I pay water and sewer fees on every single gallon of water I use for
my plants. I recently planted a hedge of blueberry plants, and noticed
that the house has 2 downspouts on that end, roughly 25 feet apart.

I've never actually had rain barrels, though I did experiment with 5
gallon buckets a few years back. (a neighbor complained that he felt I
was the source of mosquitoes in the area, and he may have been right)
I'm not sure that I would have enough room to use an actual rain barrel,
since the plants are only a bit over 2' from the foundation, and there
is a chain link fence close to one end of the hedge.

I'd love to build an underground cistern that would hold 2,000
gallons of rainwater, but I think that is probably out of the question
as well, due solely to financial concerns.

Can anyone suggest a solution that might let me capture the rainwater
and use it for irrigation? Keep in mind that the row of plants is about
25' long, the plants are between 2' and 2.5' from the foundation, and
there is a downspout at both ends of the hedge row. I was kind of
hoping I'd find solutions for this at some of the big stores near here,
in the garden sections, but so far I haven't.

Years ago, I seem to remember seeing some sort of plastic/rubber
device you could fasten to your downspout. It would inflate with water
when it rained, and then slowly release the water over a couple of days.
You could simply unroll it, like a huge hose, and put it near the base
of the plants you wanted watered. As long as the land was relatively
flat, it would work fine. I never bought one, but I think something
like that might work well. Just can't seem to think of what it was
called, and there is no guarantee they still make anything like that, I
guess.

Thanks!

In article ,
Ohioguy wrote:

I pay water and sewer fees on every single gallon of water I use for
my plants. I recently planted a hedge of blueberry plants, and noticed
that the house has 2 downspouts on that end, roughly 25 feet apart.

I've never actually had rain barrels, though I did experiment with 5
gallon buckets a few years back. (a neighbor complained that he felt I
was the source of mosquitoes in the area, and he may have been right)
I'm not sure that I would have enough room to use an actual rain barrel,
since the plants are only a bit over 2' from the foundation, and there
is a chain link fence close to one end of the hedge.

I'd love to build an underground cistern that would hold 2,000
gallons of rainwater, but I think that is probably out of the question
as well, due solely to financial concerns.

Can anyone suggest a solution that might let me capture the rainwater
and use it for irrigation? Keep in mind that the row of plants is about
25' long, the plants are between 2' and 2.5' from the foundation, and
there is a downspout at both ends of the hedge row. I was kind of
hoping I'd find solutions for this at some of the big stores near here,
in the garden sections, but so far I haven't.

Years ago, I seem to remember seeing some sort of plastic/rubber
device you could fasten to your downspout. It would inflate with water
when it rained, and then slowly release the water over a couple of days.
You could simply unroll it, like a huge hose, and put it near the base
of the plants you wanted watered. As long as the land was relatively
flat, it would work fine. I never bought one, but I think something
like that might work well. Just can't seem to think of what it was
called, and there is no guarantee they still make anything like that, I
guess.

Thanks!

You could buy an inflatable swimming pool, if you get rain for a few
days, each month during the summer. The problem with that would be
mosquitos.
--
- Billy
"Fascism should more properly be called corporatism because it is the
merger of state and corporate power." - Benito Mussolini.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Arn3lF5XSUg
http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Zinn/HZinn_page.html

Ohioguy wrote:
I pay water and sewer fees on every single gallon of water I use for
my plants. I recently planted a hedge of blueberry plants, and
noticed that the house has 2 downspouts on that end, roughly 25 feet
apart.
I've never actually had rain barrels, though I did experiment with 5
gallon buckets a few years back. (a neighbor complained that he felt I
was the source of mosquitoes in the area, and he may have been right)
I'm not sure that I would have enough room to use an actual rain
barrel, since the plants are only a bit over 2' from the foundation,
and there is a chain link fence close to one end of the hedge.

I'd love to build an underground cistern that would hold 2,000
gallons of rainwater, but I think that is probably out of the question
as well, due solely to financial concerns.

Can anyone suggest a solution that might let me capture the
rainwater and use it for irrigation? Keep in mind that the row of
plants is about 25' long, the plants are between 2' and 2.5' from the
foundation, and there is a downspout at both ends of the hedge row. I was
kind of hoping I'd find solutions for this at some of the big
stores near here, in the garden sections, but so far I haven't.

Years ago, I seem to remember seeing some sort of plastic/rubber
device you could fasten to your downspout. It would inflate with
water when it rained, and then slowly release the water over a couple
of days. You could simply unroll it, like a huge hose, and put it
near the base of the plants you wanted watered. As long as the land
was relatively flat, it would work fine. I never bought one, but I
think something like that might work well. Just can't seem to think
of what it was called, and there is no guarantee they still make
anything like that, I guess.

Thanks!

Instead of capturing the water why not just distribute it better, eg a
plastic drain pipe from the downpipes along the row with holes in it. It's
cheap and doesn't make mosquito ponds.

David

"Ohioguy" wrote

Can anyone suggest a solution that might let me capture the rainwater
and use it for irrigation? Keep in mind that the row of plants is about

If you want to go back the rain barrel, just add a thin layer of vegetable
oil to the top. Kills the mosquitoes and won't hurt the yard.

On Wed, 26 May 2010 15:13:01 +1000, "David Hare-Scott"
wrote:

Ohioguy wrote:
I pay water and sewer fees on every single gallon of water I use for
my plants. I recently planted a hedge of blueberry plants, and
noticed that the house has 2 downspouts on that end, roughly 25 feet
apart.
I've never actually had rain barrels, though I did experiment with 5
gallon buckets a few years back. (a neighbor complained that he felt I
was the source of mosquitoes in the area, and he may have been right)
I'm not sure that I would have enough room to use an actual rain
barrel, since the plants are only a bit over 2' from the foundation,
and there is a chain link fence close to one end of the hedge.

I'd love to build an underground cistern that would hold 2,000
gallons of rainwater, but I think that is probably out of the question
as well, due solely to financial concerns.

Can anyone suggest a solution that might let me capture the
rainwater and use it for irrigation? Keep in mind that the row of
plants is about 25' long, the plants are between 2' and 2.5' from the
foundation, and there is a downspout at both ends of the hedge row. I was
kind of hoping I'd find solutions for this at some of the big
stores near here, in the garden sections, but so far I haven't.

Years ago, I seem to remember seeing some sort of plastic/rubber
device you could fasten to your downspout. It would inflate with
water when it rained, and then slowly release the water over a couple
of days. You could simply unroll it, like a huge hose, and put it
near the base of the plants you wanted watered. As long as the land
was relatively flat, it would work fine. I never bought one, but I
think something like that might work well. Just can't seem to think
of what it was called, and there is no guarantee they still make
anything like that, I guess.

Thanks!

Instead of capturing the water why not just distribute it better, eg a
plastic drain pipe from the downpipes along the row with holes in it. It's
cheap and doesn't make mosquito ponds.

It won't be so cheap when it can't dispel water quickly enough to
prevent water from backing up in the gutters, either the excessive
weight tearing them from the eaves and/or the water backing up into
the soffits destroying the house.

Buy a large plastic vat (not all that costly) or dig a pond. Why does
anyone need to capture rain water in Ohio, it certainly rains there on
a regular enough basis to keep plants watered... Ohio isn't in Death
Valley last I looked.

brooklyn1 wrote:
On Wed, 26 May 2010 15:13:01 +1000, "David Hare-Scott"
wrote:

Ohioguy wrote:
I pay water and sewer fees on every single gallon of water I use
for my plants. I recently planted a hedge of blueberry plants, and
noticed that the house has 2 downspouts on that end, roughly 25 feet
apart.
I've never actually had rain barrels, though I did experiment
with 5 gallon buckets a few years back. (a neighbor complained that
he felt I was the source of mosquitoes in the area, and he may have
been right) I'm not sure that I would have enough room to use an
actual rain
barrel, since the plants are only a bit over 2' from the foundation,
and there is a chain link fence close to one end of the hedge.

I'd love to build an underground cistern that would hold 2,000
gallons of rainwater, but I think that is probably out of the
question as well, due solely to financial concerns.

Can anyone suggest a solution that might let me capture the
rainwater and use it for irrigation? Keep in mind that the row of
plants is about 25' long, the plants are between 2' and 2.5' from
the foundation, and there is a downspout at both ends of the hedge
row. I was kind of hoping I'd find solutions for this at some of
the big
stores near here, in the garden sections, but so far I haven't.

Years ago, I seem to remember seeing some sort of plastic/rubber
device you could fasten to your downspout. It would inflate with
water when it rained, and then slowly release the water over a
couple of days. You could simply unroll it, like a huge hose, and
put it
near the base of the plants you wanted watered. As long as the land
was relatively flat, it would work fine. I never bought one, but I
think something like that might work well. Just can't seem to think
of what it was called, and there is no guarantee they still make
anything like that, I guess.

Thanks!

Instead of capturing the water why not just distribute it better, eg
a plastic drain pipe from the downpipes along the row with holes in
it. It's cheap and doesn't make mosquito ponds.

It won't be so cheap when it can't dispel water quickly enough to
prevent water from backing up in the gutters, either the excessive
weight tearing them from the eaves and/or the water backing up into
the soffits destroying the house.

You are assuming that this arrangement will impede the flow of water more
than the open end of the pipe and that there is weight hanging off the
downpipes. There would be many cases where a suitable design can be found
which doesn't have these problems. Whether this is a good solution or not
depends on the details of the situation which we cannot see. I just wanted
to throw up the idea that if retaining water is a problem then there is the
option to not retain it.

David

cshenk wrote:
"Ohioguy" wrote

Can anyone suggest a solution that might let me capture the
rainwater and use it for irrigation? Keep in mind that the row of
plants is about

If you want to go back the rain barrel, just add a thin layer of
vegetable oil to the top. Kills the mosquitoes and won't hurt the
yard.

Or fine screen acros the top. Water goes through, mosquitos can't.

Bob F wrote:
cshenk wrote:
"Ohioguy" wrote

Can anyone suggest a solution that might let me capture the
rainwater and use it for irrigation? Keep in mind that the row of
plants is about

If you want to go back the rain barrel, just add a thin layer of
vegetable oil to the top. Kills the mosquitoes and won't hurt the
yard.

Or fine screen acros the top. Water goes through, mosquitos can't.

This is standard practice on both inlet and overflow where roof-water tanks
are common.

David

On May 27, 7:35*pm, "David Hare-Scott" wrote:
Bob F wrote:
cshenk wrote:
"Ohioguy" wrote

* Can anyone suggest a solution that might let me capture the
rainwater and use it for irrigation? *Keep in mind that the row of
plants is about

If you want to go back the rain barrel, just add a thin layer of
vegetable oil to the top. *Kills the mosquitoes and won't hurt the
yard.

Or fine screen acros the top. Water goes through, mosquitos can't.

This is standard practice on both inlet and overflow where roof-water tanks
are common.

David

I bought a cheap plastic garbage can and wrapped the top with window
screen. Drilled a hole in the bottom and added a spigot and hose. I
have it elevated with a few cinder blocks. There is not enough
pressure to use a sprinkler but I can attach a short piece of soaker
hose and water small segments; most of the time I use a can to carry
the water to the plants.

In article
,
"J.R. in MI" wrote:

On May 27, 7:35*pm, "David Hare-Scott" wrote:
Bob F wrote:
cshenk wrote:
"Ohioguy" wrote

* Can anyone suggest a solution that might let me capture the
rainwater and use it for irrigation? *Keep in mind that the row of
plants is about

If you want to go back the rain barrel, just add a thin layer of
vegetable oil to the top. *Kills the mosquitoes and won't hurt the
yard.

Or fine screen acros the top. Water goes through, mosquitos can't.

This is standard practice on both inlet and overflow where roof-water tanks
are common.

David

I bought a cheap plastic garbage can and wrapped the top with window
screen. Drilled a hole in the bottom and added a spigot and hose. I
have it elevated with a few cinder blocks. There is not enough
pressure to use a sprinkler but I can attach a short piece of soaker
hose and water small segments; most of the time I use a can to carry
the water to the plants.

Just don't try this in Colorado, where capturing rainwater is illegal.
http://articles.latimes.com/2009/mar...ed-rainwater18
--
- Billy
"Fascism should more properly be called corporatism because it is the
merger of state and corporate power." - Benito Mussolini.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Arn3lF5XSUg
http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Zinn/HZinn_page.html

Billy wrote:
In article
,
"J.R. in MI" wrote:

On May 27, 7:35 pm, "David Hare-Scott" wrote:
Bob F wrote:
cshenk wrote:
"Ohioguy" wrote

Can anyone suggest a solution that might let me capture the
rainwater and use it for irrigation? Keep in mind that the row of
plants is about

If you want to go back the rain barrel, just add a thin layer of
vegetable oil to the top. Kills the mosquitoes and won't hurt the
yard.

Or fine screen acros the top. Water goes through, mosquitos can't.

This is standard practice on both inlet and overflow where
roof-water tanks are common.

David

I bought a cheap plastic garbage can and wrapped the top with window
screen. Drilled a hole in the bottom and added a spigot and hose. I
have it elevated with a few cinder blocks. There is not enough
pressure to use a sprinkler but I can attach a short piece of soaker
hose and water small segments; most of the time I use a can to carry
the water to the plants.

Just don't try this in Colorado, where capturing rainwater is illegal.
http://articles.latimes.com/2009/mar...ed-rainwater18

We have a similar accounting system where various people have rights to
different amounts of water in different situations and many of these rights
can be bought and sold. The difference here is that built into the system
is the concept of harvestable right. Every landholder has the inallienable
right to harvest 10% of the water that falls on their land. You might think
that this is very hard to determine but in practice it is managed by setting
limits on how large the container may be that holds it. So I am allowed to
have a tank up to 2.3 megalitres (about 600,000 gal US). In addition you
have the right to pump water from rivers and other permanent water for
domestic purposes which includes vegetable gardens and orchards that are not
commercial.

On the whole this seems a fair compromise between the rights of the
individual and giving certainty to commercial operations, the Colorado law
does not.

David

In article ,
"David Hare-Scott" wrote:

Billy wrote:
In article
,
"J.R. in MI" wrote:

On May 27, 7:35 pm, "David Hare-Scott" wrote:
Bob F wrote:
cshenk wrote:
"Ohioguy" wrote

Can anyone suggest a solution that might let me capture the
rainwater and use it for irrigation? Keep in mind that the row of
plants is about

If you want to go back the rain barrel, just add a thin layer of
vegetable oil to the top. Kills the mosquitoes and won't hurt the
yard.

Or fine screen acros the top. Water goes through, mosquitos can't.

This is standard practice on both inlet and overflow where
roof-water tanks are common.

David

I bought a cheap plastic garbage can and wrapped the top with window
screen. Drilled a hole in the bottom and added a spigot and hose. I
have it elevated with a few cinder blocks. There is not enough
pressure to use a sprinkler but I can attach a short piece of soaker
hose and water small segments; most of the time I use a can to carry
the water to the plants.

Just don't try this in Colorado, where capturing rainwater is illegal.
http://articles.latimes.com/2009/mar...ed-rainwater18

We have a similar accounting system where various people have rights to
different amounts of water in different situations and many of these rights
can be bought and sold. The difference here is that built into the system
is the concept of harvestable right. Every landholder has the inallienable
right to harvest 10% of the water that falls on their land. You might think
that this is very hard to determine but in practice it is managed by setting
limits on how large the container may be that holds it. So I am allowed to
have a tank up to 2.3 megalitres (about 600,000 gal US). In addition you
have the right to pump water from rivers and other permanent water for
domestic purposes which includes vegetable gardens and orchards that are not
commercial.

On the whole this seems a fair compromise between the rights of the
individual and giving certainty to commercial operations, the Colorado law
does not.

David

The good people of Cochabamba, Bolivia agree with you.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/features/water/bolivia.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTKn17uZRAE
--
- Billy
"Fascism should more properly be called corporatism because it is the
merger of state and corporate power." - Benito Mussolini.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Arn3lF5XSUg
http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Zinn/HZinn_page.html

"Billy" wrote in message
...
In article
,
"J.R. in MI" wrote:

On May 27, 7:35 pm, "David Hare-Scott" wrote:
Bob F wrote:
cshenk wrote:
"Ohioguy" wrote

Can anyone suggest a solution that might let me capture the
rainwater and use it for irrigation? Keep in mind that the row of
plants is about

If you want to go back the rain barrel, just add a thin layer of
vegetable oil to the top. Kills the mosquitoes and won't hurt the
yard.

Or fine screen acros the top. Water goes through, mosquitos can't.

This is standard practice on both inlet and overflow where roof-water
tanks
are common.

David

I bought a cheap plastic garbage can and wrapped the top with window
screen. Drilled a hole in the bottom and added a spigot and hose. I
have it elevated with a few cinder blocks. There is not enough
pressure to use a sprinkler but I can attach a short piece of soaker
hose and water small segments; most of the time I use a can to carry
the water to the plants.

Just don't try this in Colorado, where capturing rainwater is illegal.
http://articles.latimes.com/2009/mar...ed-rainwater18

Good Lord! How absolutely ridiculous!

FarmI wrote:
I bought a cheap plastic garbage can and wrapped the top with window
screen. Drilled a hole in the bottom and added a spigot and hose. I
have it elevated with a few cinder blocks. There is not enough
pressure to use a sprinkler but I can attach a short piece of soaker
hose and water small segments; most of the time I use a can to carry
the water to the plants.

Just don't try this in Colorado, where capturing rainwater is
illegal.
http://articles.latimes.com/2009/mar...ed-rainwater18

Good Lord! How absolutely ridiculous!

Isn't it interesting that the nation that superficially champions freedom of
the individual, the society of limitless opportunity, the home of the brave
etc, has so many domestic quirks where those freedoms are abrogated by law
and hosts so many powerful groups whose main aim is to make everybody live
their way and no other.

David

In article ,
"David Hare-Scott" wrote:

FarmI wrote:
I bought a cheap plastic garbage can and wrapped the top with window
screen. Drilled a hole in the bottom and added a spigot and hose. I
have it elevated with a few cinder blocks. There is not enough
pressure to use a sprinkler but I can attach a short piece of soaker
hose and water small segments; most of the time I use a can to carry
the water to the plants.

Just don't try this in Colorado, where capturing rainwater is
illegal.
http://articles.latimes.com/2009/mar...ed-rainwater18

Good Lord! How absolutely ridiculous!

Isn't it interesting that the nation that superficially champions freedom of
the individual, the society of limitless opportunity, the home of the brave
etc, has so many domestic quirks where those freedoms are abrogated by law
and hosts so many powerful groups whose main aim is to make everybody live
their way and no other.

David

Ah, so you noticed the disconnect between the chauvinistic posturing of
national policy, and the reality of its application in daily life too.
--
- Billy
"Fascism should more properly be called corporatism because it is the
merger of state and corporate power." - Benito Mussolini.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Arn3lF5XSUg
http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Zinn/HZinn_page.html