Unuseful back to useful again!

bonhe

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I open this topic with hope that we can save the earth!
It is my custom to find the way to reuse the unuseful item before discard them forever. For example, this shampoo plastic bottle (pic.1) was turned into the container to hold Neem oil, so that will be very easy to dispense the neem oil (I bought 1 gal neem oil ---> not easy to dispense it directly from the 1 gal container). How about this "409" sprayer? (pic.2) Now it contains the antifungal solution.

Bonhe
 

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octoberust

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Very nice! Just don't let the EPA find out!:cool:
 

Bill S

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But Bohne, keep an eye out, they will start to decompose on you in about 237 years, and you have to replace them.:D

I use a couple of 2 liter soda bottles with a bunch of small holes drilled in the cap, for winter watering, and summer fertilizing.
 
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I am working on a way that I will end up catching all of the run off from watering my plants... between that and the amount of rain we get here, I'm wondering why I am paying the city for water???
My plan is to build long benches to reside my plants on, underneath them have a cetch that funnels off water into some rain barrels that I have submerged in the ground. Drop a submersible pump in with a garden hose and I can water the plants... perhaps down the line, hook the pump up solar.
wahla !!! reclaimed water.
Leaves more money for Bonsai!!! Plus it just seems logical !!!
 
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Mike423

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I am working on a way that I will end up catching all of the run off from watering my plants... between that and the amount of rain we get here, I'm wondering why I am paying the city for water???
My plan is to build long benches to reside my plants on, underneath them have a cetch that funnels off water into some rain barrels that I have submerged in the ground. Drop a submersible pump in with a garden hose and I can water the plants... perhaps down the line, hook the pump up solar.
wahla !!! reclaimed water.
Leaves more money for Bonsai!!! Plus it just seems logical !!!

I would never recycle water that has already run through your tree's pots. Your soil will collect the waste the tree has from normally breaking down nutrients etc.. Then when the water runs through the pot it will leach out all the trees waste, which you wouldn't want to reintroduce back into the pot. It would be like drinking your own pee:D Might be alright for a while as long as the same liquid isn't continually reused but I still would never want to do it.
 
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see I would beg to differ, seeing that what a plant feeds on normaly would be that exact waste... that is why we add organic to our pots, which is decomposing materials containing the very same waste... I could see where if new water was not being introduced into the system that after a while, perhaps there might be a raise in the acidity levels, or salinity, but living here in florida it pretty much rains all the time. I can also see where you might want to keep certain plants water isolated from others, in case there was an excess build up of certain fertilizers, which some plants did not agree with, or if one of your trees had some type of bug or fungus problem.
Now obviously you would want to screen the water, so you would not be introducing back into a pot sedimentation like sand, or very fine dirt, which might clog fast draining soil.

I remember watching a program on nurseries that were doing the very same thing... to try and cut down some of their overhead and as long as some fresh water was added to the system it was not a prob.
Just my to cents...
 
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agraham

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Stacey,

Beware of unintended consequences.

Are the nurseries you have read about treating their water in some manner? Left untreated it seems the recycled water would be a great conduit for all kinds of plant diseases, to to mention "salt" buildup.
 

Joedes3

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Bill:
Great idea on the two liter bottles. I never thought about that. Thanks
 
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