- Sun Sep 11, 2022 2:42 am
#420039
I live in Arizona where it rarely rains but last night happened to be an exception so I was scrambling trying to collect some of the liquid gold falling from the sky. I carried my plants out to the middle of the yard so they could get a fresh drink and put a few bowls out, and then placed a couple buckets where I'd get runoff from the roof (I waited about 10-15 mins for the roof to get washed off before collecting anything).
My TDS meter showed 35-40ppm for the "plain" rain water collected in the freestanding bowls. And the roof runoff water was 55-75ppm. Would it just be as simple as diluting the roof water with some distilled (or low ppm RO) water to get it down around 35ppm to use on my CP's? I have an entry-level VFT, Sundew & Sarracenia. Or would you run the roof water thru one of those zerowater filters instead? I'm not sure what potential chemicals would be in the roof water since I have a tile roof, no shingles. My parents have some pool test strips that I could use, but I don't know what I'd need to look for. The water itself is pretty yellow, but from what I've read elsewhere that seems to be normal because of pollen and other stuff in the air. My plants have only ever had distilled water since I brought them home.
My TDS meter showed 35-40ppm for the "plain" rain water collected in the freestanding bowls. And the roof runoff water was 55-75ppm. Would it just be as simple as diluting the roof water with some distilled (or low ppm RO) water to get it down around 35ppm to use on my CP's? I have an entry-level VFT, Sundew & Sarracenia. Or would you run the roof water thru one of those zerowater filters instead? I'm not sure what potential chemicals would be in the roof water since I have a tile roof, no shingles. My parents have some pool test strips that I could use, but I don't know what I'd need to look for. The water itself is pretty yellow, but from what I've read elsewhere that seems to be normal because of pollen and other stuff in the air. My plants have only ever had distilled water since I brought them home.