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Melted Snow = Rainwater?
- Thread starter TENroaches
- Start date
I think they say 10" of snow is 1" of rain.
Unless you have exceptional tap water (take it somewhere and have a battery of tests done on it to find out) don't use it on your Neps. In a total emergency you can but be sure to flush those pots with distilled water several times after you do. Sodium salts can be a root killer for many plants, not just CPs. As the tap water dries it leaves sodium deposits behind, let a clear glass of your tap water evaporate for a few days, is there anything left behind on the glass? Quite often there is, and the concentrations can vary over time. This can crystallize on the roots just like the glass and this can inhibit further water uptake and root growth.
As far as snow goes, try it! Make sure you collect it away from where anyone uses that winter Ice Melt stuff - don't get the snow off your sidewalk or where sidewalk snow gets deposited when it's shoveled/snow blown.
Thanks to TenRoaches his topic has given me an idea and maybe a project... If you have the tools use a 2" hole saw on your power drill to make a hole at the bottom edge of a large rubbermaid container and put a 2" ballvalve from Home depot in it. Gluing with aquarium safe silicone of course. Put a screw on hose on the free end of the ballvalve (for filling your water jugs). Then you can shovel your snow into the rubbermaid and set it on a table or chair until it melts overnight or so and then fill your water jugs. Just make sure the ball valve is closed before you go to bed and let it melt!
In summer I suppose you can use the same container to catch rain... Both rain and snow are heavy to lug so maybe the container shouldn't be more than 10 gallons or like 40 Liters in size? That'll be about 85lbs if it's full of actual rain water.
As far as snow goes, try it! Make sure you collect it away from where anyone uses that winter Ice Melt stuff - don't get the snow off your sidewalk or where sidewalk snow gets deposited when it's shoveled/snow blown.
Thanks to TenRoaches his topic has given me an idea and maybe a project... If you have the tools use a 2" hole saw on your power drill to make a hole at the bottom edge of a large rubbermaid container and put a 2" ballvalve from Home depot in it. Gluing with aquarium safe silicone of course. Put a screw on hose on the free end of the ballvalve (for filling your water jugs). Then you can shovel your snow into the rubbermaid and set it on a table or chair until it melts overnight or so and then fill your water jugs. Just make sure the ball valve is closed before you go to bed and let it melt!
In summer I suppose you can use the same container to catch rain... Both rain and snow are heavy to lug so maybe the container shouldn't be more than 10 gallons or like 40 Liters in size? That'll be about 85lbs if it's full of actual rain water.
Swords, as an option too a battery of tests, just call the local water dept. and ask the tds content of the water. They better than anyone know the real results and have no incentive to lie to you. I'm very lucky in my town as tapwater is from a snow/rain watershed averaging 75 ppm most of the year!
You can use as large a container as you like to catch the rain; just make sure to put a valve or tap at the bottom so you can put it in a portable container like Swords said. I know a guy with two 400 ft. long greenhouses that dispel rainwater into trenches than tubes leading to a few huge holding tanks. He's always got water, clean water.
You can use as large a container as you like to catch the rain; just make sure to put a valve or tap at the bottom so you can put it in a portable container like Swords said. I know a guy with two 400 ft. long greenhouses that dispel rainwater into trenches than tubes leading to a few huge holding tanks. He's always got water, clean water.
There's certainly no problem asking the water dept about the the town water supply, however you do have to take in account where the water goes after it leaves the treatment plant on it's way through your actual tap. Which is why it's good to get your own water coming out of your actual tap tested. Take it to the water dept, they will probably do it for you if you don't wanna have an orchid shop or fish store test it for you.
For instance mine goes through a sodium softener in the condominium complex before it ever gets to my place so it doesn't actually have the same chemical makeup as the leaflet I get from the water dept in the mail once or twice a year. A pal of mine once lived in a dumpy old trailer park in the same town I live in. There was a knock on his door one day while we were sitting around stewing with our hangovers the morning after a blowout and a guy gave him a letter and told us "don't drink water from the taps here until further notice". We were both sitting there with large glasses of ice water when he told us that... The letter said the whole trailer park had old water pipes and it was leaching unacceptable levels of copper into their water.
Aside from all that municipalities put all sorts of other stuff in the water to make it "better for you" like chlorine, flouride and who knows what else. On Wednesdays my tapwater usually smells like chlorine and sometimes smells like onions, but never on the other days. I do my best not to drink any water from the tap on Wednesdays
For instance mine goes through a sodium softener in the condominium complex before it ever gets to my place so it doesn't actually have the same chemical makeup as the leaflet I get from the water dept in the mail once or twice a year. A pal of mine once lived in a dumpy old trailer park in the same town I live in. There was a knock on his door one day while we were sitting around stewing with our hangovers the morning after a blowout and a guy gave him a letter and told us "don't drink water from the taps here until further notice". We were both sitting there with large glasses of ice water when he told us that... The letter said the whole trailer park had old water pipes and it was leaching unacceptable levels of copper into their water.
Aside from all that municipalities put all sorts of other stuff in the water to make it "better for you" like chlorine, flouride and who knows what else. On Wednesdays my tapwater usually smells like chlorine and sometimes smells like onions, but never on the other days. I do my best not to drink any water from the tap on Wednesdays
