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Harvesting Rainwater for Hydroponics?


If you are one of many growers who want to try to practice more of an alternative or renewable resources approach, you may be looking at trying to harvest rainwater for your garden. Harvesting rainwater can be a great alternative to tap water use. For one thing, harvesting rainwater can have less of the heavy metals and other contaminants that are in lots of city or municipal water. In fact, lots of growers will not use unsterilized tap water at all, because they just feel it doesn’t bring a good level of quality for plants.

So how do you get rainwater into your hydroponics garden? Unlike in a soil-based gardening, the plants just aren't in the ground soaking up groundwater. But you can still use that groundwater or incoming rainwater for the photosynthesis that your hydroponic plants do.

Harvesting Rainwater Methods -- Rain Barrels

One easy and quick way to harvest rainwater is to put a rain barrel in your storm water handling system. You can attach a rain barrel to downspouts and gutters on a house, or you can set it up in its own particular outdoor area. Either way, water will accumulate and filter into the rain barrel and you'll have a source of water for hydroponics.

It's important to look at the different models of rain barrels and the features and designs they have. For example, some rain barrels will intake water in different ways and some will have better features and monitoring controls for handling the incoming water.

Groundwater Methods

Another way to get rainwater for a hydroponics garden is to capture it underground. Some experts tend to call this “wet” rainwater collection. Growers can design various kinds of traps and capturing devices at the ground level, so that as the water drains into the ground it flows into reservoir systems that will be used for hydroponics.

Experts sometimes also talk about “dry” systems that are built above ground or where water is allowed to puddle in a tray for containment and use.

Dealing with Local Laws

As strange as it may seem, some municipalities to have laws related to rainwater collection. These are sometimes related to the federal and state laws that are in place across the U.S. that have to do with handling storm water. So check with local government resources to see if there are any rules and regulations on how you can collect rainwater for your garden.

Getting the right kinds of water for garden is just one aspect of maintaining a good hydroponics project. Take a look at Dealzer’s website to understand all the challenges you'll face and the resources you can have at your disposal.

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