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Container Gardening

Reusing water

14 years ago

I had a garden for the first time this past summer. Now that the season is over and I am at college I have started growing some plants in containers in my dorm room. All of my containers have drainage holes with a plate under them to collect water. Is it okay to use the water that drains from one plant on another plant or save that water for the next time a plant needs watering?

Thanks!

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Comments (4)

justaguy2
14 years ago
Interesting question. I would say yes, with one caveat. Perhaps others can think of other caveats.

Mine would be salt build up in the drainage water. A nice part about letting the pots drain is that salts are flushed out of the container instead of accumulating to toxic/problematic levels. If the drainage water is continually put back in then there is no means of ridding the excess salts other than plant usage.

Still, it's probably not a terrible thing to do every now and then if you are careful about fertilizing.
nemo2009
14 years ago
If you begin watering your plants with non-toxic physiological levels of nutrients, then the levels only become "toxic" (i.e., concentrated) because of water loss through the mechanisms of transpiration and evaporation and (minimally) by plant metabolism. So if care is exercized to return the amount of water to its original volume (by the addition of salt-free water to the drainage) then the concentrations of the salts in the drainage will return approximately to their original levels. Of course, since plants utilize the nutrients at rates peculiar to each nutrient, then with time the concentrations of individual nutrients and the ratios of nutients to each other will become altered beyond acceptable range. Since it's beyond the capability of most of us to re-adjust each nutrient level individually, it's probably simplest at some point (weekly? monthly?) depending on your watering schedule, to discard the drainage water entirely and begin again with a fresh nutrient solution. This is the rationale that is used in so-called "ebb-and-flow" hydroponic systems.
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jodik_gw
14 years ago
My issue with reusing water from one plant to another plant would be the possible spread of disease, bacteria, fungi, or tiny insects, like mites, etc...

These sorts of things can spread quickly, and before you know it, your entire plant collection is infested or diseased.

From my viewpoint, it's never wise to use anything on multiple plants... like tools, for example... you always want to clean them well in between plants or taking cuttings, etc... and I would apply the same safety rule to water use.

For myself, I would just dump the water... it shouldn't be that much, anyway.
nemo2009
14 years ago
If one is concerned about the spread of pathogens from one plant to another, then it would probably be best to reserve the drainage from a particular plant for re-use on that plant only.

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