Does anyone utilize rain barrels?

[SailorBold]

In my attempt to grow a 'Pacific NW' looking Trachycarpus.. I picked up 2 IBC 275 gallon containers and plan to repurpose them in a rainfall collection system.

This project has been on my mind for a few years.. but now is slowly coming into fruition. In my back yard I have a rectangular 28'x13' patio on the north side of my house..and im planning on adding a 3 foot border around its perimeter. While the rest of my yard will be low water landscaping; I'm going to add low flow drip emitters from the 2 barrels to keep the border watered with the collected rainwater.  While the containers may not be pretty.. I do plan on covering them with.. perhaps vinyl fencing or the like.

Does anyone use rain barrels to provide water for their palms? My tap water is alkaline.. so I hope a few trachies with say.. a 1/4 gallon per hour emitter would get a decent amount of moisture to thrive.

I'd love to hear some others experiences or perhaps suggestions in getting the project off the ground..  

 

[Fusca]

I've been collecting rainwater for 15 years or so.  I had a rainbarrel when I lived in Austin which was formerly a Coke syrup container.  Here in San Antonio I collect roof run-off in 5-gallon buckets with lids that I use for my container ranch.  Rain collection an excellent idea for the climate here because it doesn't rain often but when it does it rains a lot!  Relying on city tap water isn't so great for the plants and they really prefer natural rain.  Kudos to you!   

Edited June 2, 2020 by Fusca

[colin Peters]

I used to run the downspout directly into a large, extra trash can,  and water the close palms when it hadnʻt rained for a

period. Now I let it go naturally to my Dypsis utilis row. Ends up being enough year round with only a few waterings from

the hose. 

[Mangosteen]

10,000 gallons

[Silas_Sancona]

Plants definitely benefit from irrigating w/ rainwater as much as possible..

As far as i'm concerned, Rainwater harvesting should be mandatory ..or at the very least relentlessly encouraged across the Southwest and California.. Doesn't have to be anything expensive or elaborate.  Believe various water companies should offer attention getting rebates for homeowners ( lower income esp. ) who install such systems,  ..much the same way many companies already offer rebates for ripping out your lawn and installing drip irrigation, and drought tolerant landscaping/ shade trees as well..  Quite dumbfound whenever i have read something regarding an effort made in some places to discourage people from collecting runoff, or daring to charge them for "taking" water..  Never knew water ..that falls from the sky.. belongs to X city utility company..  anyhow..

Last winter, i managed to collect enough water that i still have half a gallon left, and that's using a funnel to collect runoff off a downspout out back, and moving the water to 1 gal milk jugs as the collection bottle filled. Can only imagine how much more i might have if i could set up barrels ( our current Landloard won't allow me to set up drip out front ). Have read several great articles ( written mainly by people in Tucson of course. Often got the highly suspicious,  lizard-like side eye, or the  "huh?" confused dog kind of look when ever the subject was discussed where i used to work here. ) regarding some simple, and quite intimidating looking runoff capturing ideas/ installations.  One guy became pretty well known after taking on the city to have  cuts made into the sidewalk curbs in his neighborhood, to allow street runoff to move into front yards, hell strips, etc. Now, this concept is common practice down there when new street islands, parking lots, etc are constructed.

Guaranteed i'll be putting runoff collection into practice once back in CA. Try and charge me extra for using less water..

 

[realarch]

Hi Jimmy, I use a large rubbish bin to collect rainwater, mostly for convenience, as it's close to my work/potting bench. Looks rather ' Beverly Hillbillish', but it beats dragging the

hose around. Even with 140" (3556mm) of rain annually, this contraption gets a lot of use. The fe\lex connection allows me to pop the lid and fill 1-5 gallon containers. 

Need to screen it off, it's homely as heck. 

Tim

[-2 brian]

I have a rain chain that directs rainwater from a roof gutter to a sealed decorative pot. It holds about 25 gallons and I’ll dip a bucket in and water my potted plants with it. Works great for supplemental watering for me. 

[Steve Mac]

In Sydney, rain is not uncommon and tap water is not expensive but we still enjoy filling buckets and tubs with rainwater because we can see that the plants can tell the difference.

It is definitely not as elegant as Brian's, actually our white buckets etc are uglier than Tims.    

 

[WaianaeCrider]

I get about 20" of rain a year.  Last month we recorded 0.7".  LOL  Not much.  No gutters on the house but I do use gray shower and laundry water to keep my Kukui Nut tree happy and this past November I put a Red Lipstick Palm at the end of the water pipe.

I understand that there are a few states where they (the gov't) has decided that rain water belongs to the State and you are not allowed to collect it.

[Jim in Los Altos]

Makes no sense for me to collect rainwater here in California because our rain falls late fall until the end of winter when I wouldn’t need extra water and then no rain at all during the warm growing season. So, even if I collected several barrels of water, they would be emptied out as soon as the rainy season ended to water a few plants and would remain empty for the remaining six or seven months. I wouldn’t want to be looking at big barrels against the house anyway. 

[Shiveringtropicals]

I have a 223 liter (about 59 gallon) rain barrel but it is never enough, 
I could use everything in a few days so i use the gardenhose for most things and the rainwater for those plants that need it the most.

[Silas_Sancona]

9 hours ago, WaianaeCrider said:

 

I understand that there are a few states where they (the gov't) has decided that rain water belongs to the State and you are not allowed to collect it.

There have been a few states making that threat .. and got their  -insert your own word(s)-  handed to them over the last few years..  Colorado and Oregon used to be the toughest, but again.. such intrusive nonsense quickly gets the boot..  Some base-less rationale used as excuses for attempting to enact such laws was that collecting rainwater may disrupt the natural Hydrological cycle.. Once again, as w/ many other things,  Science - backed studies de-bunked such ideas, especially since most use collected water for irrigation and it returns to the ground anyway..

Link to the full list of state to state guide, as such laws / directives apparently stand atm, though the article was written back in 2018:  https://worldwaterreserve.com/rainwater-harvesting-/is-it-illegal-to-collect-rainwater/

 

[SailorBold]

Great info.   Like I mentioned my tap water is alkaline with pH around 7.7-8.0.... so much so.. during the summer local plants often look stressed due to it.. trees suffer...growing tomatoes is a challenge.. and most trachycarpus look crappy..well partly due to colder years also but I think due to the pH of the water and the alkaline soil/sand combined... that coupled with shutting down a irrigation system for 3 months in winter....makes it a bonefide challenge.  Our monsoon totals are bleak..but the 2-3 inches of extra rain do make a noticeable difference during the height of the growing season.. and do come at a time where you can manage some sort of harvest growing veggies/fruit..etc.. but outside of that.. everything gets the tap water..   Im not really concerned about the look of the tanks.. but I hope they will get covered up by the benefit they provide.. perhaps a fatsia or a big needle palm...  Im inspired to grow a mini jungle in this planned oasis area... some orchids.. maybe a fern if it can hack it.  Azalea? Rhodos??

Last year I put a metal roof on the patio with a gutter system and did add a couple of expensive decorative 65 gallon rain barrels....which catch the water from the patio itself .. and this year Im watering my tomatoes with it.. to see improvement from past failure Im hoping.. The soil is so crappy I have resorted to using growboxes to fix the soil issue as well.  Ultimately these barrels will be added to the larger system when its up and running, but for right now.. they are piped into the boxes with mini float valves.  

8-9 inches of rain a year sucks for many reasons.

Edited June 5, 2020 by SailorBold