Rain water harvesting techniques in the woods?

[OpenStrife]

Lately I've been designing new devices I can use for my next grow to make it easier. I just got finished designing a hand operated water pump that can pump 55 gallons of water per minute. It'll pump out of a water source into a container which will be used to water the plants. I'll probably make a tutorial on this sometime later in the year.

Have any of you fellow growers thought up any techniques to harvest rain water?

My previous technique was having a tarp hanging at an angle under some trees and it would pour all the rain water in that square area into a hole in the ground. It wasn't that efficient but it worked for what I needed it for.

An idea I had in mind now is , put a roof of some sort in the woods with a gutter attached to it, then have it all drain into a pvc pipe which will direct the water into a trashcan somewhere. The water pump I had in mind would sit in the trash can. Though, there's still some kinks I need to work out, like how I can going to hold up the 'roof', how I am going to get it out there, what I am going to build it out of. How I am going to stop leaves and other debree from clogging up the system. etc

If you haven't yet realized, this is not a low profile system, if someone goes in the woods they're going to see it.

For all you growers who are in a similar situation I am in with a forest that nobody goes to, and who have thought of similar ideas. Post your ideas!

 

[Green Supreme]

Try this. Peace GS

http://www.iheartchaos.com/post/12621879089/amazing-low-tech-harvester-collects-water-from-even-the

 

[OpenStrife]

A liter of water per day..? I'm trying to aim for 30-50 gallons per week. Rather, from a single 5 minutes of rainfall I should be able to collect at least 5 gallons of water.

A good harvesting system would concentrate the water from a large surface area, and feed it through tubing to a storage container. The piping isn't the hard part, it's getting the large surface area to the piping.

 

[Green Supreme]

Sorry. Peace GS

 

[schwilly]

I've thought about what you're talking about and I came to the conclusion that there really is no way to do it inconspicuously.

One way would be to clear and properly contour a sloped section of ground and lay a tarp or plastic down and somehow cover it with leaves or needles. Then have a hole dug out with a kiddy pool or whatever to collect the rainwater at the bottom of the tarp.

Not sure what the landscape or water table is like where you are, but if it's sandy, you can dig a well. It is an unbelievable amount of work to dig out and buttress a hole that is ~7 ft deep and 3 ft wide. However, it pays off when you hit the water table and that clear cool sand filtered water flows forth unceasingly.

It's still harvesting rainwater, just old rainwater.

 

[OpenStrife]

I've thought about what you're talking about and I came to the conclusion that there really is no way to do it inconspicuously.

One way would be to clear and properly contour a sloped section of ground and lay a tarp or plastic down and somehow cover it with leaves or needles. Then have a hole dug out with a kiddy pool or whatever to collect the rainwater at the bottom of the tarp.

Not sure what the landscape or water table is like where you are, but if it's sandy, you can dig a well. It is an unbelievable amount of work to dig out and buttress a hole that is ~7 ft deep and 3 ft wide. However, it pays off when you hit the water table and that clear cool sand filtered water flows forth unceasingly.

It's still harvesting rainwater, just old rainwater.

I'm not trying to do this inconspicuously. Nobody comes back in these woods. I am confident of this.

It doesn't matter how visible it is from the ground... as I am going to have a pvc piping system that I will spray pain with camoflauge spraypaint to hide it from above, and it'll be partially concealed by the trees. The 60 gallon trashcan overflowing with rainwater will be visible to but that doesn't matter.

I could get a giant tin roof of sorts, or something plastic that folds(so I can transport it easily, and attach a gutter to it. Mount it on cinder blocks, with one end raised up higher than the other. Then attach the gutter to it, and have the gutter attached to a PVC pipe which will lead to the trashcan.. Only problem with this idea is, the water wont fill up beyond the height of the gutter.

I need to put the roof at a height above the trashcan.

 

[schwilly]

I see. It's tough to try to gauge what the situation is with different parts of the world as far as choppers and such.

That sounds like a ton of work for only 60 gallons. Look into collapsible kiddy pools or something bigger unless you know 60 gallons will cover it.

Good luck.

 

[OpenStrife]

Tons of work? Once I buy all the parts it will probably take me about an hour to put it all together.

I don't know about you, but I would rather sacrifice a few hours early on in the season than have to tote gallon jugs from a further location all season.

 

[wilbur]

NO ONE goes into the woods? hmmm ...

I dish the ground under my pots and put a plastic sheet under. not too deep a dish altho this can be increased as the plants grow and begin to pump lots of water. this catches any rainfall but is only a little help if there's a long dry. my plants use at least ten litres (2 gals) per day.

and have you checked for termites in the area?

anyway, give yr plans a go! cheers.

 

[GP73LPC]

check the link in my sig on rainwater collection.

it uses the same basic premise as you described with a roof, gutter, collection tub, etc...

if people really don't go into your woods i would say build a small shed with a couple of walls or so... could even enclose it and use it for drying your harvest and/or storing gardening tools, etc....

good luck...

 

[trichrider]

is the wooded area sloped?

how about...take a tarp, cut hole in middle(put around hole) with all edges sloped upward(hole below edges).
no need for piping or storage, all water goes into hole.
of course you need one for each plant, but what the hey.

 

[johnny54]

Cartel MO
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFKE61rsl54&t=5m10s

[youtube]iFKE61rsl54[/youtube]

 

[OpenStrife]

check the link in my sig on rainwater collection.

it uses the same basic premise as you described with a roof, gutter, collection tub, etc...

if people really don't go into your woods i would say build a small shed with a couple of walls or so... could even enclose it and use it for drying your harvest and/or storing gardening tools, etc....

good luck...

Actually I was considering that because I do need a place to dry my bud. But I don't know how I am going to get a decent airflow in there for them to dry.

I just had an idea... it might work for drying to.

Build a slanted structure out of PVC pipe and throw some kind of plastic over it like poly. I could figure out a way to use the slanted structure to catch the rain water, but I still need a way to actually take it and put it into a storage container. I could hang my buds inside the structure. Leave slits in it. But I am concerned about high heat and not enough moisture levels. I was planning on growing some heavy yielding indicas this season meaning they would get done pretty early. Around here, it's still 70 degrees in november, so... yeah. Dunno how I can dry the buds to look pretty inside a tent in the woods :S. Same goes for any kind of shack.

 

[GP73LPC]

maybe the little shed has only 3 walls, allowing for air...

just an idea, but the woods better be empty of other people...

 

[OpenStrife]

maybe the little shed has only 3 walls, allowing for air...

just an idea, but the woods better be empty of other people...

Just a word of advice. No matter the air flow, if you dry buds in temperatures that are too hot, even if the humidity is correct, they will likely become brown and quite possibly get a shatty mids look to them.

I learned this my first grow with an out door drying box I made that had plenty of airflow.

The heat will fry the buds. I'm don't want to work my ass off devising all these clever mechanisms for collecting mass amounts of water and pumping it, all to have 10 pounds that I grow turn out looking like mids. Ew... Js

 

[GP73LPC]

i've dried buds in a garage cabinet with a fan pulling air through it with temps from 40 degrees F to 90 degrees F.

i just kept an eye on them and jarred them up when it was time. sometimes 2 days, sometimes 5... my buds were alway green when dried... tasted good too...

i would think 70 is fine, i mean that's indoor temps... maybe i misunderstood you...


good luck...

 

[875]

you can def rig something up that will work, but id imagine it would take more than an hour or two of work. dont think structure, think frame and membrane. if you have slanted ground, use it. grab a post hole digger and anchor a 4x4 every 5-7 feet in straight line parallel to direction of slope of ground. bridge between anchors with 2x4's nailed to the top of each post. create at least one more of these "lines" parallel to the first one with a distance of about 4 feet. use a roll of plastic, bit heavier duty may work 4-6mm mabey, and stretch it over the lenght of the frame. staple plastic to one side first, you want everything nice and smooth so you may consider taping it down before you staple. you dont want any sag or wrinkles to cause dams and potentially ripping plastic under added weight. you may consider burying your collection container as this will allow for a lower profile for your structure. as for how big your structure should be, just need to do some math. find out your average rain fall during the grow season for your area. determine your total water needs. using the rainfall numbers, calculate how big of surface area you need to satisfy water requirements. this will give you a rough number to work with. the more info you have on rainfall in your area the better.... whats the driest time you have to deal with? what is the rain pattern like during that time? do you get fewer instances but larger volume storms? try to calculate how much water you need to store to make it through the dry period, then use appropriately sized resevoir. depending on your soil makeup, you can use water crystals to store water in the rootzone to make it through...

 

[OpenStrife]

you can def rig something up that will work, but id imagine it would take more than an hour or two of work. dont think structure, think frame and membrane. if you have slanted ground, use it. grab a post hole digger and anchor a 4x4 every 5-7 feet in straight line parallel to direction of slope of ground. bridge between anchors with 2x4's nailed to the top of each post. create at least one more of these "lines" parallel to the first one with a distance of about 4 feet. use a roll of plastic, bit heavier duty may work 4-6mm mabey, and stretch it over the lenght of the frame. staple plastic to one side first, you want everything nice and smooth so you may consider taping it down before you staple. you dont want any sag or wrinkles to cause dams and potentially ripping plastic under added weight. you may consider burying your collection container as this will allow for a lower profile for your structure. as for how big your structure should be, just need to do some math. find out your average rain fall during the grow season for your area. determine your total water needs. using the rainfall numbers, calculate how big of surface area you need to satisfy water requirements. this will give you a rough number to work with. the more info you have on rainfall in your area the better.... whats the driest time you have to deal with? what is the rain pattern like during that time? do you get fewer instances but larger volume storms? try to calculate how much water you need to store to make it through the dry period, then use appropriately sized resevoir. depending on your soil makeup, you can use water crystals to store water in the rootzone to make it through...

What I thought about was building a square pvc frame, with a 10ftx10ft area minimum. Throwing plastic over it, and making it sag in the middle. Puncture a hole in the middle and put a 70 gallon trashcan over it. From my last grow, that trash can will fill up in 1 rain fall. 70 gallons per 2 weeks will be more than enough water for my needs. That's assuming worse case rainfall. I might also have multiple trashcans out there.

So.. If it happens to be very rained one week. Since trashcans are like $20. When one fills up(under the tarp), Since I wont be able to move it, I'm going to pump all that water out into another trashcan nearby in about 5 minutes with the pump I designed, and let it fill up again. This way, on a rainy week, I can get 5 70 gallon trashcans filled up easy. I don't even need a posthole digger. Just throw a tarp or something over the structure and ziptie the corners of the tarp to the pvc structure. This way it wont fall over or anything and will hold up nicely. The tarps come with those metal holes in them already so there's little chance of it ripping and it'll drain the water nicely.

It'll be under the trees, and since the tarp is green, it will invisible from above. All the trashcans will be under it. It will be more than enough water. For the season.

The primary issue I have to worry about is if I can find enough spots with ample sunlight without exposing them too much. In Jan I have to dig all my holes and put soil in so when it comes time to transplant into the ground in April or May then the spots will have the surrounding vegetation grown up around them again. I've even got a safe-box designed for my seedlings to let them grow in the sun outside but be protected from birds - Birds cost me $300 in seeds last year...

 

[supermanlives]

fuck trashcans dig hole use pond liner. done.

 

[875]

hehehe, i lost a couple seeds to birds myself... good luck with your setup, nice to have some woods to yourself