Spring is here ! Central Minnesota ’s two - year drought has recently all but come to an end with some glorious rain . It ’s terrific to see the way my flora are respond to rainwater , particularly compare to the city water they ’ve been forced to survive on for the past two summers . Because rainwater is so precious , I like to spare as much of it as potential : I have rain gun barrel on 3 corners of my theater . I love using the saved rainwater for various purposes , but I also get questions like this each class .
Question :
Is it dependable to practice rainfall barrel piss on my garden veg and fruit ?
suffice :
The University of Minnesota Extension doesnotrecommendusing rainwater bbl water on your vegetable gardens , and for good reason : bird and squirrels on a regular basis defecate on your cap , and rain wash all those feces into your rain barrel , where the bacterium has a nice warm and wet environment in which to thrive .
to boot , depending on the material and years of your shingles , various chemicals can also wash down those downspouts and into your cask . A study in Seattle found that overflow from asphalt shingles was clean than the researchers had anticipated , while runoff from woods shakes was basically unusable because of high arsenic levels .
splosh all those bacteria and chemicals onto your moolah is an easy way to get one heck of a stomach bug , at the very least . Yet , there are so many beneficial reasons to gather up rainwater , and easy fashion to palliate your risk .
garner that rainwater . apply it on perennial , trees , shrubs , and fruit tree . Just water close up the earth and quash splashing the body of water onto the fruit . I have a hose with an open end . When a barrel is full , I merely attach the hose to it and allow it slowly run out on various shrubs or tree diagram . My houseplant also thrive on pelting barrel piss .
expend pelting barrel water on tree , shrubs , and any vegetable that you ’re not extend to be harvesting for at least 3 weeks — this gives any bacterium in the water plenty of time to dry out out and die out . I ’ve been watering my tomato and pepper flora that I started indoors with rain barrel water , but I also know I wo n’t reap any fruit from them for nearly two months . A similar strategy with my strawberry plants : after harvest home season is over , rain drum water system is utterly okay for maintain the plants , and they thrive on it .
There is some debate on whether“first flow diverters”really work , but the theory is great : plainly cast away the first few Imperial gallon of water that moisten off your cap , along with the crud that is mixed in , then allow your gun barrel fill with the cleaner water . It take less than ½ column inch of rainwater to fill my barrel , after all . I ’ve tried a version of this , letting my cask drain completely on a tree midway through a rainstorm and then get it fill up again . The 2nd cask - full is emphatically neat water supply .
Also : research is also not entirely conclusive on this issue — Rutgers University did some research and conclude that in most circumstances , it ’s perfectly safe(they recommend strategies standardised to the ones I recommend ) .
Your best bet ? Get a pelting barrel . Water your tree diagram and shrubs with it and watch them absolutely flourish . But use a hose on your veggies , and always rinse them inside the household with spigot pee before eating them , since hoses can also be a source of bacteria — despite the fond memory most of us GenXers have of wassail from them .
What have you used rain barrel H2O for ? What other question do you have about it ? Sound off below !
Have horticulture questions ? You canAsk a Master Gardeneronline or call the Yard & Garden Line at ( 612 ) 301 - 7590 .
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Jennifer Rensenbrinkis a University of Minnesota Extension Master Gardener Volunteer for Hennepin County . She somehow has two mini - prairie on her tiny south Minneapolis property .
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