:
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How about Home Depot or online for a $200. RO water filter. I use it for hundreds of gallons a year. I collected rainwater and found PH varied and I know rainwater picks up contaminants from atmosphere, also surface like your roof might be contaminated with roofing product chemicals. RO water best
 
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