What's new
TerraForums Venus Flytrap, Nepenthes, Drosera and more talk

Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

Tray-Water Changes and Cleaning

  • Thread starter Zath
  • Start date
  • Tags
    media

Zath

Enthusiastic Enthusiast
At this point I've accumulated enough plants to where individual trays are no longer efficient / feasible, so I've moved several plants into communal trays.

Some (most) of the plants are recently re-potted into new media, so there's plenty of run-off and leeching: the water can turn yellow after a couple days, etc.

So I'm curious as to how often I should dump it out and rinse it, as opposed to just topping off water-loss? I'm sure people have different methods, so hearing a few different perspectives and anecdotes will help. Right now, about once a week I'll dump the tray and give them a good rinsing with the sprayer attachment on the sink before re-filling them with new distilled water.
 
Now let's see. The Sarracenia lagoons I last recovered about 6 years ago. I give them a brush out about every couple of years. Why do you need to dump the trays at all? There's nothing in there you weren't quite happy to have your plants in at the start.
 
Now let's see. The Sarracenia lagoons I last recovered about 6 years ago. I give them a brush out about every couple of years. Why do you need to dump the trays at all? There's nothing in there you weren't quite happy to have your plants in at the start.

I'm pretty lax about rinsing / washing soil. It bothers me that the water becomes colored, is all. Or that algae will start growing in it.
 
Now let's see. The Sarracenia lagoons I last recovered about 6 years ago. I give them a brush out about every couple of years. Why do you need to dump the trays at all? There's nothing in there you weren't quite happy to have your plants in at the start.

Whoa Fred.....way to much work for me ! I can't EVER remember washing out a tray !
 
Really?

Geez...why can't I stop over-thinking this?
 
I have never rinsed / washed peat. The only part of my current mix I wash is a granite grit, to get rid of the china clay in it. Algae will feed on any nutrients present, isn't that what you want?
 
I have never rinsed / washed peat. The only part of my current mix I wash is a granite grit, to get rid of the china clay in it. Algae will feed on any nutrients present, isn't that what you want?

Huh...I didn't think of it that way. I guess so. I took algae to mean there were -too many- nutrients, and I need to flush the pots and change the water more.
 
I have never rinsed / washed peat.

Ditto. I've said it before and I'll say it again.......The day I have to wash "dirt" is the day I stop growing these plants.
 
1) The yellow coloration is caused by the tannins in peat. In large quantities, tannins create the "Blackwater effect" so popular in aquaria. Also happens a lot in the south, where I've lived most of my life. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackwater_river
2) Algae eat nutrients and don't hurt plants. It's actually working in your favor. The most algae ever does is overgrow tiny seedlings. If it bothers you feel free to add surface-dwelling water plants like Duckweed, Azolla, or Utrics. Large trays you might could get away with a waterlily.
 
Last edited:
  • #10
I have a terrarium setup for for well over 10 years that has never had any of its medium changed or drained or anything. I've added ferts to the terrarium more times than I can count also. The only CP in there is Utric graminifolia and it grows like the weed it is.

I've been using communal trays since I got more than one CP and never gave a second thought to cleaning a tray for the plants health, I've removed a lot of unsightly stuff over the years, but never because I thought it was harmful to the CPs.

All this is complicated by your water quality and the sensitivity of the plants your growing...if you have really bad water I'd be more watchful of what I'm doing. Your rare or sensitive plants trays should be given more attention also.

I've also never dumped watering trays, they evaporate and I replace the evaporated water. If your really concerned I'd just get a TDS meter and a few times a year check the TDS of the water trays, if its higher than you like do a good cleaning of the tray and recheck in a few weeks.
 
  • #11
Huh...I didn't think of it that way. I guess so. I took algae to mean there were -too many- nutrients, and I need to flush the pots and change the water more.

Many cyanobacteria (blue-green algae) are nitrogen fixers so they will take nitrogen gas from the atmosphere and "fix" it into NH3, NO2 or N03 which can be absorbed by the plants. A component of many rice paddies are nitrogen fixing cyanobacteria which provide fertilizer for the rice.
 
Last edited:
  • #12
So I'm curious as to how often I should dump it out and rinse it, as opposed to just topping off water-loss? I'm sure people have different methods, so hearing a few different perspectives and anecdotes will help.

I dump my trays once or twice a season, if I think of it..
I havent done it yet this season..
I consider it a very low priority.
I only dump because of mosquito larva, and only if I know a good rain is coming in the next day or two, to refill the trays naturally.

Scot
 
  • #13
If your really concerned I'd just get a TDS meter and a few times a year check the TDS of the water trays, if its higher than you like do a good cleaning of the tray and recheck in a few weeks.

Why would one use an instrument for checking the efficiency of the filters in a RO unit in this way? What would the reading be compared against? :nono:

Many cyanobacteria (blue-green algae) are nitrogen fixers so they will take nitrogen gas from the atmosphere and "fix" it into NH3, NO2 or N03 which can be absorbed by the plants. A component of many rice paddies are nitrogen fixing cyanobacteria which provide fertilizer for the rice.

And we know what else goes into the rice paddies as fertiliser, I doublt Zath will be doing that. At least not in daylight.:0o:
 
Last edited:
  • #14
Why would one use an instrument for checking the efficiency of the filters in a RO unit in this way? What would the reading be compared against? :nono:

I'm suggesting using a TDS meter to measure the buildup over time of the evaporated/leached solids that are building up in a watering tray if you don't dump the tray and allow evaporation to dry out the tray as many people do. For example if you take some 0 TDS water and add it too a watering tray after a day or so that same 0 TDS water will no longer read 0, the plant pots you are watering will leach something into that water and offer a higher reading. Using 0-1 TDS water I have tray ranging from 10-20, 50-75, 125+ depending on the mediums used. TDS meters are great tools if used properly.

Using some type of meter is not a bad idea to insure the water you got out of your RO unit last week/month/year is the same quality of water you are getting out of it this week/month/year. RO units do fail, and I never mentioned RO units or RO water in my reply as I use NON-RO water for many plants/setups and have in the past used NON-RO water for CPs. Something a TDS meter is very useful for when doing.
 
  • #15
TDS meters are great tools if used properly.

They are intended to measure the efficiency of RO filters, that is proper use.
 
  • #17
That is the problem, a lot of other applications where they shouldn't be and the results are misinterpreted. It's not just opinion, that is a fact.
 
  • #18
Dunno what to tell you, your meaning of fact is far from mine and the a lot of third party sources, the meaning of the word for instance.

Telling me where I should and should not use a give tool is silly, if I understand the tool, how it functions and what the reading mean, if you want to be helpful in this thread please add to why using a TDS meter is a bad idea or a better way to use the meter. Not just a :nono:, explain.

Look into how TDS meters are being using in hydroponics and aquaculture.

The intention of a TDS meter is to well...measure Total Dissolved Solids in a solution...NOT monitor RO membranes. They are being used to monitor membranes because they work really well for that purpose. This is a fact.
 
  • #19
It seems that this is a touchy subject, and I've seen it discussed before.

The majority of what I'm hearing is that it's not important, with one or two people saying they clean them occasionally (once / twice a year)

If there's no additional input that isn't an argument, I think the thread has served it's purpose. Thank you to everyone that answered. It gave me some things to think about.
 
  • #20
I just checked a tray and got a TDS reading of 243. Please tell me what it means.
 
Back
Top