G
Guest
Great thread thank you.
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Guerrilla auto-Irrigation (Watering your plants when you aren't there)
- Thread starter BACKCOUNTRY
- Start date
Trancerdancer
Member
Has anyone looked into "ollas'? I found them through the link provided by Gantz.
They bury unglazed clay pots that slowly seep out water. The roots of the plant end up growing around the clay and intercept the water before it gets to the dirt. It's supposed to be really efficient. I guess the romans and chinese used to do it. This could work well if the right sized pot was used.
Here's a link
http://www.ecocomposite.org/restoration/claypot.htm
They bury unglazed clay pots that slowly seep out water. The roots of the plant end up growing around the clay and intercept the water before it gets to the dirt. It's supposed to be really efficient. I guess the romans and chinese used to do it. This could work well if the right sized pot was used.
Here's a link
http://www.ecocomposite.org/restoration/claypot.htm
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PHB
Member
I am using Wetpots this season. They are *very* similar to ollas in design but with a modern twist - they are built to be used with standard drip irrigation tubing so they don't need to be filled by hand. They are attached to reservoirs which Mother Nature is filling with rainwater as I type this :wink:
PHB
PHB
Trancerdancer said:
FlyinHawaiian
Member
Those wetpots are interesting! do you use your own reservoir? or the one that comes with the kit? how does the rainwater fill the reservoir? if you've used it, does it work good?PHB said:
PHB
Member
I am using reservoirs that I built. They are basically Rubbermaid totes in which I drilled 1 3/8" holes for 1/2" Ebb & Flow bulkheads. I built my own because the reservoirs that Wetpots offer are too small. My area doesn't get much if any rain from May to October and I need to store as much rainwater now as I can. I have daisy chained the reservoirs together so each plant will have 90-120gal of water for the season. I am sincerely hoping this is enough because my plot is in the mountains where it gets very hot and very dry and I don't want to haul water every few days 
.
Right now I am using camo tarps to catch rainwater and fill some of the reservoirs and I hope to set up the rest this weekend.
This will be the first time I am using the Wetpots so I'll tell you how they worked in October :wink:
PHB
. Right now I am using camo tarps to catch rainwater and fill some of the reservoirs and I hope to set up the rest this weekend.
This will be the first time I am using the Wetpots so I'll tell you how they worked in October :wink:
PHB
FlyinHawaiian said:
Yeah Gantz made mention of these awhile back, I really like the looks of the "Wet pots".Gantz said:BC your threads always inspire me so i thought i'd give it a bump with some info i found around that someone here might find useful and use it
Introducing the Wetpot
http://wateringsystems.net/
it's not expensive but if anyone can make one themselves and post a diy tutorial...i'm all eyes
PHB: Are these pots available in North America? I looked around for a source in the USA or Canada earlier this year, but no luck.
I actually spent a little time trying to figure out how to make these, but I ran out of time for more experiments. I was trying to find a cheap source of small terracotta pots, I figured it would probably be pretty easy to adapt a planter into a crude "Wet pot" , maybe this is another experiment to work on.
Thanks for the reminder PHB, these things are really cool looking!
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seventynine
Member
BC,
Do you have a good way of hiding a garden hose from a faraway spring? I need to go looking for a water source up in the canyons, and I think I could get a nice grow going in the middle of a bunch of blackberry bushes for cover.
What's a good cheap res (not sure if I could dig a 4 foot hole on the side of a hill up in the mountains) I could use? I could try using some 5 gallon buckets as reses if I could find somewhere to hide them among the brush.
79
Do you have a good way of hiding a garden hose from a faraway spring? I need to go looking for a water source up in the canyons, and I think I could get a nice grow going in the middle of a bunch of blackberry bushes for cover.
What's a good cheap res (not sure if I could dig a 4 foot hole on the side of a hill up in the mountains) I could use? I could try using some 5 gallon buckets as reses if I could find somewhere to hide them among the brush.
79
Well, 5 gallons isn't much water, thats just a liitle more than I give one plant per week during the hotest weather.
Plastic storage boxes like rough totes and their knock-offs are the cheapest per gallon of water stored. Take a trip to Wal-mart or Target and see what they have. Wal-mart usually has 18 gallon totes of some brand for around $5, totes all the way up to 50 gallons are available.
Another example would be garbage cans, 30 gallon cans can be had for under $10 if you shop around, at one time Wal-mart carried a 28 gallon one for $4.95.
Hiding waterlines depends on the situation, if its permenent then bury it, if its temporary then use the land and hide it as well as you can under natural ground litter like leaves.
Be very carefull with waterlines, many a plot has been busted/ripped when someone ran accross a poorly hiden line that led to the plot, be carefull!
Plastic storage boxes like rough totes and their knock-offs are the cheapest per gallon of water stored. Take a trip to Wal-mart or Target and see what they have. Wal-mart usually has 18 gallon totes of some brand for around $5, totes all the way up to 50 gallons are available.
Another example would be garbage cans, 30 gallon cans can be had for under $10 if you shop around, at one time Wal-mart carried a 28 gallon one for $4.95.
Hiding waterlines depends on the situation, if its permenent then bury it, if its temporary then use the land and hide it as well as you can under natural ground litter like leaves.
Be very carefull with waterlines, many a plot has been busted/ripped when someone ran accross a poorly hiden line that led to the plot, be carefull!
seventynine
Member
Thanks...I'll have to think about this more. My main issue around here is security since there are lots of good places to grow, but at most sparse trees (not much undergrowth to shield my honies from wandering eyes.)
Makes me miss my wasted time as a teenager living on a swamp (with my own boat even). Such wonderful things could have been accomplished.
79
Makes me miss my wasted time as a teenager living on a swamp (with my own boat even). Such wonderful things could have been accomplished.
79
G
Guest
I like the earthbox design Backcountry. It gives me a good idea.
In my area, we usually have plenty of rain, 3/4" a week. For years i have grown and only watered as it related to fertilization but global climate change is effecting my area and last year was the most extreme drought in recorded history. I went for 3 mo without 1 drop. I sympathize with you guys that get so little rain. It adds another complete dimension of complexity to growing. Much tougher,
Last year was the first year Ive ever had to carry water and one of the biggest problems I encountered was that after so long without rain, even when I poured the water on, it wouldn't sink in. It just sat there and it would take 1/2 hour to pour on 1 gallon. If I were to bury a 2 litre plastic pop bottle, one on each side of the hole. Punch a few little weep holes in it and that way I could ,just unscrew the top, fill the bottles and walk away while they took their time leaching in!! Good design - I needed it.
In my area, we usually have plenty of rain, 3/4" a week. For years i have grown and only watered as it related to fertilization but global climate change is effecting my area and last year was the most extreme drought in recorded history. I went for 3 mo without 1 drop. I sympathize with you guys that get so little rain. It adds another complete dimension of complexity to growing. Much tougher,
Last year was the first year Ive ever had to carry water and one of the biggest problems I encountered was that after so long without rain, even when I poured the water on, it wouldn't sink in. It just sat there and it would take 1/2 hour to pour on 1 gallon. If I were to bury a 2 litre plastic pop bottle, one on each side of the hole. Punch a few little weep holes in it and that way I could ,just unscrew the top, fill the bottles and walk away while they took their time leaching in!! Good design - I needed it.
RESINvention
Active member
Thanks to all your great ideas out there guys, much appreciated. Here's an idea for ya: (especially for those without mountains, or hills to help with gravity feeding)
Store your reservoir high in a tree on a nice sturdy branch, next to your water supply. Water then could be pumped vertically to your res, and emptied via gravity feed. I would also take extra lengths to hide the reservoir and irrigation line. Reservoir could be painted a camouflage color, with branches attached to it... and the irrigation line could be camo as well and snake along the tree trunk to the ground, paired with a fake poison oak vine
Store your reservoir high in a tree on a nice sturdy branch, next to your water supply. Water then could be pumped vertically to your res, and emptied via gravity feed. I would also take extra lengths to hide the reservoir and irrigation line. Reservoir could be painted a camouflage color, with branches attached to it... and the irrigation line could be camo as well and snake along the tree trunk to the ground, paired with a fake poison oak vine
CannabisBlunt
Member
How are everyones water tanks doing this year?
I am setting mine up tonight. Hopefully the low pressure timer works. Been struggling to find a good one that can handle <4 psi.
I am setting mine up tonight. Hopefully the low pressure timer works. Been struggling to find a good one that can handle <4 psi.
pokerman2006200
Member
great info thanks for putting this up..........
This is my second season using a waterline system with emitters and a hose end timer. My climate is pretty hot and dry (sometimes july, august and part of september will have only a few days of light rainfall), so setting up a gravity-fed waterline running from a creek is pretty much vital.
I have learnt a few things in the last 2 set-ups that may or may not have been mentioned in this thread, hopefully it helps someone out! This year everything is working as it should, whereas last year I had to fix or modify something every visit because I didn't plan right or just plain didn't have the know-how.
-Use 1/2" poly waterline vs 3/4". You get much better pressure through 1/2" and it's cheaper, lighter and a bit easier to conceal.
-use pressure compensating drip emitters. You can get away with just tying a knot in the spaghetti line to limit flow, but the plants further down hill near the end of the line will get more water because there is more pressure, and you can't solve this any other way than by using drip emitters. Having uniform watering is vital when using slow release top dressing ferts like Heavy Harvest, otherwise some plants get way more fertilizer than others.
-I like to use 2gph flagstaff emitters because they can be cleaned in under a second. I use the 2gph or larger because they don't clog up as easily as the smaller ones. I pop a hole in the 1/2" mainline and plug the emitters directly in there then run spaghetti out to each plant.
-I make my intakes out of a pop bottle with the bottom cut off and a sock stretched over the open bottom to keep out most of the sediment. Use some misc. plumbing pieces to attach the intake to your 1/2" pipe.
-I sit a garbage can in the creek with 2 intakes feeding into it from just upstream. With the can full and over 1000' of 1/2" waterline, the pressure is always constant and always good (seeing over 50psi at my plot). By using two intakes to feed it, one can get knocked off or dry up without worry of it not filling my resevoir.
-I keep my hose-end timer right at the garden where the pressure is greatest and I can make changes to the timing without scrambling back up the hill every time. I use a ball valve just upstream from the timer as my pressure regulator. Since 50psi+ is too much for drip emitters to handle (they work best at 20psi or so), I just open it a crack to get the right pressure. This way, I can adjust it easily right at my plot or shut it off completely in case my timer fails or something. It works great and is far cheaper than a pressure regulator.
I have learnt a few things in the last 2 set-ups that may or may not have been mentioned in this thread, hopefully it helps someone out! This year everything is working as it should, whereas last year I had to fix or modify something every visit because I didn't plan right or just plain didn't have the know-how.
-Use 1/2" poly waterline vs 3/4". You get much better pressure through 1/2" and it's cheaper, lighter and a bit easier to conceal.
-use pressure compensating drip emitters. You can get away with just tying a knot in the spaghetti line to limit flow, but the plants further down hill near the end of the line will get more water because there is more pressure, and you can't solve this any other way than by using drip emitters. Having uniform watering is vital when using slow release top dressing ferts like Heavy Harvest, otherwise some plants get way more fertilizer than others.
-I like to use 2gph flagstaff emitters because they can be cleaned in under a second. I use the 2gph or larger because they don't clog up as easily as the smaller ones. I pop a hole in the 1/2" mainline and plug the emitters directly in there then run spaghetti out to each plant.
-I make my intakes out of a pop bottle with the bottom cut off and a sock stretched over the open bottom to keep out most of the sediment. Use some misc. plumbing pieces to attach the intake to your 1/2" pipe.
-I sit a garbage can in the creek with 2 intakes feeding into it from just upstream. With the can full and over 1000' of 1/2" waterline, the pressure is always constant and always good (seeing over 50psi at my plot). By using two intakes to feed it, one can get knocked off or dry up without worry of it not filling my resevoir.
-I keep my hose-end timer right at the garden where the pressure is greatest and I can make changes to the timing without scrambling back up the hill every time. I use a ball valve just upstream from the timer as my pressure regulator. Since 50psi+ is too much for drip emitters to handle (they work best at 20psi or so), I just open it a crack to get the right pressure. This way, I can adjust it easily right at my plot or shut it off completely in case my timer fails or something. It works great and is far cheaper than a pressure regulator.
