New to drip irrigation and need assistance

I am pretty sure the hydro section would be the best place to come with this question..

Like the title says, I am 100% new to drip irrigation. I am just an old school grower that has been watering by hand for the last 17 years or so. But times are changing and things are getting harder, I have a super busy life at the moment and also running a decent sized grow. I am leaving out of town next week for 4 days and no way will I be able to go that long without watering. My girls are drinking at least half gallon per day, some every other day...

So basically, I need some help from what supplies I need, (emitters, Timer, hoses, pumps, aerators) basically everything. And also a step by step easy explanation on how to set it all up, best place to order the supplies (I am assuming amazon since I am a prime member and everything is on the cheaper side) also need fast shipping as I need to get this ordered by tomorrow night and installed and fully functioning by the middle of next week. I am trying to be on a budget here but I also dont wanna invest in any cheap or faulty known equipment as I cannot afford for my system to fail.

I am assuming that a basic explanation of my grow would be crucial in determining they best type of setup to go with and what and how much supplies I will need...

Here is what I have going on...

As a reservoir I will more than likely have to use a 55 gallon barrel. I won't have much room for anything else and I suppose this reservoir will be large enough for 4 to 5 days of MIA. I have 3 plants in 5 gal smart pots, 2 in 7 gal growbags and 30 plants in 3 gallon grow bags. I understand I likely wont have enough water in the reservoir to water them thoroughly for 5 days (or maybe I will?) but my goal for those few days is only to keep them alive, I can manage and attend to it daily once I return. I guess there is a way I could set the pump? timer? To only feed small amounts 2 or so times through the day to keep them thriving until my return.

I am in promix, usually having to water daily, or every other day on some of them. My room is 17 1/2 foot long and 6 1/2 foot wide. I tried doing searches on YouTube, other forums including this one and Google but there are just so many styles and so much equipment to go with, it confuses me.. I mean I wont lie, the shit looks to be complicating lol all of those houses and emitters and so forth. But from what I hear, set up and installation is not as intimidating as it looks and seems.

Regardless of my absence I am still ready to convert to a fully automated watering system. My back just can't handle it anymore and more so than that, life is just way too busy and i dont have the time.

I would appreciate ALL advice and recommendations, directions, guides etc...

Here is something someone recommended me on another forum, said these are amazing. But then again, I barely even know what the hell I am looking at! Lol..

Here are the links..

These...

https://www.amazon.com/Goege-Adjustable-Irrigation-Drippers-Sprinklers/dp/B06W2KD9RK/ref=mp_s_a_1_1_sspa?keywords=adjustable+drippers&qid=1552818743&s=gateway&sr=8-1-spons&psc=1

And these...

https://www.digcorp.com/irrigation-professional/multi-outlet-drip-emitters

Interested

Anyone??

I ran top fed coco dtw for a decade bro , and first and foremost the easiest way to get equal flow and pressure to each individual plantsite is with a "loopfield manifold" with all drip tubing being exactly the same length from supply tubing to plantsite…..

Those octabubblers work , but I learned KISS was the best route and I used 1/4" open ended driptubing to each plantsite stuck in basket stakes that dispersed the juice "around" the mainstem as to not cause stemrot while evenly covering the top till total saturation with runoff then pump kicks off , but that`s in coco.....drippers clog sooner or later so no drippers worked for my old ass....

There`s a thread here in hydro by "Pico" that shows a tutorial on loopfield manifold building with explanations so good luck and holler if I can help.....

Peace.....DHF...…

I don't know how to help, but I'm bumpin this for the day crew.

I’ll second DHF’s advice of using open 1/4 inch tubing as emitters and having the supply lines on a loop for as equal a pressure as possible.

Got two years out of my last drip system before changing to the open 1/4 inch tubing.

Actually just left the clogged emitter tubing system in my garden and used the tubing as supply lines, added some 1/4 tubing for emitters where needed.

Pressure is pretty low at the garden but it’s broken into sections that will supply thirty 1/4 inch emitters

Been running drip dtw for a couple years. In addition to the advice above, I would suggest a few things... Run Drip Clean or something similar. It'll help keep things open. Filter like a mofo. I use a filter bag for my pump, and an inline screen filter just before my manifold. Open spaghetti lines didn't work in my setup, even with a PC manifold like the Orbit. Drippers are frustrating, and almost all are junk. I struggled with consistency and performance for several grows using multiple brands before discovering Bowsmith drippers. The 1gph aren't worth a shit, but the 2gph drippers are straight bad ass. I'm on my third grow with them, and have not had a clog yet. If you're only feeding once a day, a bigger flow rate might be doable. It sounds like you are planning to feed everything from one res. That's going to be your challenge. Feeding different pot sizes and stages of growth from one reservoir. I honestly don't see how you can do it, unless you use a ppm that won't be too heavy for younger plants. But the trade off will be it won't adequately feed plants that require a higher ppm. Unless you plan on running twice as much volume to your smaller pots, you will have to use multiple pumps and timers in your one big reservoir.

Thanks everyone for the help! Yes most of my plants are in 3 gallon grow bags, I have 3 in 5 gal smart pots and 2 in 7 gallon bags. I feed them all equal amounts of water/feed though with no issues. I will give each one around a half gallon of water per day. Sometimes a whole gallon on the bigger pots but honestly, all I am looking for right now is getting by for 4 days that I am out of town. When I get back home, I can keep working through this and set up maybe a second reservoir for the 5 plants in bigger pots.

So basically I just need to get those plants to survive for the 4 days that I am out of town... I will then mod things up a bit and try and get everything just right.

So you guys are mostly recommending I just use open end hoses on my plants without emitters? What size pump would you recommend and timer??

So basically if I can just get each plant half a gallon of water per day, I would be more than happy. That will keep them alive long enough for my return!

mrlucky405 said:

Been running drip dtw for a couple years. In addition to the advice above, I would suggest a few things... Run Drip Clean or something similar. It'll help keep things open. Filter like a mofo. I use a filter bag for my pump, and an inline screen filter just before my manifold. Open spaghetti lines didn't work in my setup, even with a PC manifold like the Orbit. Drippers are frustrating, and almost all are junk. I struggled with consistency and performance for several grows using multiple brands before discovering Bowsmith drippers. The 1gph aren't worth a shit, but the 2gph drippers are straight bad ass. I'm on my third grow with them, and have not had a clog yet. If you're only feeding once a day, a bigger flow rate might be doable. It sounds like you are planning to feed everything from one res. That's going to be your challenge. Feeding different pot sizes and stages of growth from one reservoir. I honestly don't see how you can do it, unless you use a ppm that won't be too heavy for younger plants. But the trade off will be it won't adequately feed plants that require a higher ppm. Unless you plan on running twice as much volume to your smaller pots, you will have to use multiple pumps and timers in your one big reservoir.

Click to expand...

Won't all of my plants get equal amounts of water if I use the PC "Pressure Compensating" drippers?? I found some on amazon, like 15 bucks for 100 of them. From the reviews they are great and claims to give equal amounts of water regardless of hillsides, elevation etc..

I am 100% new to this and still it is frustrating. I kinda want a simple reservoir, pump, mainline and then my spaghetti lines to the emitters. These PC emitters seem to be what I need. And I could use one main line as long as I have a powerful pump, correct?

I thought bout going with blumats as well, but jesus, the hell with that! They are outrageous for the size of my grow.

Bump

Anyone know about those PC emitters? Could I skip the manifold type lines and just run a straight line with powerful enough pump and PC emitters? Wouldn't that distribute the water evenly to all plants??

Also, I came up with another idea as far as reservoir capacity goes. How about sitting a 45 gallon barrel inside of a 30 gallon tote, cut holes or "hole" in bottom side/s of barrel to combine both reservoirs into one, all while saving space?

Ok so I have decided to go with the Pressure Compensating emitters. That way I can get an even amount t of pressure to every plant. Now I have 2 questions...

1) How do I know how many GPH pump I need? I have 34 plants, will be using the PC emitters on each one.

2) How do I know what GPH emitters to go with?

From what I am reading, the pc emitters require a higher pressure than most other types of emitters.

I've had luck with irrigation fittings from Berry Hill. The idea is simple but it takes time to look through the different fittings available and make a plan for your garden. An Orbit timer or similar can be connected to a water hose manifold, screen filter, poly tubing in 100 ft rolls or PVC pipe. Poly irrigation tubing, valves, end caps, tees, elbows, pressure regulators, a punch/drill, 1/4" poly and/or barb fittings, drip emitters or sprinklers or drip tape.


Some of us are visual learners and pictures, videos can be helpful. I found that each garden is unique/specific enough that it is worthwhile to understand the basics. PVC (optionally buried underground) is stronger, poly tubing is cheaper. A manifold with its own valve and pressure regulator can be built for each zone or container or garden bed. For a few containers on a patio not many parts are required.


With a water tank gravity or a pump can be used. You can buy an electric pump that will maintain a certain pressure (similar to having a water faucet) and use a timer to operate a solenoid valve, or you can put an electric pump on a timer instead. Gravity may work depending on your setup. A light proof insulated (optional) bucket of water raised a few feet above the plants can supply 1/4" drip lines. Which drip emitters to use (if any since they can clog) and spacing/frequency you may have to test to find out.


Pressure compensating emitters are primarily for long distances or elevation changes in the same drip line or zone. If your manifold splits evenly and the surface is level they aren't necessary. The idea is that a plant at the end of a row will receive enough water while the first plant (closest to the pump higher pressure) won't flood. Designing your irrigation lines in a way to minimize pressure differential might be enough.


Sprinkler emitters on stakes or 5+ drip lines/emitters per container will help distribute water evenly. Mulching the containers will retain moisture and drip irrigation has the advantage of slow application so that all of the water goes to the media/root zone. For more zones (since faucet pressure or a pump can only supply so many emitters at once) a controller box with solenoid valves may be required instead of a 2 zone battery timer. Alternatively you could use more than one of the smaller battery timers. Blumat and floraflex make some stuff which looks unnecessarily expensive (cannabis specific).

I have had good luck with the little giant pumps. I run a 3/4 washing machine hose to a wye and run 1/2” tubing in a big flexible circle and put a tee to 1/4” for 18 spots. Put a tee up high and feed it back in the top of the Rez to break siphon. I use black hole drippers but you could do a 1/4” tee to 2 1/8” and stake those in. I like the art dne cycle timers because they are easy and perfect. For 36 plants 2 pumps or some valves to work it manually.

Itsmychoice said:

I have had good luck with the little giant pumps. I run a 3/4 washing machine hose to a wye and run 1/2” tubing in a big flexible circle and put a tee to 1/4” for 18 spots. Put a tee up high and feed it back in the top of the Rez to break siphon. I use black hole drippers but you could do a 1/4” tee to 2 1/8” and stake those in. I like the art dne cycle timers because they are easy and perfect. For 36 plants 2 pumps or some valves to work it manually.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the help my friend! I have not been on here and didn't see your post till after i had already purchased my setup... ended up going with the DIG 12 outlet manifolds... I had more plants than I thought LOL. I counted 40 and guess I was off around 4 or 5.

Basically, I got 4 300gph fountain pumps, 4 timers, and just gonna run the whole thing with poly or vinyl for now till I arrive back home, then I will tweak it up a hair. A guy over on RIU recommended me to the DIG manifolds and swears by them... I have read great things as well. Wish amazon had offered the adjustable digs om prime but nope, had to go with the 1gph manifolds. I have to have it shipped and set up by Wednesday, latest. That was my quickest shipping option.

With 4 manifolds, 4 pumps and 4 timers, yes, seems like overkill... however, its gonna be the simplest way to dial them in without having to screw around with a bunch of stuff. Just a straight shot from my reservoir, pump, out to plant location. It should at least get me by when I return home. The timers I got, had good reviews as well and got down to the nitty gritty (the seconds).

As far as anti siphoning goes, I am thinking about just poking holes into the top of my lines right before they drop out of the reservoir, I heard that worked pretty well and al back flow just goes right back into it... all I can do is hope, if it doesnt work out when I get all my shit and get it put together Wednesday night, then I guess I wont be going out of town for 4 or 5 days... not letting this grow go, that's how important it is to me.

I think that will work fine for the anti siphon. I did 38 days out of town with 12k running this summer, so I like your odds.

MountainBudz said:

Won't all of my plants get equal amounts of water if I use the PC "Pressure Compensating" drippers?? I found some on amazon, like 15 bucks for 100 of them. From the reviews they are great and claims to give equal amounts of water regardless of hillsides, elevation etc..

I am 100% new to this and still it is frustrating. I kinda want a simple reservoir, pump, mainline and then my spaghetti lines to the emitters. These PC emitters seem to be what I need. And I could use one main line as long as I have a powerful pump, correct?

Click to expand...

Octobubblers are pressure compensating. Open tubing is the ticket. The bigger bags should get 2-3 lines to ensure they get ample water. Build a manifold. It's easy. PVC and octobubblers on risers, 1/4 in tubing, and stakes to hold the tubing. The timer is going to be expensive. I think I paid 100$ on Amazon for my short cycle timer. It can go down to 5 second feeds. Yo uh will need to experiment with watering duration. I used a 1/5 hp sump pump. 100 bucks again. All bought on Amazon.

Let us know how it goes.