Water!

[Morpheus]

Hello all! I have a question for you guys. Since I am a newb when it comes to growing carnivorous plants and this will be my first summer growing them I need help with maintaining the proper level of wetness carnivorous plants need. I know that a tray method of an inch of water at the bottom of a waterproof tray works best. Here's my problem, where I live, central Kentucky, gets scorching hot summers with very little rain and lots of hot dry winds. Today the tempurature was somewhere in the mid to high 80's and the water in my trap completely evaporated. I know that if my dissolved mineral content in my tap water is low enough I can water them with that, but we have really hard water at my house. Do you guys know I any efficient way to keep the water in the tray longer? Or at least a good way for me to refill the tray without having to buy gallons of distilled water a week. If it helps I can pot pictures of my setup or attempt to post pictures of it.

 

[Av8tor1]

I just make the drain hole in my outside mini bogs a couple inches below the surface level... (mine are probably 18" deep)
This gives me much more storage capacity and require much less maintenance, I rarely have to water mine.... and I too am in Kentucky.

Been doing it that way for many years....

 

[BioZest]

Keep the whole tray in a nice, scorching-breezeless southern facing window?

 

[SgtSarracenia]

Before I got my R/O system I was doing the same thing. I just bought a 3.5 gallon bottle and filled it at the Water Store or in a bind at the water machines that are always outside of grocery stores.

 

[SgtSarracenia]

R/O unit is a great investment though

 

[Morpheus]

Av8tor, I don't think my mom would like me digging up her flower beds. She takes a lot of pride in them..
Biozest I would but my mother is an extreme neat freak. I used to have them inside on a southern facin window in a room we don't even use but she still got mad because "they didn't belong there and I (as in she) has to take care of them. (Which is a lie she never even looked at them once she just hates stuff being in her "way")"
Sgt what do you mean the water machines or water stores? Also how much would a small RO machine cost? I would probably end up gettin one if they were fairly cheap.

 

[Vbkid]

Morpheus,
Most grocery stores have machines (either inside or out) for refillign distilled water. It normally costs at most, .40 a gallon.

 

[Plant Planter]

I've never personally seen a reverse osmosis unit. I just go to CVS or put a bowl out when it rains, since I do favor rain over distilled water--it's natural and probably has a bit of nitrogen dissolved in it. The bowl thing probably won't work for you, though, unless you get a bunch of bowls to increase the amount of water you get when it rains. Then you can just put all the excess water in a big jug and use it as necessary. It never will evaporate--it's got nowhere to go.

 

[sss]

I have similar issues here in illinois, last years drought was quite bad and you never know when its going to rain. So this yearI made two rain barrels out of 32 gallon garbage cans. I set them out about 2 weeks ago and they are both full then i drained them into gallon milk cartons for further storage. You might want to consider a similar aproach.

 

[Morpheus]

Thanks you guys! I'll have to try those things out. I have a bunch of five gallon buckets laying around. I'll have to set those out the next time we're expecting rain.

 

[SgtSarracenia]

My R/O unit cost me about $70 and does 75 gpd.

 

[SgtSarracenia]

I've never personally seen a reverse osmosis unit. I just go to CVS or put a bowl out when it rains, since I do favor rain over distilled water--it's natural and probably has a bit of nitrogen dissolved in it. The bowl thing probably won't work for you, though, unless you get a bunch of bowls to increase the amount of water you get when it rains. Then you can just put all the excess water in a big jug and use it as necessary. It never will evaporate--it's got nowhere to go.

a bowl of rain huh? I keep all of my plants out side and during the summer I go through 30+ gallons a week. I got tired of running after water every day. I used the CVS machines only when I did not feel like driving further to the water store. The CVS machine around here were running at about 60PPM and the water store ran at about 35PPM. My R/O runs about 17PPM.

 

[jimscott]

Is there a nearby accessible creek or bog that you can quickly fill up gallon jugs? That's what I do.

 

[Morpheus]

We have a creek that gets fueld by the stormdrains in the subdivision. I'm sure that the water out of the creek would kill the plants faster than tap water haha

 

[Mikey3288]

+1 for a RO unit, I actually use one to create drinking water, reef water, AND water for my CP collection. They're not too expensive of an initial investment you just have to stay on top of its maintenance. I also like it over store bought water because a RO unit's water has lower TDS (total dissolved solids).

You might also look into legit rain barrels that use your house's gutters. I have a 50 gallon rain barrel and a lot of surface area on my roof, in a decent enough storm it gets filled!