More irrigation (IBC Tanks)
4 X IBC tanks for storing 4000 litres of rain water to keep water close to the plants. Close to ensure plants are protected in case of potential water supply issues in warmer dryer periods. IBC tanks are essentially steel cages with 1000 litre plastic tanks sat inside, which can be lifted like a pallet on forks. They seem to come in 3 variants, white plastic, black plastic or white plastic clad in sheet steel.
We decided on white plastic with steel cladding. The main reasons were that the steel will greatly reduce the light getting to the water and thus slow down the ability for algae to grow in the water and aesthetically we feel they are more attractive….!?!? :-).
Our understanding is that white plastic would let the light in and increase the opportunity for algae growth. Whereas black plastic may be the best option, on balance as the light will be significantly reduce, close to completely eliminating the light, so algae would struggle. The ones we chose, white with steel cladding, do still have small exposed areas for the light to get in.
Of course another option could be standard water butts, but we decided that their capacity would be nowhere near sufficient.
We do have another open water tank of approx 1000 litres. This is open on the top and will need to be covered / sealed to prevent algae and insects.
