Do any of you collect rainwater to use on your orchids? I want to
collect the rainwater off of the roof of my house. I had to get a new
roof after last summers hurricanes so I have new asphalt shingles and I
am wondering if there is anything toxic in them. Not that a TDS meter
can tell me anything, but the TDS of the rain from my roof is the same
as the rain falling right into a clean bucket.

Dustin

Dustin wrote:
> Do any of you collect rainwater to use on your orchids? I want to
> collect the rainwater off of the roof of my house. I had to get a new
> roof after last summers hurricanes so I have new asphalt shingles and I
> am wondering if there is anything toxic in them. Not that a TDS meter
> can tell me anything, but the TDS of the rain from my roof is the same
> as the rain falling right into a clean bucket.
>
> Dustin

I collected water from my roof in the fall last year and the year
before. I started doing it when I got several seedling Phrags. Last year
I collected about 50 gallons and stored it in plastic milk jugs for use
over the winter. My roof was a few years old when I started collecting
rain. I was warned by people that there could be a danger of toxic
substances in the water. I never saw any problems. I always tried to
collect water AFTER it had been raining for a while and while it was
raining fairly hard. One time I collected some from the beginning of a
gentle rain and the water had a brown tint to it. I threw that batch out.
By the way, I don't plan to collect water this year. I always suspected
that our water has a very low TDS but since I didn't have a meter, I
collected rain to be safe. A friend of mine got a TDS meter. My
collected rain gave a reading of 4. Water right out of the tap gave a
reading of 17. I guess I was wasting my time with the rain collections.

Steve ... in the Adirondacks ... where the forecast for tonight is 35
degrees and tomorrow night, 33 degrees. I spent most of the day bringing
orchids into the basement grow areas!

Steve wrote:
> Dustin wrote:
>
>> Do any of you collect rainwater to use on your orchids? I want to
>> collect the rainwater off of the roof of my house. I had to get a new
>> roof after last summers hurricanes so I have new asphalt shingles and I
>> am wondering if there is anything toxic in them. Not that a TDS meter
>> can tell me anything, but the TDS of the rain from my roof is the same
>> as the rain falling right into a clean bucket.
>>
>> Dustin
>
>
> I collected water from my roof in the fall last year and the year
> before. I started doing it when I got several seedling Phrags. Last year
> I collected about 50 gallons and stored it in plastic milk jugs for use
> over the winter. My roof was a few years old when I started collecting
> rain. I was warned by people that there could be a danger of toxic
> substances in the water. I never saw any problems. I always tried to
> collect water AFTER it had been raining for a while and while it was
> raining fairly hard. One time I collected some from the beginning of a
> gentle rain and the water had a brown tint to it. I threw that batch out.
> By the way, I don't plan to collect water this year. I always suspected
> that our water has a very low TDS but since I didn't have a meter, I
> collected rain to be safe. A friend of mine got a TDS meter. My
> collected rain gave a reading of 4. Water right out of the tap gave a
> reading of 17.

Tapwater at 17? Where do you gbet that?? Eden? That's
just not normal! Ours is between 400 and 600. My
rainwater tests at 11. BIG difference, especially for
the disas.

"tennis maynard" <wylee [at] columbus.rr.com> wrote in message
news:RDuUe.296$ib1.257 [at] tornado.ohiordc.rr.com...
>
> Tapwater at 17? Where do you gbet that?? Eden? That's
> just not normal! Ours is between 400 and 600. My
> rainwater tests at 11. BIG difference, especially for
> the disas.

I think we're around 60 in Atlanta? We have pretty good water here. 17
would be awesome.
-danny

If I recall some discussions from LONG ago, Steve's suggestion about waiting
for the initial "roof rinse" before collecting is a good idea.

I believe the concern is less for the shingle ingredients as much as for
what pollutants may have settled on your roof.
--

Ray Barkalow - First Rays Orchids - www.firstrays.com
Plants, Supplies, Artwork, Books and Lots of Free Info!


"Dustin " <d [at] d.com> wrote in message news:1h2nam2.xfd20b1unt4smN%d [at] d.com...
> Do any of you collect rainwater to use on your orchids? I want to
> collect the rainwater off of the roof of my house. I had to get a new
> roof after last summers hurricanes so I have new asphalt shingles and I
> am wondering if there is anything toxic in them. Not that a TDS meter
> can tell me anything, but the TDS of the rain from my roof is the same
> as the rain falling right into a clean bucket.
>
> Dustin

tennis maynard wrote:

> Steve wrote:
>
>> Dustin wrote:
>>
>>> Do any of you collect rainwater to use on your orchids? I want to
>>> collect the rainwater off of the roof of my house. I had to get a new
>>> roof after last summers hurricanes so I have new asphalt shingles and I
>>> am wondering if there is anything toxic in them. Not that a TDS meter
>>> can tell me anything, but the TDS of the rain from my roof is the same
>>> as the rain falling right into a clean bucket.
>>>
>>> Dustin
>>
>>
>>
>> I collected water from my roof in the fall last year and the year
>> before. I started doing it when I got several seedling Phrags. Last
>> year I collected about 50 gallons and stored it in plastic milk jugs
>> for use over the winter. My roof was a few years old when I started
>> collecting rain. I was warned by people that there could be a danger
>> of toxic substances in the water. I never saw any problems. I always
>> tried to collect water AFTER it had been raining for a while and while
>> it was raining fairly hard. One time I collected some from the
>> beginning of a gentle rain and the water had a brown tint to it. I
>> threw that batch out.
>> By the way, I don't plan to collect water this year. I always
>> suspected that our water has a very low TDS but since I didn't have a
>> meter, I collected rain to be safe. A friend of mine got a TDS meter.
>> My collected rain gave a reading of 4. Water right out of the tap gave
>> a reading of 17.
>
>
> Tapwater at 17? Where do you gbet that?? Eden? That's
> just not normal! Ours is between 400 and 600. My
> rainwater tests at 11. BIG difference, especially for
> the disas.

Hi Tennis,
Our tap water is treated lake water. The main, and nearly only, type of
rock in these mountains is granite. I guess it doesn't give up many
minerals to the rain before it gets to the lakes.
I assume my friend's meter is fairly accurate. He got it because he was
told he needed it if he was going to use coconut husk chips. You know,
to confirm it is rinsed well enough. (I use CHC all the time. I rinse it
3 times and don't worry about it.) He lives north of here and is just
outside the Adirondack area. His water tests between 125 and 200 up
there. He brought the meter to a meeting so we could all test our water.
He brought in a jar of distilled water to rinse the meter between
samples. The distilled water gave a reading of zero but went up to 1
after is was used to rinse the meter a few times.

Steve
PS I've been wanting to try Disas. After the water test, I've been
thinking about it even more.