Is rain water good for your plants?

It rained yesterday and I caught a bucket full to feed my plants. All I did was add 1 tsp per gallon of cal mag mixed and 2 tsp per gallon of bloom nutes and fed my plants. I didn’t read pH or ppm and I don’t when I use tap unless it’s coco coir. Also rainwater is the best flushing agent imo where it’s not necessary to run 3 times the pot size

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I’m not sure if that’s a question or a statement but I WOULD NOT put aquarium water on my plants! I’ve seen it kill many plants and certainly wouldn’t risk my weed plants with it.
Bad idea!

I have reported your abusive behavior to the mods. It’s a repeated pattern with you on this site, you’ve done it twice in this thread alone.
I hope they ban you from the site with your foul attitude towards people and their questions.
You’re the biggest jerk on this site - I hope you know that!

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I was wondering if it was me or him/her. Pretty gruff with me on a post or two.

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It definitely wasn’t you. I’ve seen the same behavior on other posts.
I’ll admit I unleashed on him at first - then I caught myself! LOL!
I’m sure there have been other reports. I don’t think you get a suspension for one offense.
Hopefully if he comes back he’ll have a better attitude. This is too good of a community for that BS!

On a good note it’s pouring down rain now - I’ll be pulling at least 18g tomorrow. More if I have more empty jugs! LOL!

:cloud_with_rain:

I like it best when it falls on a sunny day but I’ll take it tonight too! It gets that extra juice from the sun I believe!
It can’t hurt!!

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I don’t see the harm tbh. I was an aquarist before grower.
All healthy tank water from most fresh water aquariums would be fine except for say an aquarium with African cichlids, their ph requirements are typically higher in the 7.5-8.5 range.
I use my tank water for outdoor plants and pond water for the outdoor grow. No troubles at all.

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Thanks @Tylersays. Some people can be salty.

But i got another question. I make a tea for my plants and i usually use my ro water. The ppm is usually around 600 to 700 and i make my tea with it. That usually comes out to 1100 plus on the ppm when the tea is finished. But i used the rain water and after brewing the tea my ppms only around 450. I guess my question is how to bring that up. Do i add more nutrients until i reach that desired ppm. Idk.

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Thanks for having the restraint to toss this to us, it won’t happen again. Not from him anyway!

As others noted, aquarium water can be really good for plants if used properly. If you have some free time, check out a few aquaponics grows on YouTube or something. In this method they maintain fish tanks specifically to help feed plants. It’s not my thing, but pretty cool if you’re into checking out other growing methods.

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Holy moly… that’s all.

Rainwater sounds great and economical, but,
my house roof has zinc strips laid (kill moss).

USU Forestry lost a rain gauge once in the 1970’s after a rain.
The metal was degraded, so I heard.
CHINA and JAPAN contribute serious pollution.
Utah has copper mines.

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My house dehumidifier makes a gallon or more daily, in the house.
If necessary, another unit for inside the tent may become part of the Christmas list to Santa.

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well according to google we shouldn’t be using the DH unit water in our edible plants due to heavy metals and non food grade plastics in the components of the machine, but how many of us follow that?

Those are the ppm numbers? That would be exceptionally high coming off your RO, I’m at 21. My tap water is 148.

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@GrassMan420 If that is the PPM of your RO water you need a water softener system. That is extremely high. Your numbers are what my tap PPM is roughly at with my softener system. My RO is 30-35PPM.

If anything the only thing I might add to the water would be small amount of epsom salt. Nothing else. But to answer. Never had a problem using straight rain water with my dry amendments.

You are preaching the gospel my friend. I could not agree w you more. Just like tap water you have to know what ph you are starting with.

Soft and neutral aquariums are excellent sources of nutrients and microbes. Fish waste is broken down by the bacteria into its most plant available form. The water is “living water”
Or else your aquariums is not successful. It rivals compost tea for rotifers and Protozoa populations. If you squeeze out your dirty filter media in tank water(bucket) it is a cornucopia of trace elements, bacteria, microfauna, micro algaes, and plant available N & P. The only thing it’s lacking is K. If you run activated charcoal in your filter it is loaded char once it is spent. It’s an excellent amendment. I do custom aquariums when I am not in the garden. I always run the 200ft hose out my client’s gardens if the fish are right biome. And I squeeze out the filter debris in a bucket for their houseplants or pots to pour while I’m there. Once I have convinced them, the next visit they are standing there with their own bucket and a smile saying more please my plants loved it.

The only bad thing is it doesn’t keep at all. 6 to 8 hours after it sits in a bucket it goes anaerobic as all the microbes die off. Lots of hydrogen sulfide is produced and the water starts to smell really bad. Otherwise those fertilizer companies would be in trouble.

You are throwing golden nuggets down the drain if you garden and have a fish tank you aren’t using on your plants. In my humble opinion.

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Here on this island, our roof tops host sea gull gatherings. Roof rainwater r.o. may be contaminated from their visits. One year I found barnacles growing in the down spout.
The zinc strips I put on the roof ridge were to prevent moss growing and probably not good for garden plants. Again, as much as I would like to use roof r.o., I only use fresh yard bucket collected rainwater, purchased water or city provided (vented for a day or three).

Awesome! I use rainwater every chance I can. As a matter fact, I’m getting a rain barrel installed for my gutter for the next grow so I’ll be using it exclusively. My question is will that be sufficient for an entire grow from start to finish without adding any extra nutrients. I think most people will say you need to add additional nutrients but my belief is rainwater has all the nutrients plants need. I probably used the rainwater for 1/3 of the entire grow without adding nutrients except when I used tapwater, which I always left sit out for a few days before feeding it to the plants. Never had an issue with PH. I am into the seventh week of flowering white widow from the start of 12/12. On day, five of flushing, even using rainwater when I can. My plants seem like they are still thriving and will be harvested in about a week.


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Gosh I sure hope so because my outdoor plants sometimes get rained on :wink:

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Wow, that’s a lovely bud. It looks as tall as the trees.