I have been using water from a rain barrel in between rain storms, plants were looking like some of the leaves had nute burn? the water ph is around 7, getting yellowing leaves with burnt tips, then the whole leaf turns crispy & falls off, i thought it was just from too much rain we were getting all through july. the water was kind of green & smelly with alot of dead mosquitos in it due to the screen over the barrel. i removed most of the dead leaves, ill try to get pics of the remaining…i emptied the rain barrel & refilled with town water which has chlorine, it should dissipate before next watering.
aerate it and let the chlorine dissipate…then check Ph as aeration will change it
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You could totally throw a solar powered airstone in there keep it from getting so stagnant. But honestly, I don’t think it hurts anything. I have a small creek in my backyard that dries up late summer. As the water starts to dry up I get some really nasty stagnant pools with every bug and mosquito fighting for the last wet mud. My plants fucking love that shit. It’s like fertilizer in a muddy puddle. I doubt the stagnant water caused the problem. Coincidence. That’s just my five cents…
Stagnant anaerobic water can have super low pH conditions if there is soft water. Heavy bacteria loads can reduce your KH levels quickly causing the pH to crash to the floor. Happens all the time in fish tanks… The only thing I would do is a pH test to make sure you’re not pouring 4.8 ph water on her.
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thats what i was thinking, it would be good for them, but the water was pretty green so im thinking algae? i have a couple air stones im going to throw in the barrel , i just need a new piece of tubing, will get it tomorrow am. & the ph was 7.3…
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Yes the plants do love that nasty water i have horse and cattle farm across the road from me creek runs through my property my plants love the water stagnant ever now and then