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Since water is scarce here, I would like to water my pots with used water. I guess that it is not a good idea to use water with soap, but what about water with food remnants? For example, I washed the trays of my food dehydrator with water only. The water is now full of vegetable remnants and no soap. Is it safe to give this water to my plants?

J. Musser
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Erel Segal-Halevi
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1 Answers1

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If the greywater is from food preparation, it's fine to use if it doesn't contain salt, oil, or big pieces of food. I'd use a strainer, to get all the pieces. I think the water from the food dehydrator is fine, if it was used only for plant matter, not animal.

So no animal, no salt, no oil, and I'd say if you were baking in the kitchen, don't use rinse water from the dry mix bowl or the wet one. both of these will contain too much material for good health, and possibly even are unsuitable (baking soda/powder, eggs, so on would be bad).

Don't use it if you can't clearly see through it, you want it to be as clear as possible. If you have some that is too concentrated, mix it with more clean water, until it is clear enough to see through properly.

J. Musser
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  • These questions are on the same topic http://gardening.stackexchange.com/search?q=greywater – kevinskio Sep 21 '14 at 13:05
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    Note that "no animal, no oil, no salt" is basically the same rules as for composting. For obvious reasons. – keshlam Sep 21 '14 at 18:07
  • @keshlam You *can* compost animal matter, but it takes more oversight and ou have to be more careful. If you don't have the time and energy, it's better to simply leave out the oil/animal part. – J. Musser Sep 22 '14 at 21:59
  • @J.Musser: True. It's still basically the same reasons, though -- selecting stuff that breaks down easily and doesn't attract undue attention from critters. – keshlam Sep 22 '14 at 22:56