# Watering Plants



## drRapier (Oct 9, 2008)

What is better to water your plants with--- rainwater or gray water?


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## gds (Oct 10, 2008)

If your eating what the plants produce, go with the rain water.
If your in that type of climate where every drop of water makes a difference, let the gray water run thru some basic filter system. 

You wouldn't drink gray water or cook food in it, so why feed gray water in its raw form to your plants that are producing food for you.


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## JeepHammer (Oct 10, 2008)

drRapier said:


> What is better to water your plants with--- rainwater or gray water?


Depends on what you are growing and how you water...

Gray water is often full of phosphates, and that is a fertilizer.
Gray water is OK to irrigate with, but *DO NOT SHOWER GRAY WATER ON THE PLANTS!*

Any bacteria living in the 'Gray Water' will be directly applied to the leaves and edible parts and that would be a bad thing.

"Gray Water" delivered to the plant bases, or even sub-surface by low pressure 'Trickler' hoses is a great way to water!
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Rain water is always good, although it carries no fertilizer value.
Since rain water is usually clean, showing or irrigation is fine.

Remember, most of the water you 'Shower' the garden with will evaporate unless you have ground cover like straw on the ground...

Better to trickle water or irrigate than the spray or 'Shower' the plants when you can.


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## TechAdmin (Oct 1, 2008)

I setup my gray water to run into a storage tank and I use that to irrigate my large garden. Great green setup.

Excellent information BTW JeepHammer. Great to have you here!


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## txclark (Oct 14, 2008)

gds said:


> If your eating what the plants produce, go with the rain water.
> If your in that type of climate where every drop of water makes a difference, let the gray water run thru some basic filter system.
> 
> You wouldn't drink gray water or cook food in it, so why feed gray water in its raw form to your plants that are producing food for you.


The logic behind that is questionable - I wouldn't eat the poop used for fertilizer or make stew with it either, but I use it in the garden. Not trying to stir up anything, just "thinking" out loud.


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