Hello. So where I live, we are having a massive drought due to climate change. We are actually about to be the first major city to run out of water (live in Cape Town). Anyway, by the 12th of April, all water will be shut off. We will have to buy filtered water at shops. The rain water has a pH of 6.1. By any chance can I use that water? I grow in coco coir. Will the nutrients mix right in rain water? Any advice is appreciated. Thanks
It still rains about once a month. We have a system setup for toilet water and everything since water usage us restricted to 75 liters a day per person. Few people who exceed that limit has gotten visits by police and issued fines. If the police come here, there's enough plants to charge me for dealing haha. Our system is basically gutters on the roof which takes all the water to this massive filter, and once filtered for parasites and other shit - it goes into a 2000L tank. It has a faucet and it has pipes leading to our toilets etc. But will rain water stun the growth? With nutrients mix well in it (pH range will be about 5.5-6.0, which is ideal for growing in coco coir).
Did you see the video of them dumping all the water downstream in Capetown? They're dumping it all to irrigate farms. I grow with rainwater. I live in Alaska and I'm not connected to any municipal water system. I collect water off of my roof and have about a 10,000 gallon tank outside. I can occasionally run out but I live in one of the rainiest places in the US and usually have plenty of showers, laundry, plants, and everything else. Rainwater ph is not consistent. You have to check it periodically. Mine is usually about 7.0.
When you grow with rainwater if you grow hydro you have to add extra cal/mag. All hydroponic nutrient lines base their bottles on average ground source water which usually contains cal/mag so they leave some out. Rainwater is 0ppm almost like distilled and has next to no minerals. You will go deficient if you don't add cal/mag every watering or have extra dolomite lime in your soil mix.