auto drip system for soil?

[Guest]

as my grow gets larger, I find it a pain to be hand watering my plants every 2-3 days. I have been wanting to make a auto drip system, but it would probably be alot more work/hassle and time then I have. I have searched a bit and found a few things like a smartvalve, but really nothing other then that. Can anyone point me in the right direction to buying a pre built drip system that can be tuned for certain amount of plants?

 

[HerbMan26]

What size grow? are you using pots or bed? Smartvalve!!! I'm sure you can rig a system with some polyline, filter and a pump with a timer. Depending on the size of your grow you can have it up and running in no time and for half the cost. Check out Pico's thread http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=62654 I'm sure you can manipulate it to fit your system.

 

[texasluv]

A drip system is super-easy to build with a res, pump, some PVC and some 1/4" nipples for the drip lines. All you need is a nice digital timer ($20 at Home Depot for minute increments, ~$90 for one capable of second increments).

There was a time when I had a second property used for growing only and I couldn't get by there very often. It was a 4 x 8 table with a mixture of 2 and 3 gallon pots full of ProMix HP. The gallon pots got 3 drippers each, the 2 gallon pots got 2. I had a spare 1500+ gph pump lying around and used that for the feed pump. Timer was set for 3 minutes, every other day. Worked great. I probably visited the property about 15 times over the course of 3 months and everything turned out great! Not one malfunction with the system. During the last few weeks the pump came on every day for 3 minutes, the last week it came on twice a day for 10 minutes each time- strait water.

If you want to fine tune the system based on each plants individual needs you can get 1/4" valves for one of the hoses for each pot and adjust the flow.

Total cost for the PVC, glue, cap, nipples, and hose is less than $100, in many cases closer to $50. The most expensive parts are the pump and timer. Definitely get a powerful pump to help keep the drippers from clogging and to ensure equal pressure through the feed pipe for the drippers.

 

[NorthernKronic]

Hey guys,

I have been considering this same thing for the past few weeks now. I dont really mind having to water all of my plants by hand...BUT...

Over the holidays i have to leave town for just about 24-28 days... so a long ****ing time for me not to be there. Drip has looked like the best option so far. I use Earth Juice Nutes so i am worried about the drip heads being clogged by the solids in the nutes...

I only need to automate my c24 mother cab, which will contain about 15 or 16 2 or 3 gallon grow bags.

How big of a res and pump will i need to keep my plants healthy while im gone? ehhh ill just pm ya texasluv.

Ill be around to see what you work up syztem. Hope you figure it out. Peace

-N.Kron

 

[Pactivist]

Hey syztem,
I am building this set-up right now. 1200w mixed HID, 29 plants in 2 gal. grow bags of pro-mix/perlite (80/20%), 33 sq ft. room, with a huge 526gph pump, and Metanaturals nutes. each plant will have it's own "Blu-Dripper" find them here - http://www.wormsway.com/detail.asp?sku=BD200
which are designed for soil. Since I am new to this I will be working out the watering/feeding schedule over the next crop or two. I will do my best to compile the results from this little experiment of mine and post it all in a thread soon.
peAce,
pacT

 

[texasluv]

Those are the same drippers I use, but they aren't blue, mine are black.

 

[famous]

I have a drip system right now, because i only can access the grow room about once a week.

I have a 10 gallon rubbermaid tub, a 450gph pump(i've heard ~100gph/plant, and but i think this will do the job for up to 12 plants in a bed)
Out of the pump, its a 1/2" poly tube, with a plug on the end(purchased from discount hydroponic). i got a hole punch, and T splitters from lowes, and 1/4" poly tubing. i run 1/4" lines from either side of the 1/2" line, and then have 2GPH valves on the ends of the 1/4" lines.

timer set for 10 minutes every other day.

 

[rastagrass]

home depot has 10 plant drip systems that connect to a faucet, but you can buy a pump and a fitting that connects your pump to the drip line and there you go. the drip system is only like 12 bucks and then the price of a pump depends on what kind of pump you buy.

 

[beta]

.

 

[Pompey_Monkey]

Tropf-Blumat works a treat for me and many others!


https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=111046

 

[Dislexus]

Maaaan I got your solution right here. Keepin' it simple.

Go ahead and run the feed tubing to your soil pots, but you dont need a dripper at the end or anything. Or buy the home depot kit rastagrass mentioned and cut off the drippers or whatever.

Now, as it all connects to one line that line goes up and is connected to... a funnel.

That's right you dont need a pump. You don't need the risk of a malfunction, or the time it takes to get a soil mix and drip pattern together that won't cause root rot. You want the soak/dry cycle for root health.

You just need to take away the need to fuck around with them by hand.. So now you let gravity do all the work and just pour that shit in the funnel until some of the trays start building up a little water. You only have to do it every 3 days or so. If you need to go on a vacation for a week, just skip a dry period, keep the plant will be saturated and with the overage in the trays they will be healthy and not overly thirsty by the time you get back...

Did I just blow your fuckin mind?

 

[Lazyman]

Tropf-Blumat works a treat for me and many others!


https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=111046

THIS!

Show me another drip system that measures each pots moisture content and then dispenses the proper amount of water automatically, without using any pumps or timers.

I use about 200 Tropf BLumats in my flowering room and they're the best thing since the 1KW HPS in my opinion. They're not perfect, but I think they're miles better than other systems in terms of flexibility, water dispersion and simplicity.

 

[Dislexus]

THIS!

Show me another drip system that measures each pots moisture content and then dispenses the proper amount of water automatically, without using any pumps or timers.

I use about 200 Tropf BLumats in my flowering room and they're the best thing since the 1KW HPS in my opinion. They're not perfect, but I think they're miles better than other systems in terms of flexibility, water dispersion and simplicity.

Yeah once I expand I'll need to get some of those..

Question for you Lazyman... Does nutrient/molasses residue fuck them up?

 

[geopolitical]

I'll second the blumat recommendation. Also there are numerous "vacation" watering systems, but you really get what you pay for on those in my experience. I haven't had any clog issues but the nutes I use have very little sediment in them.

 

[Darwin]

Yeah once I expand I'll need to get some of those..

Question for you Lazyman... Does nutrient/molasses residue fuck them up?

I just started using these this grow. I use Earth Juice plus humates and molasses and in short, yes and no. If you just throw nutrients in the res and never clean it out, yes the small diameter feed tubing will clog. They are super easy to unclog (just squeeze the tubing through the end) but an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Keep your res clean and filter your nutrients through a paint straining bag or compost tea bag. I clean the res after a few weeks and flush the lines with a days worth of water and then return to ferts.

Hope this helps.

 

[Yes4Prop215]

building a drip system is much easier than you think...pump/res/PVC tubing..etc. i built one for my coco setup. i didnt have it on a timer though...i would just go into there, mix up a 5 gallon resevoir batch, then turn plug in the pump for like 30 seconds to water them. so much easier than handwatering....