Loosing your prized collections!

[mujacko2002]

Mabuhay!

Hi there fellow plant lovers, I hope everyone is doing well. I don't know how to start this topic but i happen to stumble on a couple of online articles regarding the use of water being restricted in areas around the world due to lingering drought caused by El Nino for example in Adelaide they're experiencing drought since 2006.

Because of the situation, one of the worst things that is happening for example is that some people totally gave up on gardening and public funded gardens are taking a "backseat" for awhile. Of course, the worst thing that can happen is the lack/shortage of water & food supply.

Here in my country, since summer is only a few days away, we are being warned of interruptions in energy supply which translates to brownouts in major cities since some of our energy sources comes from hydro-power plants on which the el nino will certainly have a big impact on its functions. Did i mention that they will also be increasing the fees for electrical & water consumptions to us consumers in the months to come? (talking about triple whammies!!! grrr!)

I try not to imagine the impact of "water-restrictions" just in case it would happen in my area (though it happened to a number of places in the Philippines back then) since most of my plants, i guess, are heavily dependent on being watered everyday especially most of my orchids & ferns.

Though, one of the good things that is happening in places where "water restrictions" is temporarily in placed, some gardeners are going back to basics like planting drought-resistant varieties which mostly are endemic plant species in their areas.

Anyway, has anyone of you here are in that position where "water restrictions" is strictly implemented? How do you cope up with it? And how does your plant collections (orchids) are taking it in? Would you give up your orchids because of this?

Just thinking out loud here, i would surely be devastated and spirit-broken if such measure will take place because my collections will certainly fade away to dust.

Thank you in advance for any response.

PS
And yes i am aware that there are a lot of places in the globe where potable water is not yet available.

[Des]

We have the same situation here on the South East coast of South Africa . I live in Port Elizabeth and we have only enough water left to supply the city for a further 6 months !! O ur municipality has now imposed severe restrictions ,we are not even allowed to water our potplants with a jug of water!. I have about 2500 orchids that are going to die unless we have substantial rains soon .Our weather forcarsters say this is unlikely to happen before September. What is really so frustrating is that there are other parts of South Africa that are experiencing floods !!. It is so dry here that some trees are starting to wilt , I have never seen this happen before. I wish I could get one of those units that take the humidity out of the air ,I believe they are able to supply you with 60 liters of water per day !

[trdyl]

mujacko2002, Do you have any friends or neighbors that have a well with a manual pump?

[mujacko2002]

Mabuhay!

@des

I live in Port Elizabeth and we have only enough water left to supply the city for a further 6 months

--gosh, this is unbelievable. After the 6 months period what will happen?

I have about 2500 orchids that are going to die unless we have substantial rains soon .Our weather forcarsters say this is unlikely to happen before September.

---i hope you don't mind me asking, that's a lot of orchids. do you happen to be an orchid seller?

@trdyl
We have neighbors that have deep-well pumps. Why did you ask?

godbless

[Des]

Originally Posted by mujacko2002

Mabuhay!

@des

--gosh, this is unbelievable. After the 6 months period what will happen?


---i hope you don't mind me asking, that's a lot of orchids. do you happen to be an orchid seller?

@trdyl
We have neighbors that have deep-well pumps. Why did you ask?

godbless

Well if we dont have sufficient rains we will be staring disaster in the face , there are a million people in this city!
I sell Cymbidiums , all the other genera are my collection . I must admit that I am starting to panic a little . I do have a 5000 liter rainwater tank which is normally never empty , however over the past year I have had to use tap water on several occasions as we have had so little rain .

[trdyl]

Originally Posted by mujacko2002

@trdyl
We have neighbors that have deep-well pumps. Why did you ask?

godbless

If worse comes to worse you could possibly hand water during brownouts.

[stefpix]

"Port" in Port Elizabeth makes me think ut is a town by the ocean. Why isn't the city considering a water plant that desalines sea water into fresh water?

Probably they used it a lot in Israel to convert desert into land for agriculture

[Bolero]

That is happening here, water is in short supply and we still have a drought. Average rainfall is half what it used to be and the population continues to grow in the state. We have water restrictions and of course the cost of energy is going up everywhere.

What I have done is added shade so that they need less water (takes longer to dry out) and I have installed a 600 gallon water tank which captures water that runs off the roof of my home. The water would go into storm water drains and into the ocean here so the water I capture wouldn't be used for anything else. Our dams are at 32% full and we're only half way through summer really. They seem to go down nearly 1% a week. We should be ok for the rest of summer but we need it to start raining 'properly' in the fall or we will be in real trouble next summer and I could lose my collection.

The real problem is that I keep buying plants!!!

[stefpix]

What about collecting waste water from the bathroom shower/ sink / kitchen you could maybe filter it / sanitize it. It could still be ok as an emergency resort

[Bolero]

Originally Posted by stefpix

What about collecting waste water from the bathroom shower/ sink / kitchen you could maybe filter it / sanitize it. It could still be ok as an emergency resort

Yep I am doing some of that as well and probably should do more. I am considering also collecting the water that falls through the pots onto the ground. It's a large orchid house though so it's going to be difficult to do that. The other worry is spreading disease by recapturing the water I have already used on the plants.

I really need to do something more to make the hobby sustainable. I even have a bucket in the shower so it capture some of the water I use.

I know of a couple of orchid growers who don't take showers twice a week so they can justify using that water on their plants........lol.