Further to the post about water stress, does anyone know if you can get something like this in Cyprus, preferably Paphos?
If I'm home a lot when it's very humid and succumb to using the ACs, I can collect more water than I need for my plants. It would be good to have some to store excess water, something with a well-fitting lid (I don't want to breed mosquitos) and preferably with a tap for easy access.
We got one like that from Paphos Market DIY a few years ago. Attached it to a downpipe from our flat roof. However after the first winter rain it quickly filled up! Now, once full detach it from downpipe and save for the dry weather.
Water butts are sensible and best if part of pre-construction planning as part of your overall rainwater and A/C and heat pump drainage systems. You need big (ideally concealed) tanks in the right places plus a system to pump out the water into your irrigation system. Not difficult to plan but can be tricky to retrofit, I think. Don’t know if we have any local companies with expertise in this?
When we had water only 3 days a week we bought a large dustbin. All our washing up water and any other excess went in there (aircon run off, etc.) We had enough to water our plants and the communal pool plants. I guess we will be using it again very shortly.
We're using washing up water to water our pot plants and bushes with no problems. However, when I've tried to get rid of bugs on plants by using washing up liquid in a spray bottle diluted with water, it doesn't really work. Most of the leaves go yellow and fall off. That's been our experience anyway.....
chris&pam wrote: ↑Fri Jul 19, 2024 11:55 am
We got one like that from Paphos Market DIY a few years ago. Attached it to a downpipe from our flat roof. However after the first winter rain it quickly filled up! Now, once full detach it from downpipe and save for the dry weather.
Thank you. I got a small one from Paphos Homemarket. For now anyway, it's just for me to collect a/c water - I had 5 watering cans all full up, so the butt will be useful.
I'll see about rainwater when we get close to winter, though as it's only 100l it won't help collect much of that.
chris&pam wrote: ↑Fri Jul 19, 2024 11:55 am
We got one like that from Paphos Market DIY a few years ago. Attached it to a downpipe from our flat roof. However after the first winter rain it quickly filled up! Now, once full detach it from downpipe and save for the dry weather.
Thank you. I got a small one from Paphos Homemarket. For now anyway, it's just for me to collect a/c water - I had 5 watering cans all full up, so the butt will be useful.
I'll see about rainwater when we get close to winter, though as it's only 100l it won't help collect much of that.
A/C water is very good to clean solar panels or for window cleaning as it does not leave streaks, however watering plants for a long period with it is not that good. Only a certain type of plants like orchids like it....
cyprusmax47 wrote: ↑Wed Jul 24, 2024 11:52 am
A/C water is very good to clean solar panels or for window cleaning as it does not leave streaks, however watering plants for a long period with it is not that good. Only a certain type of plants like orchids like it....
Max
That's not what I wanted to hear, I was happy to be saving and using the water without much effort on my part. So why isn't it good for plants?
cyprusmax47 wrote: ↑Wed Jul 24, 2024 11:52 am
A/C water is very good to clean solar panels or for window cleaning as it does not leave streaks, however watering plants for a long period with it is not that good. Only a certain type of plants like orchids like it....
Max
That's not what I wanted to hear, I was happy to be saving and using the water without much effort on my part. So why isn't it good for plants?
Not only is it completely free of lime, which is very good for many plants, but all salts and essential minerals have also been removed. In other words, important nutrients are missing. This means that the liquid is only suitable for watering to a limited extent. If used over a long period of time, plants that are watered with it in its pure form can virtually "starve" if the necessary nutrients are not supplied. However one can mix it with drinking water and adding little fertilizer as well will solve the issue.
That's good to know, Max. Will continue to use water collected from AC units, but will mix it with some of the left over washing up water and occasionally add some plant feed.
That's not what I wanted to hear, I was happy to be saving and using the water without much effort on my part. So why isn't it good for plants?
