W/C and houseplants

[Barracuda-m]

hi all

All summer, when I'd do water changes, instead of dumping the dirty water down the toilet, I'd haul the buckets outside, and water my peonies, lilac trees, and whatever else I had growing in front of my house.

All of the sickly plants I got from superstore absolutely THRIVED!!! Everything elses color improved, and my flowers spread everywhere and looked fantastic.

A couple of weeks ago, I decided to use the dirty water from my community tank (lots of driftwood, heavily planted) on my houseplants, and they all look fantastic!

Does anyone else do this? I'm delighted that I can reuse this stuff for the greater good of my greenery

[Guest FLIP]

I dump mine on the front lawn, doesn't seem to help it at all.

[Qattarra]

Absolutely , when I drain water from WCs, I use a very long hose connected to my gravel vac, goes straight outside to my flower beds. In the winter months I still do it esp. arround the trees and shrubs, they are doing very well on this extra treatment. My house plants are limited as most of my light is dim. However in my fish room are two orchids that get wc water. Sill not bright enough in there for them to rebloom but I'm hoping.

[Toirtis]

Yes, although my lawn gets 99%+...and I have the greenest lawn in the neighbourhood.

[Finbert]

At work after doing a WC I leave the bucket out for anybody who wants to water their plants and I have to say, our area has the nicest plants anywhere in the building. And this without windows.

[nicolalex]

I always use the water for my houseplants and I never have to use fertilizer either. My pride and joy is a 7' fig tree that looks absolutely lucious all year and barely drops leaves even in the winter.

In the summer I use any extra outside in my planters. My outdoor tub water gets drained directly into a flowerbed.

[gadgetgirl]

I use the tank water for the indoor plants and the pond water on the garden (from when I clean the filter) and boy, did my cucumbers ever grow! I planted them so late I thought I wouldn't get anything, but all those goodies from the filter water turned them into a whole Jack and the Beanstalk thing. Not to mention what happened to the strawberries. . . :smokey: Does anyone else think the warmth of the water helps as well? Cold shower vs warm shower?

[Terrie Lee]

I have had similar results with my houseplants. I am just sad that there is a lot of WC water and not very many houseplants!

[Qattarra]

Very cold water has potential for stunting growth . Warm or tempid water is always better so I would venture to say yes it could very well make a difference. I'm sure though, that the warm water coupled with the lack of nasty chemicals , and saturated with fish wastes as well as bacterias, is easily accessible foods for the roots to soak up. The fact that we do our wc frequantly and regularly also ensures the plants are well watered, no drying out.