Greywater Harvesting, a.k.a.grow fruit from laundry.

The magical detergent that makes this whole project possible. The key thing about this product is that there is no sodium of any kind. Our soil here is very alkaline, so many detergents claiming to be good for greywater harvesting are actually terrible for us because they contain sodium that will make our soil more alkaline. Booo. Check your ingredients and know your soil! I bought this from the website of a local guy and was able to pick it up at an office just down the street to avoid shipping costs. It was 25 bucks but I can get up to 128 washloads if I measure carefully. I think with the amount I use I will actually get around 100, but that still makes it very reasonable.

The extended drain hose sits nicely behind the washer and in the drain pipe when not in use--just as the drain pipe did before this system was in place. I bought a regular drain hose and attached it to my existing drain hose--it slipped right on and made the hose long enough to reach the barrel. The drain hose I bought at Lowe's for less than $9.

When I run a load of laundry, I simply pick up the end of the drain hose from the drain pipe and set it in the barrel. This takes about 5 seconds.

I bought the barrel from craigslist for $10. It had the disadvantage that the top did not screw off, so I had to use a hand saw (a reciprocating saw would have come in handy, but I got a little exercise in the process) to take it off so I could screw the hose attachment in from the back. The hardware for the hose attachment, along with a rubber washer, was about $7 at the Ace Hardware around the corner from my house. I used a garden hose that was left at my house when I moved in. I went with the cheapest hose attachment possible and it shows. It leaks, but not excessively. I still get plenty of water to my plants, and the water that leaks doesn't cause any problems for me, so I am going to leave it how it is.


Before I start my load of laundry, I simply set the end of the hose where I want the water and I leave it there. This is the fig tree that got a good, deep water yesterday. If I am around I can move it in the middle of a load because each small tree doesn't really need the full 40 gallons that my washer puts out on a full load, but if I am busy, it doesn't hurt my tree to get the water. Right now I am running a small load and put the hose on my grape vine. I'll move it to my second grape vine in a little bit.

It is important to note that I don't use greywater for my vegetable garden, only for my fruit trees. It is recommended to avoid contamination by not putting greywater directly onto stuff you are going to eat. I did use greywater when I was prepping the soil for my vegetable garden...I figured if the veggies weren't there yet then it couldn't hurt. I also use greywater to water my compost pile, as we have to do that here in the desert so that it has enough moisture to do its composting magic.