Rain collection methods

Dieseldr

Dieseldr

Seedling
Greetings, everyone!

I was wondering what methods of rainwater collection individuals have utilized in the past. For the past four years, I have employed a blue 200-liter plastic drum positioned beneath a downspout to irrigate fruit trees or the garden as needed. It occurred to me that I could potentially use this rainwater for my plants if it were determined to be safe for their use. I have drained it on numerous occasions, but it has been a while since it was last cleaned. Given that the local forecast predicts 80-140mm of rainfall over the next few days, I cleaned the barrel yesterday with the intention of collecting some complimentary water. Aside from a typical barrel or tote, what other methods do you all employ? Have you made any modifications to filter out impurities? I have used a mesh face guard over the fill hole to attempt to filter out larger debris. I am contemplating a complete redesign of the setup to hopefully incorporate more elements to enhance the overall design. For the time being, I have a sufficient number of ongoing projects, so that will remain a future aspiration.

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I worry about downspout water. Aluminum, residue from tar (shingles or flat roof membranes). Fine for garden plants but I'm not sure about delicate plants. I use biggish, stackable, flat bottom bowls-they store easily and catch a lot of water. I use a big box pail for storage.
 
Lloyd Gordon said:
I worry about downspout water. Aluminum, residue from tar (shingles or flat roof membranes). Fine for garden plants but I'm not sure about delicate plants. I use biggish, stackable, flat bottom bowls-they store easily and catch a lot of water. I use a big box pail for storage.
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That was some of my primary concerns in regards to the quality of the water. Exposure to tar/asphalt, aluminum, and other impurities would be bad for the plants. Appreciate your experience and knowledge Lloyd
 
I use a RO unit that hooks up to my garden hose and fills up one of those blue barrels. I cut the top off the barrell and put a screen over top so if it does rain it can help fill it up. RO unit was like $75 on Amazon and lasts a few years of abuse outside. Takes about a day to fill it up. I have a ton of plants so I have to fill it up each week.
 
Jordanferg said:
I use a RO unit that hooks up to my garden hose and fills up one of those blue barrels. I cut the top off the barrell and put a screen over top so if it does rain it can help fill it up. RO unit was like $75 on Amazon and lasts a few years of abuse outside. Takes about a day to fill it up. I have a ton of plants so I have to fill it up each week.
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Appreciate the insight, I have so many rabbit holes of things I want to do that this is just one example of such. I havent looked into reverse osmosis yet, however I did see at the pet store today they had a bottle water fill station for reverse osmosis. About the same size as Culligan bottle for a water cooler.
 
Godolphin Greenhouses said:
I've been using rain water collected from a steel roof for the last few years without issue so far.
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Good to know!
Is it a steel roof off a building or more similar to a structure like a shed? I imagine some folks will have varying result based on the vast amount of variables but I still love hearing what has and hasnt worked for people as I am just starting out.
 
I also use rain runoff collected in aluminum gutters from my asphalt shingled house and garage for over 2 decades with no problems. If your roof was recently reshingled, I would avoid using that runoff for a few weeks until the adhesives, etc have had a chance to cure. Tar/asphalt is not particularly water soluble, so I wouldn't worry to much about that.

You can also guage the quality of collected rainwater with an inexpensive portable TDS meter, which will monitor aluminum and other ions leached from gutters and downspouts. Anything less than 50 ppm is acceptable for most CP.
 
cpgeek said:
I also use rain runoff collected in aluminum gutters from my asphalt shingled house and garage for over 2 decades with no problems. If your roof was recently reshingled, I would avoid using that runoff for a few weeks until the adhesives, etc have had a chance to cure. Tar/asphalt is not particularly water soluble, so I wouldn't worry to much about that.

You can also guage the quality of collected rainwater with an inexpensive portable TDS meter, which will monitor aluminum and other ions leached from gutters and downspouts. Anything less than 50 ppm is acceptable for most CP.
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I have been wanting to get a tds meter for a while and wasnt sure how expensive the got.
Thank you for also providing some experience based knowledge and perspective. Im curious what reading my rain water and tap water sits at for a baseline. I have only used distilled water for my plants, but as my collection grows the water usage has as well!
 
TDS meters are cheap and good for estimating how "heavy" the water is. TDS meters will not show aluminum toxicity. If you want to check aluminum, I can send some tablets from my testing kit.
 
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