Gunnera Manicata growing well in Large Pot

[Sat]

I have had my Gunnera in a large pot now and it seems to be growing very well. Water daily, giving 1 bucket of water in the watering tray below. Using some grey water is thos ok for this plant???

Here 2 photsos, 2012 and 2013 - present

[callin]

OK...I want one now.
Very nice plant Sat. It consumes a lot of water.
Sat, what is grey water? Coloured water or..?

[flounder]

Grey water is the waste water from showers, baths, washing up etc. I'm having to use it on my gunneras. yes plural, I've just divided mine

[piechnik99]

Looking good there, that gunnera!

Just a word of caution - I had one in a pot (overwintered in a greenhouse) and gave it the lashings of water. I also restricted the drainage (with an old compost bag) to retain more moisture - and I found that after two years in a post it sort of 'pushed' itself out the pot.

When I took it out, the roots had indeed grown around the crocks at the bottom of the pot, and encased them in about 5 inch mass of roots.

I have now planted in a tarpaulin in a raised bed (raised due to the increase in root height, and tarpulin to hopefully constrict the roots). Not sure why mine did this - looked on the net and can't see any reason why?

Still, yours does look in better condition than mine - I think they are a real classic. Also got a Gunnera Tinctoria in my front garden - apprantly they are less vigourous and more of a clump forming version....

[exotics4eva]

Hi! I have a Gunnera manicata slightly smaller than yours and it is doing exceptionally well, it is only three years old!! I give it several cans of water every day and feed it every week with a liquid feed at triple recommended concentration, and I always use osmocote and well rotted manure mixed in when I re-pot. They love as much water and nutrition as you can give them!! I also put the pot into my unheated greenhouse in winter which has also really helped it along.... the king of plants!

[callin]

If grey water means waste shower and baths.. means also that it contains various quantities of soap , shower gel, shampoo, detergents and other nasty stuff that will be involuntarely "ingested" by plants. The soil Ph will be badly altered by that waste water. In my opinion is not recomanded to use that water on plants. I will not use grey water on any plant, no sir.
It is common to use grey water for plants in UK? If yes, may be that water is not that bad as I thought.

[miketropic]

33c summer temps sent my gunnera to plant heaven..I kind of knew it was going to but I so wanted one to grow here.

[flounder]

If grey water means waste shower and baths.. means also that it contains various quantities of soap , shower gel, shampoo, detergents and other nasty stuff that will be involuntarely "ingested" by plants. The soil Ph will be badly altered by that waste water. In my opinion is not recomanded to use that water on plants. I will not use grey water on any plant, no sir.
It is common to use grey water for plants in UK? If yes, may be that water is not that bad as I thought.

A lot residents have been forced onto a water meter. To save money, I've installed more water butts for collecting rain water. However, with this mini heatwave we're experiencing over here there is a serious lack of rain. This is why I've set up to collect shower and sink water. Yes it contains shampoo, shower gel, soap and even toothpaste, but grey water is better than no water at all. I'm way too tight to use the hosepipe and pay for that water usage, especially when I'm letting all that perfectly good water go down the drain. Plants may be taking up some nasties from the water, but I've noticed there is less snail damage, reduced aphid attacks and the garden smells nicer, it's also only until we have a decent rainfall.

Sat, sorry to highjack your thread

[Mr List]

looks to be doing well sat.
what size pot is it in?

[greendragon]

Last year I planted out a 5litre potted gunnera and it is now 3x the size of the one posted in this topic.

[Kristen]

It is common to use grey water for plants in UK? If yes, may be that water is not that bad as I thought.

Dunno about "common" but it is widely regarded as being acceptable for watering plants - need to water the soil, rather than the foliage, though.

[miketropic]

Just curious how you got about collecting the water? theres no way to get into the sewage system here without serious construction

[Kristen]

Just curious how you got about collecting the water? theres no way to get into the sewage system here without serious construction

Shower/Bath waste pipes sometimes go outside and into a hopper for a vertical pipe, which then connects to the sewer. Possible to break into that waste pipe before the hopper. (Waste from lavatory ("Black water") would be in continuous pipe to the sewer, and not via an open hopper!)

There are also siphoning devices available which allow you to siphon a bath out of the window into a water butt ... strikes me as a major inconvenience to have the siphon hose stretched across the bathroom floor!

We are not on mains sewerage here (rural location) so we have a cesspit specific to our property. I plan to replace that with a "digester" that will process both the grey and black water into something good enough for general irrigation. My Summer water usage is twice my winter usage, so we put the same amount of water down the lavatory / sink / washing machine as we do onto the garden, so I should be able to water my garden "for free" once the digester is installed.

[Kristen]

For example: http://www.droughtplug.co.uk/

[derrick]

This is my Gunnera the 2nd summer water twice a week i should more .How big leaves have you lot got and how do you remove the pups?