Can I add anything (hydrogen peroxide?) to stagnant rainwater to make it usable?

[SU2]

Oh boy animal ethics! I also kept salt water fish and corals for decades and was very good at it. I don’t any more. The fish I observed in an aquarium and later snorkeling on the reefs, particularly the larger fish and among these particularly angels and triggers very clearly had a high level of intelligence and probably consciousness. I decided it was cruel to keep them in an aquarium at all, and stopped and just raised captive bred coral after. Goldfish I observe nothing like that kind of consciousness in. It’s where I choose to draw my line. You can be different. You feed them to morays. That’s how the world works. I suffer everyday with pain also.

There that was fun.

haha I'm not some animal-ethics nut I just like to avoid suffering of lower organisms when convenient enough, it's funny where we draw our lines I mean I'll nuke thousands of ants if they break the perimeter of my home, yet other times I'll bring a spoon of sugar-water to a distressed-looking bee (in FL you see a delirious looking bee on the ground often enough lol), little rhyme or reason behind the way we actually act-out our ethics (no matter how rigid we think we are when choosing & declaring them! The 'human condition' I guess )

 

[SU2]

I use water from the hose.
I don't worry about P.H. at all.

I hope your tap is a good pH because you're not growing as well as you could be if your pH was right! I wonder how big a difference it makes in practice, my plants grew vigorously w/ my 8pH tap-water but at the same time I did have the chlorosis problems (and, of course, have no idea if they may've grown 20% larger had they been getting watered w/ 6pH water instead of my 8pH!)

 

[SU2]

I have to let my hose water sit for a day or so, it tests higher than the pool water for chlorine. This whole discussion seems to be a lot or worry over nothing. Surprised there isn't bottled bonsai water for the worry warts.

You always make it seem like I'm over-thinking stuff but the reality is I'm trying to setup a whole DIY rain-barrel and just want to understand the in's/out's beforehand, that's hardly overthinking IMO but to each their own I guess! In my ~1.25yrs of practicing bonsai there are several things that, had I learned a little detail earlier, I could've saved great headaches down the road; this type of thread serves to prevent such headaches, as well as letting me (and anybody interested in participating) a chance to geek-out on some of the minutiae

I know you're a "put the tree in the yard and leave it alone forever" type of mindset, I'm a geek in every sense of this and want to know the details, want to learn 'optimal', it's part of what I enjoy about this hobby

(btw if you happen to remember my 'big BC that wasn't going to make it- that sucker popped buds at 9 weeks!! It's currently got ~6" shoots and is putting out more buds every day (and visibly growing every day), think they're my favorite species )

 

[SU2]

There is something to being a worry wart about water actually. I’ve shared this before but after killing many trees over many years using my tap water from a well I found out the alkalinity was extremely high. This is about carbonate ions and is different than high ph, and toxic to plants. I lost half my collection one year when it didn’t rain for six weeks and I had to rely on the hose that whole time. It was the folks at Meehan’s nursery who educated me as they are in the same area as I and had similar problems when they started the nursery. They inject acid into their well water now. I use only rainwater, and rarely lose a tree.

Wow!! Sorry man

Do you know what the alkalinity/carbonate levels were? I've got mine scrawled somewhere, I hope I'm not looking at my 8pH tap as only a pH problem when it could be a carbonate problem (since it's different I can't imagine that only acidifying it will fix it..)

 

[SU2]

that's all I use is rainwater too, or tap that has sat a day or so for the chlorine to dissipate. The chlorine levels here test at pool recommendations, so I can't use it straight from the hose. The OP was talking about rain water so I don't see all the freaking out over using it.

You get chlorine? Gah we use chloramine in my county so I can't even gas-off :/

(and it was about rainwater but in 3 pages it kind of became about just water ;D )

 

[SU2]

You might want to read this article ... https://www.hunker.com/13425289/hydrogen-peroxide-and-pond-algae

Dude thanks!!

Once I've got a barrel and everything's setup I'll be fine but in the interim I think something like this is precisely what I'd like to have on-hand if I let water sit too long and it's bugging me, the only problem was I was just thinking that the 3% stuff would be cost-prohibitive but if they sell 30%'s at pond-supply places then that's fantastic, may also be useful for treating algae-rings on bark (I use 3% for this and it only slows the spread, never eradicates the algae entirely :/ )

 

[JoeH]

You get chlorine? Gah we use chloramine in my county so I can't even gas-off :/

(and it was about rainwater but in 3 pages it kind of became about just water ;D )

yep, sometimes you can smell it in the tapwater. I know it was rainwater, I use it until I almost run out then fill a trash can with water and let it sit for a couple days. I don't have the water sitting around long enough to worry about all this.

 

[JoeH]

You always make it seem like I'm over-thinking stuff but the reality is I'm trying to setup a whole DIY rain-barrel and just want to understand the in's/out's beforehand, that's hardly overthinking IMO but to each their own I guess! In my ~1.25yrs of practicing bonsai there are several things that, had I learned a little detail earlier, I could've saved great headaches down the road; this type of thread serves to prevent such headaches, as well as letting me (and anybody interested in participating) a chance to geek-out on some of the minutiae

I know you're a "put the tree in the yard and leave it alone forever" type of mindset, I'm a geek in every sense of this and want to know the details, want to learn 'optimal', it's part of what I enjoy about this hobby

(btw if you happen to remember my 'big BC that wasn't going to make it- that sucker popped buds at 9 weeks!! It's currently got ~6" shoots and is putting out more buds every day (and visibly growing every day), think they're my favorite species )

I never said it wouldn't make it. In general it just seems like you fuss way too much with the trees and worry about the minutia of the hobby too much. The whole thing is a learning process, and you need to learn what works for you thru trial and error. I live in the same zone so I try to help.

 

[M. Frary]

I hope your tap is a good pH because you're not growing as well as you could be if your pH was right! I wonder how big a difference it makes in practice, my plants grew vigorously w/ my 8pH tap-water but at the same time I did have the chlorosis problems (and, of course, have no idea if they may've grown 20% larger had they been getting watered w/ 6pH water instead of my 8pH!)

It must be. Everywhere I've lived I've only use tap water.
My water up here comes from the ground via wells. We don't have that reconstituted pee water found in cities.
P.H. isn't even on my radar. My trees grow strongly.
Strong enough to take 5 months of winter each year.
Strong enough to take what I do to them each year and recover.
The only time my trees don't get tap water is if it's rained very hard all day or when the power goes out. When the power goes out I go get barrels and buckets filled from the river.
I think too many people over think a lot of this stuff.
Soil,water,fertilizer. I go with cheap. I go with easy.
I go to bed at night knowing my trees are fine.

 

[JoeH]

It must be. Everywhere I've lived I've only use tap water.
My water up here comes from the ground via wells. We don't have that reconstituted pee water found in cities.
P.H. isn't even on my radar. My trees grow strongly.
Strong enough to take 5 months of winter each year.
Strong enough to take what I do to them each year and recover.
The only time my trees don't get tap water is if it's rained very hard all day or when the power goes out. When the power goes out I go get barrels and buckets filled from the river.
I think too many people over think a lot of this stuff.
Soil,water,fertilizer. I go with cheap. I go with easy.
I go to bed at night knowing my trees are fine.

amen to that. I really do need to patent Bonsai Water.

 

[M. Frary]

amen to that. I really do need to patent Bonsai Water.

That's probably a viable thing.
They buy bonsai specific dirt. (Akadama)
They'll buy bonsai specific fertilizer.
They'll buy bonsai specific cut paste.
All overpriced and can be substituted with cheaper things that workbas well or better so I bet those same people would probably fall onto the bonsai specific water trap too.

 

[JoeH]

Ohh, I bet it would sell. I get all my stuff from Napa,Lowe's, mother nature and the thrift store, so I'd be a dealer that isn't sampling his wares.

 

[Velodog2]

Wow!! Sorry man

Do you know what the alkalinity/carbonate levels were? I've got mine scrawled somewhere, I hope I'm not looking at my 8pH tap as only a pH problem when it could be a carbonate problem (since it's different I can't imagine that only acidifying it will fix it..)

Well over 300, maybe 400. Really nearly off the charts. Actually adding the proper acid at the right level does fix it quite well. I used to understand the chemistry but I’ve lost that.

It’s very sad how many good trees I lost without a clue as to why. The six weeks without rain prevented the well water from being flushed out magnifying the effect which I’d been suffering with at a lower level for years. I was about ready to finally give up after that and went to Meehan’s for help, which I got.

 

[SU2]

yep, sometimes you can smell it in the tapwater. I know it was rainwater, I use it until I almost run out then fill a trash can with water and let it sit for a couple days. I don't have the water sitting around long enough to worry about all this.

Yeah you can smell the chloramine in our water here, I've been toying w/ the idea of going to distilled (for myself) but unfortunately I can't gas-off the chloramine like chorine... I don't think it's that big a deal though, the pH is the biggest concern for me, having had iron chlorosis that supplemental iron couldn't fix!

 

[SU2]

I never said it wouldn't make it. In general it just seems like you fuss way too much with the trees and worry about the minutia of the hobby too much. The whole thing is a learning process, and you need to learn what works for you thru trial and error. I live in the same zone so I try to help.

Oh I'm sorry it came across that way, no I meant that the BC was one that I didn't think would make it! I don't believe you ever made any guesses on the survivability of my bc's at any point, honestly the inclusion of that was really just because I'd been speaking of the 'set and forget' mindset/approach and that was a specimen that got that and, to my great delight, recently started shooting, it's the tallest BC I had so just really excited about it ;D (I've actually got a BC truncheon cutting that's slowly growing out ~10 buds right now as well, will see how that goes! Still waiting w/ hope for my BC w/ a knee to bud, if nothing in the next week or two I'm guessing it's time to call it a failure :/ )


I like the minutia but it's not worry it's just being a geek, today my morning coffee-reading was how the forms of nitrogen differ and how they act in soils, it just interests me - I'm not out there poking & prodding at my tree in fact for most interventions I do them days after first conceiving of them ie I'll notice something and think it through instead of just going for it, as you say- trial&error! Ultimately I think my posts here are just giving a false impression about how I treat my trees, when I first started I'd be pruning fresh growth and doing all kinds of negative interventions but in my year I've learned enough to where I don't think I'm doing anything wrong, at this point I'm just trying to learn more minutiae to truly have a grasp on why I do what I do, and, hopefully, do it better in the future because of that!

Am appreciative of your posts even though I think you regard me as acting far more hastily w/ my trees than I truly do, but the fact you still post to help me really means a lot

 

[SU2]

It must be. Everywhere I've lived I've only use tap water.
My water up here comes from the ground via wells. We don't have that reconstituted pee water found in cities.
P.H. isn't even on my radar. My trees grow strongly.
Strong enough to take 5 months of winter each year.
Strong enough to take what I do to them each year and recover.
The only time my trees don't get tap water is if it's rained very hard all day or when the power goes out. When the power goes out I go get barrels and buckets filled from the river.
I think too many people over think a lot of this stuff.
Soil,water,fertilizer. I go with cheap. I go with easy.
I go to bed at night knowing my trees are fine.

"reconstituted pee water" ROFL!! The chloramine takes care of all that, right? ;P

And really, regarding your post here, to each their own. I fully understand and respect the "if it's not broken, don't fix it" mindset you've got on this, it's just not my mindset.....I've always loved the saying that being a geek isn't about what you like but about how you like it, and I'm a full-fledged horticulture geek, I like to know & learn the minutiae that would make your eyes roll-back in your head lol, there's many ways to approach gardening and there's certainly no 'one size fits all' approach ;D

 

[SU2]

That's probably a viable thing.
They buy bonsai specific dirt. (Akadama)
They'll buy bonsai specific fertilizer.
They'll buy bonsai specific cut paste.
All overpriced and can be substituted with cheaper things that workbas well or better so I bet those same people would probably fall onto the bonsai specific water trap too.

Ohh, I bet it would sell. I get all my stuff from Napa,Lowe's, mother nature and the thrift store, so I'd be a dealer that isn't sampling his wares.

ROFL!

While I think this is half-directed at me (and can't explain how untrue it'd be if so) it's incredibly true in general, people are complete suckers for labels and absurdly prone to impulse-purchases!

I don't think I have 1 bonsai-specific product in my house, unless I count a pair of 8" knob&flat cutters I was gifted...generic miracle-gro fertilizer, home-processed 8822DE/scoria/pine-bark (god it takes so long!), hand-made boxes and pots, plumber's putty when I want to seal a cut, etc

 

[SU2]

Well over 300, maybe 400. Really nearly off the charts. Actually adding the proper acid at the right level does fix it quite well. I used to understand the chemistry but I’ve lost that.

It’s very sad how many good trees I lost without a clue as to why. The six weeks without rain prevented the well water from being flushed out magnifying the effect which I’d been suffering with at a lower level for years. I was about ready to finally give up after that and went to Meehan’s for help, which I got.

Damn man I'm sorry Very glad Meehan's was there for you

Just checked my water, am at 186 (if I'm reading that right, am unsure if they've somehow split carbonates into 2 categories or something!)

 

[GnoMercy]

Can you make it rain allot more in south Texas?

Hahah. Is it funny he said he gets 150 gallons from 1/4 in of rain and I though. Hmm I’m not sure that “rainstorm” we got in Jan would hold me over until July.....

 

[SU2]

Hahah. Is it funny he said he gets 150 gallons from 1/4 in of rain and I though. Hmm I’m not sure that “rainstorm” we got in Jan would hold me over until July.....

couldn't be more confused by your post here...you're referring to a rainstorm from Jan., in Nevada, to someone living in south texas... also no idea what could possibly be funny about @cmeg1 's post....so confused by what you're trying to get across here..

Cmeg1- I've now got around ~140gal total capacity, haven't setup a tap on my 55gal bucket (or a downspout to it), am literally going out and pouring the smaller two tubs into the large 55gal mid-rain, so at the end all 4 containers are filled to the brim, don't think I'll be using much/any tap water for the rest of the growing-season because we have a real 'rainy period' that's basically just starting now and after the first half decent rain I had full barrels Now I've got all the ~4.7pH water I could want w/o having to add phosphates/nitric acid/sulfur to the water as a by-product of a pH-Down product!!