Manual delivery systems for soil?

rob feature

Member

• Apr 4, 2014

• #1

I've been watering all the ladies by hand & sort of like it this way for now (kinda green at this), but the tool I'm using to do it is getting long in the tooth. I'm just using a Pyrex measuring cup & working it around the branches can be a pain sometimes. And now that my plants have really filled in, there isn't much room to move them around.

I'd sort of been trying to come up with a DIY solution with things from around the house, but inspiration is still a little light. Easy is mandatory - especially easy to clean. Something between 1/2 and 2 gallons. Maybe something with a hose & a small portable tank? Gravity or pressure-fed? Sometimes wide-open is just too many options

WWICMD?

 

G

Granger2

Active member

Veteran

• Apr 5, 2014

• #2

Home Depot gardening- They have plant dollies that fit a 5 gal plastic bucket. Use the bucket, a 1/2 gal round plastic pitcher from the grocery, and look online for a watering can with a long snout. As basic as it gets. Good luck. -granger

 

rob feature

Member

• Apr 5, 2014

• #3

I thought about the snout thing, but still keep going back to the idea of a hose for some reason. I'm about to buy a new hydration pack & think I might try out the old bladder. It's pretty easy to just hang it from the tent & can use the valve to control flow. I have the perfect head on my portable solar shower. Oooooooo, maybe a portable solar shower would work out. Not terribly difficult to clean, super easy to use, cheap & perfect for the job?

 

dank.frank

ef.yu.se.ka.e.em

ICMag Donor

Veteran

• Apr 5, 2014

• #4

Invest in some blumats and a reservoir. Easy and simple.



dank.Frank

 

rob feature

Member

• Apr 5, 2014

• #5

Thanks Dank Frank. I did think about the Blumats, but I don't think I wanna go down that road just yet. I'll probably move into something more automated a little later, but being a newer grower, I wanna keep it all manual for now. An additional problem I see with these is nutrients. I heard straight from the horse's mouth to mix +Life immediately before application. I'd still need to find a way around this using Blumats. I may wind up doing something like this with manual control though.

 

dank.frank

ef.yu.se.ka.e.em

ICMag Donor

Veteran

• Apr 5, 2014

• #6

I forget when people say "soil' they aren't necessarily referring to organic soil and simply watering a fully amended mix...

So yeah, if you are feeding nutrients and teas, then blumats are not your best option.

The thing with a camp shower is once you fill it with 5 gallons of water you are looking at over 40 lbs to lug around or hang over head...and that will get old. Not to mention, I don't how much abuse it would take before it sprung a leak from the constant use and being lugged around.

Another option you might want to consider is buying an industrial plastic drum - a good pump, and fitting the pump with a hose. Then all you'd need to do is refill your drum as necessary..and depending on how much water you use.

You could also just run a physical water line to the grow area, attach a spigot to it and attach a hose that way...

There are a lot of options...

If you know you have to reach into the garden to water, you should keep in mind to train your plants accordingly...removing the bottom branches so you have clearance to work under the canopy...



dank.Frank

 

rob feature

Member

• Apr 5, 2014

• #7

This is in Fox Farms Happy Frog. I'm doing more than watering though, so need a way to deliver a freshly-mixed solution.

Yeah, lugging around 5 gallons of water in one of those showers would get old and is probably too much weight for the tent, but I have a 3 liter Camelbak bladder that I was about to retire. It should be perfect - mix up the sauce, pour it in the camelbak, hang it while I direct the flow. I'll probably try the head from the solar shower.

I trimmed these out the best I could, but my AK Cherry Lime's branches are staying close to the soil. I didn't fill the pots either, so there's that gap - teaching moment

Thanks for the replies

 

dank.frank

ef.yu.se.ka.e.em

ICMag Donor

Veteran

• Apr 5, 2014

• #8

Your garden must not be very big if all you need is 3L...hehehe. Not a jab at you either.

I'm thinking you need 5-10 gallons a day per watering...and that doesn't sound like the case.



dank.Frank

 

rob feature

Member

• Apr 5, 2014

• #9

No jab taken

Naah - 4 plants in 5-gallon GeoPots - 3 gallons of soil in each in a 4x4 tent. I'm using 1.5 gal/day max @ week 3 flower. I'm feeding every watering.

Here's what I'm up against

I don't wanna remove all those fans just for easy access. There are lots of 'em in there. Branches too. This is the worst plant & the thing that got me thinking about this in the first place. I can water/feed the others with the cup, but have to shift 'em around and want to come up with a way to do this without moving them. I also may need to tie them at some point.

The others are easier to access and grew up out of the pots - for example

Easier for sure, but you can probably see why tilting a measuring cup to provide the goods can be a little awkward. I'm really warming up to the idea of a designated hose & valve for each plant though - maybe a little something to spread the love around. Just hook it up like an IV & turn it on.

 

dank.frank

ef.yu.se.ka.e.em

ICMag Donor

Veteran

• Apr 5, 2014

• #10

You just need to thin out the bottom of the plant and allow the top flowers that are receiving the most light to be more productive. I'd trim off all those lower branches...

The small flower in the front center, that has an internode immediately to the right...well, I'd prune everything below that internode.

Allows for better air flow, better top flower production and will allow you to get to the soil surface for easier watering...

I usually put a plant in flower and prune out sucker branches periodically during the first 3 weeks as the plant stretches. They are called suckers, because they suck energy from the top and generally the flowers produced are nothing but "larf" - airy, loose, not "marketable"...

By the end of week 3 when stretch is almost complete (strain depending) - you can tell which branches are going to prosper and produce heavy, thick colas. The branches that fall short of my target canopy - which is determined by the amount of light penetration, are all removed...



dank.Frank

 

rob feature

Member

• Apr 5, 2014

• #11

I have been thinning these out - just about every day. I've mostly been taking the smaller buds developing near the bottom. For the most part I've been leaving the fan leaves, but have been taking some. There's a lot under the AKCL you can't see - it's really dense.

I just don't wanna get crazy with the trimming & take it too far. I'm not sure what 'too far' is, so I'm limiting myself to 5 or 6 cuts every day. Some days I don't cut anything. It's getting well into flowering as well and I understood that I'd want to knock off the trimming kinda soon.

 

dank.frank

ef.yu.se.ka.e.em

ICMag Donor

Veteran

• Apr 5, 2014

• #12

You've got the right idea then. It's hard to know where to draw the line...until you go to far.

But more seriously, I try to have everything thinned out and left alone to grow by 21 days into flower.



dank.Frank

 

CecilGreenLeaf

Member

• Apr 14, 2014

• #13

If you have a dollar store in your area they sometimes have these hydro blaster squirt guns. Its basically a large syringe but hold about 3000 to 4000ml. These things kick ass, and I am still able to hanf water. Which I have always prefered over auto system.

 

CecilGreenLeaf

Member

• Apr 14, 2014

• #14

I also forgot it alows you to get in to those tight spots pretty easy without spraying the leaves. And it doubles as a stirring utensils.

 

rob feature

Member

• Apr 14, 2014

• #15

Cool - never seen those before! I've about settled on something though. I was scrounging through the garage looking for stuff to make some sort of device & ran across this thing:

I've never done much gardening in the past & forgot I owned this thing. I don't believe I ever used it before actually - just dragged it along the last time I moved.

While it isn't perfect, it's just about there. Lifting it to release the water gets a bit tricky in some of the tighter locales, but it's working out fine overall. The tiny tip is perfect for getting into tight spots & flow rate is great. It saves me a good bit of time. Definitely saves me a great deal of frustration. I think I'm sticking with this until I find a good reason to move to something else.

Thanks again for all the ideas!

 

stoned-trout

if it smells like fish

Veteran

• Apr 24, 2014

• #16

gravity fed res with hose and shutoff valve......used gravity for many years with much success