Rust vs plants

[Meaven]

this year i finally got a rain barrel set up, but its a bit old, its now entirely full though! only problem is that theres a noticable rust-hue to the water. will this hurt my plants if i water them with this water?

 

[MrFlyTrap2]

How did you catch it? Roof water? or some other way. I was always afraid of some roofs contaminating rain barrels through tar, old shingles, etc that might be up there.

 

[Meaven]

its a gutter system attacthed to a large wooden trellice in my yard, the only runoff is via wood

 

[scottychaos]

I wouldnt use it..
what is the container made of?
sounds like you need to replace it with plastic..

Scot

 

[Meaven]

steel, i imagine. its just an old grain barrel with a spigot attatched to the side

 

[D_muscipula]

NO don't use it, get a barrel that is made out of foodsafe plastic so it won't leach chemicals into the water.