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Water tray question

So far, I don't have an in-ground bog, so all my Sarrs. are in big pots with a 50/50 mix of peat and rinsed sand. All the pots are sitting in water trays in as full sun as I can give them.  

My concern is that I notice that the water in the trays will grow algae, and sparrows drink out of the trays so I'm noticing bird poop in the water trays, as well. Drowned insects, too.

I add distilled water to the trays every night when I get home from work.  I change the water in the trays every four or five days, and I blast out the trays with a power washer because.. 1)because I read that stagnant water is bad for CP's, and 2) I'm assuming the bird poop and decomposition of drowned insects would be too much of a nutrient load, and 3) don't want to start a mosquito hatchery.

Is my water changing schedule too frequent, or not frequent enough?  Should I bleach and thorougly rinse the trays after I have power washed them? Am I showing signs of OCD?  Thanks in advance for your help. April
 
There really isn't a specific frequency of tray washing you should go by... wash trays out whenever they get excessively dirty.

What's OCD?
 
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder...it's a mental illness wherein the victims are compelled to do things like wash their hands 30 times a day, straighten the cupboards all the time, arrange and re-arrange their cd collections, re-fold the clothes constantly...stuff like that
 
I wish my kids HAD OCD, especially when it came to picking up their rooms, rinsing and stacking dishes, turning off anything with electricity...... Well, my oldest son takes frequent showers. I told him, yesterday, that the only one I have ever heard of taking more daily showers was Adolph Hitler. He didn't find that all too humorous.
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If bleaching will find its residue ending up in the CP media, then it wouldn't be a good idea.

Maybe it just means staying on top of the daily maintenance.
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I wash mine out once or twice a season..
I havent done it yet this year, but they are about due.
when I do this, I do a MAJOR scrub, take all the trays to the utility sink and scrub them down to shiny clear plastic.
using water and my fingers only..no cleaning products at all.
the gunky algae is soft enough that you can wipe it off with your fingers..(might want gloves!)

yes, they collect bits of moss, the water turns brown, and algae grows. I dont consider any of that a real problem..the plants dont care. (how clean is natural "bog water"? ;)
so I only clean them when they are so bad that I cant stand to look at them..plus a good solid rain storm will cause them to overflow, and that flushes them out pretty well.

so my schedule is usually once a season, in the middle of the growing season..maybe beginning of July.

[b said:
Quote[/b] ]1)because I read that stagnant water is bad for CP's
says who? I would consider a natural bog about as "stagnant" as you can get! I wouldnt worry about that..
water with algae and brown moss tannins is natural..no "added" nutrients there..

but I do agree that the bird poop isnt good..that would add more nutrients!...rather than clean out the bird poop, you would be better off just keeping the birds away in the first place...try hanging CDs..
see this thread:

CD thread

Scot
 
[b said:
Quote[/b] ]Obsessive Compulsive Disorder...it's a mental illness wherein the victims are compelled to do things like wash their hands 30 times a day, straighten the cupboards all the time, arrange and re-arrange their cd collections, re-fold the clothes constantly...stuff like that
I know what that is... I just didn't know what OCD stood for... I'm slow.

I dunno if this is considered OCD, but if there's something I need to do, like work out or vacuum my room, if I don't do it at a particular moment, it nags at me in the back of my head for the rest of eternity until I do it... I don't have the luxury of saying to myself, "I'll do it later." If I say that, then it's gonna stress me out forever until I do it. This means I have to make myself get all my crap done before I do anything of leisure that day, or else I feel the pressure to do that thing the whole time. It's not fun.
 
Birds poop on plants and in water in nature all the time...and insects die in water. These plants are not growing in perfect, sterile conditions out in the wild. Just don't let the water get stagnant. If you smell a bad odor, then the water has gone bad. I let my water evaporate down to almost dry and then refill it. If it rains too much (NOT the case lately...
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) then I dump the containers if the water has been standing too long. I don't worry about bird doodoo and dead insects. Every so often I wash out the pond liners but I don't have problems with algae.
 
Every now and again I wipe out my trays with a paper towel to pick up the algae and scum that collects inside. I don't really worry about dumping the water - I usually let my trays dry out completely every few weeks, because I have this stupid belief that doing that will keep the mosquito larvae in check. If you dump and change the water as often as you say, that should be pretty good, I think. I don't think you need to clean them out every time, but I also don't think it would hurt. I would change the water for my plants more often, but I have to walk all my groceries home several blocks uphill, so conserving water is kind of important. :)
~Joe
 
Well, you know what I do.  I merely make sure the water level is high enough to insure wicking. If it gets too scummy, I'll empty the trays and refill. Sometimes, I pull a few plants out of the trays and flush them and stick them back in the water tray. Other than that, I add a mosquito dunk to each tray.
 
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