watering....

[bilbo baggins]

I'm trying to come up with a better way to water my plants. In the past, I'd just get a bunch of gallon jugs, fill with water and mix each jug separately. Problems with this is that you've got to mix each jug separately, and when I start pouring the water into the soil, it tends to overflow easily because its such a thick stream coming out.

Basically, I want to mix up a large reservoir and have a water pump hooked up to a spray nozzle type thing which would have an "on/off" toggle switch.

Are there any threads on this, or does anyone have a better way to water?

 

[crazyhorse]

Organic nutes or Chemical nutes?

 

[bilbo baggins]

The last few runs I've gone organic... mostly fox farm stuff. I could go either way at this point. Are you asking because organics have the potential to clog things up?

Right now I've got some seedlings just starting out and I'm trying to get my room straight.

 

[touringfunkband]

How about a windshield washer fluid pump for a car. Just hook it up to a 12volt battery or power supply - add an on/off switch and a couple of small rubber hose lines - one to your reserve and one to water with - and your all set to go..

 

[Guest]

are we talking an indoor grow and how many "jugs" does it take to water your plants? How many plants and in what size pots?

I use garbage cans with a Little Giant pump and a garden hose. Plug it in and use a garden hand spayer with a flow dial.

Simple.

 

[inflorescence]

Drip emmitters can be spray if the pump is strong enough.
Watch out for stem rot though. A drip would be sufficient once dialed in.

 

[bilbo baggins]

It'll be an indoor grow with around 10 plants in 5 gallon pots. Last time I did it the 10 plants would suck up about half a gallon every 2-3 days.

I was thinking of doing a dripper manifold, similar to what Pico drew up somewhere on here. But I like being able to move my plants around easily...

I have a pump I could use, but I'm not sure how I'd hook up a garden hose to it. Its one of those aquarium pumps I believe. Is there a connector you could be to do this?

 

[Guest]

Are you talking about doing an automated water system for when you are not there or hand watering still?

Go buy a small pond type pump, water with hose by hand like you were doing.

 

[Guest]

I use an R/O filter with 1/2 inch tubing clamped to the spigot and ran to a 50 gal rainbarrel,the top opens and you can just scoop out your gallons.Beats 40 1 gal jugs laying around

 

[pico]

No reason you couldn't move your plants around with the drip system. However, from the sound of it I think you could get a 55 gallon plastic drum a water pump and a hose and call it a day. You can get those used drums for 15-20 bucks.

 

[Ghosts]

Good info BUMP

... get a 55 gallon plastic drum a water pump and a hose and call it a day. You can get those used drums for 15-20 bucks.

...got me thinkin...

 

[Wildlifer69]

An Aquarium Pump in a 5 Gal. Bucket,Attached to a Watering Wand works for me.

 

[Hermit43]

I bought a hand pump sprayer from the hardware store.
Mine is a 1 gallon but i think the larger one is 5 to 7 gallons.
Easy mixing with the wide mouth of the container and the hose and wand attatchment make it easy use without getting on my knees..lol
I took the sprayer attatchment off and it delivers a gentle flow of fluids. I use a count system to approximate how much I dispense at that flow rate. i.e... use a measuring cup and the "on/off" trigger and count 5 seconds equals say 1 cup...
If you want to feed foliage simply hook up the sprayer attatchment and ...viola. No electricity or wires. Just pump it up.

Mine is a small area and a large reservoir won't fit.
So, beware my information is from a first time rookie.

 

[FunkBomb]

I wish Gandalf would just appear and fix the problem for you

-Funk

 

[Ghosts]

I have a 250 GPH pump laying around, a garden hose, and a (gentle) hose end sprayer.

With my current method, the most water I've used at once is ten gallons.
I think a fifteen gallon res would give me enough water and keep my pump submerged.

I'm looking for a fitting to connect my garden hose to my bathroom sink so I can fill my res without lugging jugs back and forth.


While we are talking about watering, what is everyone doing with their drainage?

I’ve just always used drain pans.

2 - 3 times every watering (every 5 days) , I lift each plant into dry drain pans, and pouring the drainage , pan by pan, into 1 gallon jugs
...then dumped outside...

I’m considering some sort of E&F table & “oil change drain pan thingy” ...

I dunno.

Just throwing ideas out...hoping for some feedback...