While the sun shines, make your hay. Or if it is raining cats and dogs, don't let that water go to waste.A rain barrel is also a great way of saving a valuable resource-and saving some real money as well.
I do most of my watering with a hose. That means water that has been mechanically and chemically processed to be safe enough to drink is being used on those who really can’t appreciate that level of purity, and frankly don’t need it-my bonsai. That clean water comes from my utility provider at a price, and though it is a pretty fair price, the cost, over a summer of using this premium product can add up. For a household like mine, which pays several utilities in one aggregate billing, the summer’s double whammy of air conditioning and plant watering adds up.
For me collecting rain water could never replace the municipal water source, because I am not willing to make the investment in the large scale tanks it would require to switch totally over to rain water. I have noticed several of the large size reservoirs in yards not far from me, and a quick internet price comparison has shown that such equipment is well out of my budget, and I am not sure how long it would take to pay for itself.
But free, healthy water as a supplement to what comes out of the faucet appeals to me, and not just to help shave a bit off my utility bill. Municipal water has chemicals added to maintain purity and these don’t have a big impact on plants, in my view. But the water that comes out of my faucets is fairly hard, and the crusty lime scale that builds up on those plants that get watered with what comes out of the tap over the course of the winter proves that there is more to water than just hydrogen and oxygen.
Rain water is a lot “softer”-it has a much lower level of dissolved solids and minerals. Since I use chemical fertilizers as part of my feeding routine, some mineral salts tend to build up in the potting mix. Given the construction of bonsai soil, and the watering schedule such trees need, the exact level of ‘salts’ is not high, but it must be considered. I also use Turface as a component of most of my growing mixes. This calcined clay product can absorb and hold on to mineral salts in the right conditions, releasing them in toxic amounts in a worst case scenario, but I think that it’s uniformity, moisture retention properties and longevity make it worth dealing with. Some distilled water through the winter-or rain water during the summer gives good results in my experience.
So where does the rain water come from? I have used a rain barrel for several years and liked the results. The first rain barrel I was familiar with was a 55 gallon steel drum that stood under a neighbor’s downspout in the 'hood where I grew up. It was impossible to see the bottom, and we kids used to have some fun catching the “Sea Monkeys” that lived in it. My mother was never willing to let my new pets stay in the house, since she wasn’t keen on having mosquitoes indoors.
I set myself up a real rain barrel a few years back almost on a whim. I had been considering getting one, and one spring I walked out of the local Kroger’s location to find that not only did they have a wide variety of flowers and shrubs set up on their sidewalk in an impromptu garden shop, they also had among their pots and urns some barrels and half barrels.
The half barrel looked like just the thing for a miniature water lily and some gold fish, and the full barrel was a rain catcher ready made. Or so I thought. The barrel was a retired whiskey barrel, with both heads intact. One had to be removed to make an opening to let the water in, and to dip water out. Since I was feeling inspired, I went to the hardware store and got some fittings to create both an overflow and a hose bib. These where installed by drilling right into the sturdy oak of the barrel.
The wooden barrel looked picturesque in the back yard, and the overflow seemed to work well, though the hose bib never seemed to build up enough pressure, though a watering can placed under the spout could be filled by someone with a bit of patience. But performance issues soon made themselves obvious. The wide open mouth of the barrel admitted rain but also leaves, assorted debris and mosquitoes-the Sea Monkeys where back. Netting them out made our aquarium fish happy , but was not a real solution. Winter was also hard on the wooden barrel. It was too heavy to drain, which meat it froze when temperatures got low enough. The first winter didn’t seem to do much to it, probably because I floated a few empty milk jugs in it. The second winter the jugs proved less effective, and the barrel developed some integrity issues-the bottom dropped clean out of it come spring.
Never one to admit that an item may be past it’s useful life, I got not one but two more seasons of use by improvising a plastic liner that was both ugly and only partly effective. This spring, I was tired of the old thing and resolved that it was time for a new rain barrel. The old oaken skeleton was rolled aside, and I went hunting for a new, modern replacement.
I was immediately put off by the high price of ready to use, off the self rain collection apparatus. Internet research provided plenty of do-it-your-self options, but there where drawbacks there, as well, Several sources suggested using a food grade plastic barrel, and for some reason I couldn’t come up with a local source for such an item. One article I found was titled “A home made rain barrel for $35” that sounded interesting. Using their instructions as my guide, I purchased a 35 gallon heavy duty trash drum, a few plumbing parts, some vinyl screening and some silicone caulk and went to work.
This was not a complex procedure. A hole was cut in the lid of the can, and the caulking spread around the hole on the interior side. A properly sized piece of screen was pressed into the silicone, and the lid of the barrel was done. A spade type drill bit was used to make a hole in the side of the barrel for the hose fitting, then it was brought up to proper size with sandpaper. For a faucet, I used a plastic boiler fitting simply because the cost was about half of what a bronze fitting would have been. The particular fitting I bought had female threading, meaning it was meant to be screwed onto a pipe. To give it reach through the wall of the barrel, I used a short length of threaded plastic pipe fitting. A large metal washer and two rubber washers where slipped over the pipe once it was screwed on, the whole assembly was inserted through the hole drilled in the barrel then two rubber washers and a metal washer were put over the pipe from the other side, the entire assembly held in place with a plastic nut that was had tighten by hand, then snugged with a wrench. All of these items are standard, off the shelf plumbing supplies that I picked out myself.
Putting this together took about an hour. I bought more washers than I actually needed, and once they were returned I found that my actual cost was closer to $20. Some thoughts:
- If I were doing this over, I would make two and place them side by side. I would also seek out trash cans larger than 35 gallons.
- I located the hose fitting higher than I like, and on the next one I make, I will place it much lower down, almost at the bottom of the barrel.
- I had a site ready to receive a rain barrel, which saved me a lot of time. First time set up for a rain barrel means a very sturdy base-a filled barrel can weigh several hundred pounds. It could cause real damage or injury if it tipped.
- Preparation of the downspout also needs to be considered. I’m using a simple elbow fitting, which means the overflow simply leaks out around the barrel. Fancy diverters are available that direct rain to the barrel until it is full, then any excess goes down the spout.
- Because the barrel and it’s fittings are plastic, I am not going to let the thing stay out all winter. It will over winter in the garage-and a piece of flexible downspout will be a stop gap measure to make sure any melt water goes into the down spout and not into the garage foundation
