Four tenths of an inch of rain total this month here in 7b. Twelve 100+ degree days so far as well. Been under a burn ban for three weeks now. Going to be a big water bill.

South centeral Texas here......don't even

We are on the dry side.

I am currently in Italy. Local rivers and streams are low or even empty. Temperatures are ridiculous. They are reckoning on 30% reduction in agricultural production in major food producing areas.

Finally got hit with a storm yesterday, got a half inch of rain. Was nice not having to water everything. Today will be the first day in almost two weeks where the temps don't get into the 90s.

Here in my area of NC it’s been like a Florida summer. Hot and humid most days and afternoon thunderstorms. My citrus seems happy.

OH man, from the looks of it seems some are drier than I am and that must stink. I can tell you that all this watering with my tap water is turning all the clay pots an awful looking white crusty. I hate using the tap.

I save the only rain water that collect for my orchids or they would croak at the expense of tap water.

We went from 100 degrees with 72% dew points to 80 today and a dew point in the 40's without a drop of rain. Just strange. We use to get cold fronts and changes like that with many storms before they deforested all the communities around me.

Now one has to drive a few miles north or west to see a storm that actually holds together that come out from the forested areas and that is a frighting thing since the only rain any of us depend on is the storms we use to get for the summer.

And from what I see driving around, they just keep building concrete jungles and we get deeper into droughts!

Mike, What is rain? We probably won’t see any moisture until maybe November… if we’re lucky. And, aren’t clay pots white? 🤔 All mine are hose watered.

I suppose this is all new to you in Mass. In the winter the rain will all be in northern CA and miss us by an inch, so I know how you feel.

LOL Southern California here - 10 years of mostly drought, 15 out of the last 20 years of drought.

It NEVER rains during the spring/summer growing season, even when it's not a drought year. It rarely rains between March and November.

Our tap water has a pH of 7.9-8.1 and a ton of calcium carbonate and sodium bicarbonate. I actually like the white deposits on the clay pots, but it's a challenge growing in pots.

Saving rain water LOL what a quaint idea. Like saving fairy dust.

😂

High levels of bicarbonates is really hard on plants. Standard treatment is to lower the water's pH by adding an acid. Lowering the pH to 6.5 neutralizes about half the bicarbonate in the water. Most common acids to inject are sulfuric acid, phosphoric acid.

Yes! I watch rain all around where I am but it rains in my actual yard much more rarely. Most of the past few summers have had periods of drought here, up to 3 months w/o a drop of rain. Last summer it was 6 weeks. Of course it's 95-105 every day here for about 5 months. I know the frustration. I gave up on a lot of stuff the past few summers. DH loved not having to mow.

Been blessed with regular rains this year, so far. I have my best crop of weeds ever, and lots of blooms. LOL! DH has been grumbling about mowing.

Living somewhere where it never rains regularly or at all over summer is one thing, but living somewhere where most summers have more than enough rain and then having the occasional summer without any is different. The landscaping is not full of plants that can handle that kind of drought, unlike places where it's always very dry. The unpredictability is maddening, vs. the known impossibility of regular rains.

The difference in plants when they get rain vs. when they have to have tap water is significant.

Plenty of rain here in Florida. My grove in Spring Lake Fl. got 1.76 inches of rain yesterday. Month to date 7.19 inches of rain.

Just gat an inch

Rain water may be better for plants but I am not convinced. I have found no scientific papers that compared the effects of tap water to rain water on plant growth. Sure, there is a lot on the Internet and there are many anecdotal reports on this forum and on the Internet that claim rainwater is best but there are no side by side comparisons of rainwater vs tap water.

The quality of rainwater probably varies depending on location and roofing material. I suspect that rainwater has more pollutants (that come from roofing materials and the air) than tap water.

By the way, I collect and use rainwater whenever possible to save on my water bill but am a little bit concerned about pollutants.

I definitely see a difference but I don't have any scientific equipment to measure anything. Comparing tap water experiences may or may not be helpful, depending on what exactly is in the particular water. Just saying tap water does not indicate the presence of, or a known amount of, any substances, just that it came out of a tap. So it makes sense that experiences with it would vary, even among the same kinds of plants.

The high PH of tap water is my 1st concern where I am. Fluoride is the other. Not all plants are sensitive to fluoride but for those that are, not being able to flush the soil at least during summer with rain water causes observable effects for the sensitive plants. There are documented studies for a few plants in regard to fluoride toxicity. There is probably a lot more research than you know. This kind of info is critical for plant growers.

Not worried about pollutants here.

Still not a drop of rain. Cooler though. Scary our rivers are almost dry and ponds bone dry. Hope we get rain soon. Doesn't seem anything in the next month.

Watch we will get a hurricane.

That is messed up. So sorry!

Tiffany, I know right? They are blaming this on global warming but in the many years I have lived here, I would say they have deforested about 80% of the trees in most towns for miles around me and I have seen a decrease in storms since this all started until really bad now. So bad, my neighbor lost all his Koi fish in the huge pond.

As for the tap water.

I hate it and so do many of my certain plants, especially orchids and tropical s. They hate the chemicals in it. The roof on my home is very clean and I have a dedicated gutter to send it down into my barrel Grateful for that.

? Mike, have you tried saving the water from your AC? It is clean and like/or is distilled, so you have to add all the goodies back in with a fertilizer suitable for your orchids and tropicals. In this heat wave I get about a gallon a day from my two ACs.

 Did you ever considered desert orchids

Lots of rain here in Cincinnati, Ohio. Great idea Kate. I had thought of water from dehumidifier but I use a window unit AC to dehumidify in the summer. It dehumidifies while cooling the rooms. AC's are much more efficient than dehumidifiers for the same water removal and they cool not heat the air. I am not an orchid man.

Doesn't a window AC still drip water? Or is a dehumidifier different?

I remember the dehumidifiers we had in our various basements and they all either used a pan to collect the water or a hose down the drain.

The AC units drips outside and I do not have a collection pan. I would have to rig something up and the AC is 20 feet off the ground.

Kate, love the A.C idea but I never run it long enough around here.

Thank God I have barralls in the basement full of water. I have kind of stingy on the rain water using it mostly on my orchids.

Personally I do notice a huge difference on rain water verses tap even on my annuals and perennials!

I guess my tap water stinks. It's loaded with salts, chlorine and other stuff that eats the roots on many of my plants and causes leaf drop on my tropical plants.

 Some amount of  drought toughens plans up but too much can weaken them 

Howard