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Would it be safe to collect rainwater for my CPs?

  • Thread starter Mozie
  • Start date
Would it be safe to collect rainwater for my CPs? I live on the outskirts of a big city so the air is not so bad, but I don't want to kill my plants with chemical filled rainwater. I'm thinking, if wait say 10 minutes after it has started to rain, then collect the water, so any bad stuff in the air has gone already. Thoughts anyone?
 
I think you would be OK using that method.
 
Anything falling out of the sky is fine to use for your plants.
 
Unless you aware of anything chemical that is mixing with the rain, as it can in some locales (Burbank, California), rainwater is great. i use it all the time.
 
Thanks everyone
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I usually wait a bit to let the rain wash the loose dirt and debris off my roof before I start collecting it. Other than that I don't worry about what the rain may have in it.
 
Heck yeah you should use it. Free water.
 
I'm wondering if I can put my CPs outside in the rain if it's not raining too hard? Would this be good for them? I'm also having a problem with white-fly on my sundew, and leaving it out in the rain might sort this out. Thoughts anyone
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In nature, the plants get rained upon. Now if you have Mexican butterworts and they are sitting in containers that don't allow quick drainage, then you could have a problem. On page 24 of Savage Garden the author gives a small tip for dealing with white-fly.

Rainwater is good, like Grundels.
 
  • #10
I collect rainwater. I have bunches of containers outside and after a rain, I dump it all in a rain barrel. I also fill jugs with water for the indoor CPs. When there is no rain, I buy RO water at the grocery store.

Rain is good!
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  • #11
[b said:
Quote[/b] (jimscott @ Sep. 18 2006,11:17)]On page 24 of Savage Garden the author gives a small tip for dealing with white-fly.
Hmmm... I don't have Savage Garden, can someone let me know what this tip is?

Thanks everyone  
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  • #12
"whitefly can be greatly reducedin enclosed places like greenhouses where a couple of large sundews in hanging pots are grown. An excellent species is Drosera dichotoma 'Giant', whose pale, yellowish green leaves attract whitefly."

Finding a specimen of this particular sundew may be a bit of a challenge, but finding its related plant - the D. binata - is a whole lot easier. You've seen this pic before, but it wasn't identified:

D_binata.jpg


And I'll bet that this plant, D. capensis (the Cape Sundew) might be easy to come by and be effective as well:

D_capensis_Albino_001.jpg


A quick Google on whitefly shows these links:

WF homepage

WF study

More WF study

WF infopage

WF control

wF Google page

LOL! you'll be the forum's foremost expert on whitefly in a few hours!
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  • #13
Hi jimscott

Thanks so much for all your help.

Can I just ask a non-related question, what do you put on the top of the soil in your pots. Is it small stones? Does it help to keep the plants 'clean' and does it help reduce evaporation?

Thanks
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  • #14
You're very welcome! In the case of the Cape Sundew it happened to be pool filter sand and that was because the lower portion of the plant was exposed and I wasnted to fill it in. Now soil media, in general, is another 'can of worms' and we all do something different. Generally speaking, I like to mix sand and sphagnum peat and add a layer of LFS (long fibered sphagnum) on top. That's like having a standard baking mix! The idea is to achieve some semblence of drainage and water retention, as well as the antisceptic properties of live LFS. It approximates nature to a certain degree. So by allowing drainage, it keeps the plants clean and by retaining water, it reduces evaporation.

How's the whitefly research going?
 
  • #15
[b said:
Quote[/b] (jimscott @ Sep. 18 2006,11:17)]Rainwater is good, like Grundels.
waitaminute, isn't that from the my little pony movie?
 
  • #16
[b said:
Quote[/b] (Presto @ Sep. 22 2006,12:08)]
[b said:
Quote[/b] (jimscott @ Sep. 18 2006,11:17)]Rainwater is good, like Grundels.
waitaminute, isn't that from the my little pony movie?
Finally someone recognized it! My 21.6 year old daughter used to watch it and have the collection of those pink and purple things. I was forced to watch them with her... honest!
 
  • #17
I started collecting rain in tubs and containers. After the rain I store the water in liter Pop containers and others downstairs in basement . When I need water for the tropicals in my Terrarium (neps, sundew, butterwort) and outside Sundews, bladderworts and american pitchers , I use that too. Only plants that have not survived are the VFT.
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Dr. Eric Flescher
kccpguy
Olathe, KS

***
I collect rainwater. I have bunches of containers outside and after a rain, I dump it all in a rain barrel. I also fill jugs with water for the indoor CPs. When there is no rain, I buy RO water at the grocery store.

Rain is good!
smile.gif


--------------
 
  • #18
How is the Whitefly situation going?
 
  • #19
[b said:
Quote[/b] (jimscott @ Oct. 18 2006,7:48)]How is the Whitefly situation going?
I seemed to be getting it under control for a while there. But for some reason they seem to have multiplied over night now
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.

I’ve been ‘wiping’ them off using a cotton-bud dipped in alcohol (read about that somewhere), but it seems if you don’t keep at it they just come back  
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  • #20
Maybe a dilute insecticide that will kill the adult and the eggs when they hatch would work? Or would a temporary drowning (immersing the plants for a couple days) be feasible?
 
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