It all started with my acquiring a cute little venus fly trap. We had flies in our kitchen. A steady supply of pest strips and flyswatters weren’t keeping up with my demand for fewer flies, so I figured Nature had a solution worth trying. Any excuse for a new plant, right? Fly trap plants are very sensitive to chemicals in tap water, so I was advised to use only rain or distilled water to feed my new pet. A little rainwater every few days - no problem this time of year. If we did go longer without rain, there was always some leftover in one of the dogs’ outside bowls.
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| Mandevillas |
- Plants are set up for rainwater. Rainwater is purer and more easily absorbed by the plant because it is naturally soft, or free of the minerals often found in tap water. This allows for healthier growth.
- Salt exists in the soil naturally (in South Florida? Ya think??). Sodium (salt) is used to soften water in areas where the water is naturally full of minerals to reduce deposit buildup. Too much salt is bad for plants, as it starves the roots of water. Rainwater dilutes the salts in the soil and pushes them further down, away from the plant's root system.
- Municipal water services add a lot of things to the water supply to keep it clean and sterile as it flows through pipes. Fluoride and chlorine are very common additives. Fluoride is put into the water in an effort to keep people's teeth healthy. Chlorine is used to kill off harmful bacteria in the water supply. Both of these chemicals affect the pH of the soil, often making it too acidic for plants. Rainwater contains neither of these additives, having been filtered by evaporation.
As a budding gardener, I am thrilled to have something new to do for my plants, so, armed with all this information, I was off to the internet for some enlightened rainbarrel shopping.
Here’s the kicker: I spent almost $400 on these three barrels. I like them so much I want to eventually get three more. I like that they allow me to give my plants a drink that’s really good for them; they make me feel like a better plant mom. However, my monthly water bill averages around $50 a month; that includes all bathing, dishwashing, laundry, hose plant-watering (no automatic sprinkler system), and a 15 minute daily round of Hose Game with my dog. Let’s just divide my total usage by those 5 main water-consuming activities, and I would guesstimate that my monthly bill for watering my plants runs around $10 a month. For the cost of $800 in rainbarrels, I could just continue hose watering my plants for 6.6 years.
But. It’s not about how the numbers work. That's not the point. It’s about how much better I feel doing the right thing for my plants. It’s like the difference between picking out a tomato at Publix and picking one out of your own garden. Yes, there is often a qualitative difference in the vegetable, but the greater qualitative difference here is in the experience itself; the small quality-of-life gesture versus the convenience-of-life gesture. The former is simply more nourishing, and nurturing . . . for all involved.
