Cleaning your water butts?

[kippers garden]

I have two big blue water butts on my plot but i haven't got a clue how to clean them...do i have to clean them as i think it would be really difficult to clean the bottem?...and can the rain water be used on all your veg (even veg you don't boil eg lettuce)?

[nilly71]

I just empty mine and tip them upside down to get out any dead leaves ect at the bottom then rinse them out.
This year i'm using netting over the top.

Neil

[Le-y]

could you use an old broom/mop?

[antipodes]

1) I have had teh same ones for 3 years, they have always had water in them so I have never cleaned them and they don't seem any the worse for it. Sediment just settles at teh bottom.
2) errr your plants get watered by rainwater all the time don't they? and presumably you water the soil around your plants and not so much  the plants themselves! Anyway you wash your veg before eating so even if there was some slimey stuff you wouldn't eat it??

[Old bird]

Unless the water in them is stagnant and smelly - why bother?  The bugs and things that get into the water don't do any harm so apart from having a "clean butt" I can't see why one should bother!

Old Bird
 

[Robert_Brenchley]

Cover them with dustbin lids or something similar, and that stops algae growing. I've had a water butt for ten years, and the only time I've ever had problems was the one year when I had an algal bloom, followed by a plague of midges.

Even if there are algae in the water, it's only a bit of extra organic manure!

[kippers garden]

The water is green...does this matter?..it doesn't have anything floating in it though.

[Robert_Brenchley]

It's got algae in it then. That doesn't matter of itself, but it feeds midge and mosquito larvae. Covering it to exclude the light will kill it all.

[tonybloke]

or, put a goldfish in it, this will stop any potential mossie / midge issues!

[Pesky Wabbit]

As nilly71 says, just push them over and then turn them upside down.
A quick rinse and hey-presto - as good as new.

If its too heavy to push over, get someone to help.

[:(]

To clear the green I hang an onion net stuffed with barley straw in the butts, works a treat. I get the barley straw to put under my strawberries from the pet stall in the market. 

[jennym]

I try and prevent muck (that feeds the algae) from getting into waterbutts in the first place, by moulding a bit of chicken wire wrapped in cheap black ground covering fabric over the top. This acts as a filter and also helps keep light and bugs out. The rain goes straight through it, no problem.

[Kea]

A small broom if you want to scrub them....i'm going to be cleaning mine out mainly because i have to crawl inside to replace the tap and i can tell you from experience you want it clean to do that.

[kippers garden]

There is nothing floating in my water butts but the runs out the tap slightly green...should i tip the water away or will green water be ok to use?

[Robert_Brenchley]

It's not going to hurt anything. It will raise up a nice population of midges and mosquitoes. If you don't want them, just cover the bin to keep light out.