Gray Water

Last spring I re roughed my shower and washing machine to a drain to the garden. first of all a washer uses 50 gallons of water per load and with our house hold I can only imagine how many gallons our shower uses x3 per day.

I could see an incredible difference in the plants that got gray water and the plants that got the garden hose.

Anybody else ever try this?

never tried it, sounds a little risky. ARe you saying you used the water that you bathed , and washed your clothes in to water your plants?

slk said:

Last spring I re roughed my shower and washing machine to a drain to the garden. first of all a washer uses 50 gallons of water per load and with our house hold I can only imagine how many gallons our shower uses x3 per day.

I could see an incredible difference in the plants that got gray water and the plants that got the garden hose.

Anybody else ever try this?

Click to expand...

I poured lots of fire ant killer on this ant bed and around it about a month ago, and thought that it would kill the grass; I was deat wrong the grass grew back a lot greener than the areas around it, maybe it b/c the ant bed had tunnels and aerated the roots, but it is so much greener still lol.

I'm going to assume you're comparing your dirty bathtub/washing machine water to your plants strictly watered with the hose? I'm curious to know which of them were bigger/better.

the plants that got the soapy water did better

Using grey to water is fine, actually it is a very smart thing to do.

Many parts of the world without a lot of water do just this in every home.

Be sure not to use bleach in the sinks or shower - it will kill the plants.

I agree about the bleach

slk said:

the plants that got the soapy water did better

Click to expand...

Very neat, I read a thread where someone's roots in their outdoor garden stretched 40 feet horizontally accross the ground to this man's Central AC/Heat drip pipe. Thanks for posting your experience.

angelsbandit said:

Using grey to water is fine, actually it is a very smart thing to do.

Many parts of the world without a lot of water do just this in every home.

Be sure not to use bleach in the sinks or shower - it will kill the plants.

Click to expand...

Awesome! Thanks for your expertise good sire!

i have a septic tank leak.,.,and the plants around the area of the leak are literally ten times larger than surounding ares.,.,if anyone wants my septic tank water i sell it $3 a gallon lol.,.,.,.,u would want to watch wat goes down ure drains or youll be killing the surounding plants/trees.,.,

this seems like a really great idea, but i was wondering what about trace amounts of chemicals?
do we know for sure that these soaps and whatnot have no known carcinogens, or even worse be an inert compound untill smoked THEN turn into a carcinogen after heat has been applied?
not trying to be a naysayer but i was thinking its rare when a good idea hasnt been tried before, and if it is absoloutly safe then why hasnt modern agriculture systems adopted this practice?
especially considering the money that goes into wastewater treatment these days....

i think of the story about eskimo/inuit women that cant breastfeed because of toxic trace levels of chemicals used for plastic production that are present in the food chain of certain areas they inhabit.
again, not being a naysayer id just like to know if theres any science behind this?

Hydroponic plants grow faster/bigger, 3 showers a day sounds like 3 feedings per day on an EBB & FLOW table. Did I say that right? A EBB & Flow table? I'm sure the other non-gray watered plants received less than 3 waterings per day.

Thanks for the + REP's guys

Even if you don't want to use Gray Water on you pot plants why not divert it to your shrubs and trees. What a waist to just send it down the drain.

absolutely. my dad had pecan trees behind his house where grey water drained. they were the best trees in the orchard

bump bump bump