FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

That's a might bit of rain.

I'm just jealous that its actually raining for you lol. We've had one decent rain in 2-3 months so my barrels are spent. Breaking out the old RO unit these days

It's even worse in california...

I feel like I'm missing something. Where is the rain barrel?

We haven't gotten much rain either this year. We usually get weeks of rain during the spring. This year we only got some days here and there of drizzles. It's interesting that the rain here either drizzles or pours, nothing in between. When a rain cloud passes over, we may get a whole day of just drizzling. When a thundercloud passes over, we'll get about 15 minutes of pouring rain. (enough to soak you within seconds) The problem is that we live to the east of the Cascade mountains, and to the west of the Rocky mountains. Clouds usually dump most of their rain over the Cascades, and whatever is left passes over and gets dumped over the Rockies.

@ChefDean, it seams that every time I check the weather you guys in the south east are being covered in rain.

We've been to the last honor awards ceremony for this year...three granddaughters, three different days! Today it was a "dodge the rain day", too!

Here in south Alabama we got 1.53" yesterday. So far today we're over an inch. It is *wet* around here. Currently I've got two kiddie pools full, a couple of flower pots full, and a Igloo cooler full. I've only a couple of gallon jugs left that I can fill. I'll be scrounging for some more containers over the next day or so... I'm just a newbie getting started but it appears my CP population is destined to grow some (courtesy of some generous folks here on the forum!). I've got around 17 gallons stored, which should hold me a long time...but, I've seen summers down here turn in to a parched pond-bottom-cracking tenderbox.

So, it's a rainy day, all three of our granddaughters are here (6yo, 10yo, and 15yo!) and all I want is a nap...I bet that ain't going to happen!!!!
This afternoon (did I mention it was wet? )...

So, here is a trick to extend your water. Measure your rain water, it should be close to 0ppm. You can then add some tap water until the TDS reading is up to 30 or 40. It might help your cherished reserves go a little further.

Panman wrote: ↑Thu May 26, 2022 7:25 pm So, here is a trick to extend your water. Measure your rain water, it should be close to 0ppm. You can then add some tap water until the TDS reading is up to 30 or 40. It might help your cherished reserves go a little further.

the TDS of the rain water here is 30 - 50 TDS already. I suspect it's all the bad city pollution. And not to mention the tap water is 600-700 TDS. It doesn't work here.

Intheswamp wrote: ↑Thu May 26, 2022 6:45 pm Here in south Alabama we got 1.53" yesterday. So far today we're over an inch. It is *wet* around here. Currently I've got two kiddie pools full, a couple of flower pots full, and a Igloo cooler full. I've only a couple of gallon jugs left that I can fill. I'll be scrounging for some more containers over the next day or so... I'm just a newbie getting started but it appears my CP population is destined to grow some (courtesy of some generous folks here on the forum!). I've got around 17 gallons stored, which should hold me a long time...but, I've seen summers down here turn in to a parched pond-bottom-cracking tenderbox.

So, it's a rainy day, all three of our granddaughters are here (6yo, 10yo, and 15yo!) and all I want is a nap...I bet that ain't going to happen!!!!
This afternoon (did I mention it was wet? )...

Send some of that rain here...we're in serious drought.

Panman wrote: ↑Thu May 26, 2022 7:25 pm So, here is a trick to extend your water. Measure your rain water, it should be close to 0ppm. You can then add some tap water until the TDS reading is up to 30 or 40. It might help your cherished reserves go a little further.

That's an interesting approach! My tap water's TDS is around 325ppm. I just checked the most recent rainwater and it measures 0ppm, which tells me the roof has been cleaned even more with all the rain that we've had. I'm not sure if I'm figuring this correctly or not. Will combining one part of tap water with one part of rain water result in lowering the tap water's TDS by 50%? Do the attached calculations get it in the ballpark.

My understanding, from what I've read, is that chlorine gas will evaporate out of public water but that chloramine will not. In my reading it seems that chlorine gas is the most often used treatment.
I've contacted my local water utility to find out which they use.

For me, part of the issue harvesting rainwater is whether it comes from the right direction. Being an apt dweller, unless the rain comes from the SE, I'm pretty much out of luck. (and it usually comes from the west.)

ChefDean wrote: ↑Thu May 26, 2022 10:55 pm Yes. You could add one gallon of tap water to three to four gallons of rain water to extend your water if necessary. However, look up the latest water quality report from your water company. It may show low sodium, calcium, nitrates, etc., so that you could do more tap to rain.
For example, my tap is 100 ppm TDS, but it's low in the three ions mentioned above, so I water most of my plants directly from the hose.

Great brains we have.<grin> I asked for a Consumer Confidence Report (CCR) along with any other test report that they had when I inquired about the chlorine. Hopefully I'll get some good news. I figure the highest one of the three you mentioned will be calcium since we sit over a large limestone aquifer.