Does anyone use a rain barrel?

[Scrambled Egg]

The worm tea sounds really interesting as fertilizer and the online catalog company that I was looking at did not mention that as a side benefit of having the worm bin.

lol Martian..probably smells too bad to mention!! You have to dilute it, it really is strong. My wornm bin has a sgigot on the bottom to drain the "tea" out so it must be a common thing. If you get one, you can pm me anytime and I will help you with it. Good luck!​

 

[Dawn419]

We're using a 55 gallon plastic drum as a rain barrel. We used a piece of window screen (held in place with bungee cords) to keep the skeeters from breeding in it. It's set up on a couple of cinder blocks to help the water flow better from the outlet hose.

Will get pix of the set up tomorrow as its dark and drizzling here now.

Dawn

 

[Scrambled Egg]

I bragged about photobucket earlier and tonight it has caused problems twice that totally kicked me off my dsl, lol!! no more bragging! Sorry for the size, THAT was my photobucket problem, haha! Here is my rain barrel... (that hose was too long to work well with the gravity flow and now I have a shorter "connector" hose on it..much better)...

more current picture in a post below.....

 

[scgamecock]

I have a friend that collects rain water and he uses it to water his chickens and rabbits.He says it's much better for them and tap water.

 

[Scrambled Egg]

If the water is fresh that would be a good idea. Mine collects so much North Carolina pollen that when I take it apart and clean it there is usually a yellow pollen coating on the inside walls. I have screen and pebbles over the top too and try to use it regularly so it doesn't stagnate. Pets couldnt drink mine with all that pollen in it but others may keep theirs fresher and then it would be handy.

 

[Dawn419]

Here's our rain barrel set-up...

Yikes!!! Looks like we need to re-level it soon...it doesn't look that off-kilter in person...

Dawn

 

[silkiechicken]

Just out of curiosity, what color is the water that runs off the roof? I caught 5 gallons of rain water from our roof once when I was a kid, and the water in the bucket was yellow... like a tea.... Could it be just that the roof is an old tar shingle roof?

 

[Dawn419]

Our water is clear but we live in a single-wide mobile home so that probably has something to do with it.

Dawn

 

[TheMartianChick]

Our runoff water was always clear...We had a big old farmhouse with a tin roof. I still miss the sound of the rain!

 

[Lunachick]

Our water off the roof comes clear, but we get the yellow/green stuff on the roof after the pine and oak trees leave their pollen all over everything - then our water in the barrel goes greenish, but it's still good water for plants.