a bit of chlorine won't effect the vege's, happens in our drums which get used to wash clothes mostly, so when it gets bad enough i mix a bit of pool chlorine in, you could get one of those pool tablets and hang it in there in a section of panty hose, remove it when all the build up is lying on the bottom of the drum.

this fungi growth occurs more in the drums that get more sunlight.

len

Here is a link that might be useful: lens garden page

If the barrel isnt in the shade then I would recommend moving it there. My barrels do get dirty after some time, though everything settles to the bottom and stays there. Nothing really comes out the spigot as the water is quite still. As far as chlorine tablets, I wouldnt recommend them. Most of them are designed for thousands of gallons of water, and would really chlorinate the barrel. Personally I wouldn't put such water on my vegetables.

Thanks for info. The rain barrel is dark green, and the water that
comes out of it is always cool and clear. That's why I was surprised
to see It all gross. The last time I rinsed it out was summer 2008.
I can only rinse it when It's empty..What I'm really more concerned
about is ,is that water ok for my vegetables and me, because I'm going
to eat those vegetables? Unfortunately I do not have any shade near
my garden. Sun all day long.

Just for more concern (that is if you are collecting the water from your downspout off your roof).

Here is a link that might be useful: http://home.comcast.net/~leavesdance/rainbarrels/safety.html

Thanks for the link I was going to do that, but this was a balanced and scientific advice, and as I have no idea how my roof was contructed I will use plain rain, because dispite the fact that it still may contain contaminates I can't control weather! and it will increase the concentration of these but to such a small extent becouse from what I remember last summer the run for your life rain was 1 or 2 times a week!

Throw a couple of pennies in the bottom of the rain barrel. I put one penny in each of my bird baths and no more slime. My brother's a chemical engineer and he told me about it. It really does work.

Cookie8, that link was very interesting since I am in the process of setting up a rain barrel and we just had one side of our roof treated for moss, etc. I'll move it to the side that wasn't treated.

As long as it is not causing a problem with your veggies i would not put anything in there; whatever you do put in there you eventually end up eating.

Here is a link that might be useful: Start a growers diary here

To my thinking - adding ANY chemicals really defeats the purpose of using rainwater.

Posted by gumby_ct CT it says Z5 (My Page) on Sun, May 3, 09 at 8:27

To my thinking - adding ANY chemicals really defeats the purpose of using rainwater.

I think a lot of folks use rain water because it is free.

Not FREE if you have to buy chemicals.

the fungii stuff in the barrel won't do any harm to the plants it is only there because there is the right conditions for it to grow, and using chlorine or even bleach (products already in most homes) is not having to the suggestion was put forward to help initially i have to at times do it but it is only a sort of once or twice a year thing and after the drum gets emptied the first time and refills most of the chlorine has gone which repeats each time the drum is emptied and refilled wth rainwater. it only needs sunlight to grow not the sun heating up the water so the water would be cool.

need some latteral thinking sometimes. my rainwater is still free after you pay for the drum/barrel whatever.

len

Throw a couple of pennies in the bottom of the rain barrel. I put one penny in each of my bird baths and no more slime. My brother's a chemical engineer and he told me about it. It really does work.

Sure it does, copper and silver will kill all bacteria and fungus if the concentrations are high enough, that's why they make mineral cartridges for swimming pool sanitation.

Let me play Devil's Advocate here, here's a quote right out of the link above:

Water collected from copper roofs or copper gutters also should not be used

So, if we're really assessing risk vs. benefit, is it wise to throw pennies in your rainbarrel IF your also using that water on your veggies? I don't have the answers, just wondering about the validity of this issue....

Several comments. First, the original poster must not use much water from their rain barrel. I can empty a 55 gallon drum in just two days just using a watering can on my garden when its just getting started. Later in the season I could empty a 55 gallon drum in just one days watering.

Second, after waiting for it to rain for several hours until the water coming off my roof started looking clear I drank some just to see if it was suitable for my acquarium. Worst chemical taste I ever tasted, definitely undrinkable. I have an asphalt shingle roof.

Third, the guy across the street from me inadvertently left his dogs waterbowl where rain dripping off the roof could drip into it. The dog was poisoned and died when it drank the water that dripped off his chemically treated wood shake roof.

Hi californian. I was raised in southern California. It rains more here in
eastern Virginia..In fact It's rainy now..It takes me a little longer to use
mine..My roof is old, but still no leaks. I don't think it has the mildew
chemicals.