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seeds Automated Seedling Watering System

jma1787

jma1787

I've started my 2014 crop and have had good success with germination. I have all plants under grow lights set on a timer. However, I'll be going out of town for two weeks over Christmas and need to devise a self watering system to keep them alive while I'm gone. Does anyone have any ideas?
 
If they are still under a dome I might suggest some misters on a timer. If not a simple drip system should suffice.
 
A flood and drain system would be nice too. The drip system would be much easier. Have an aerated reservoir with water and maybe some really weak chilli focus set on a timer every morning or other day depending on your medium.
 
Maybe place a container that leaks ever so slightly in a solid tray with the seedlings. You can even fill it with an ice block to slow it more.
 
You could get technical and run water level, moisture content, and other sensors into a raspberry pi and let it completely control your grow.  It could even send you updates via twitter or a text message.  It's probably a bit much for what you're looking to do though.  I recently built my growbot around similar concepts and even though I'm still working out some kinks, it works very well.  I don't have to worry about my wife killing my plants and get critical updates when I need them (I can request soil temp, control lights, etc.. from my phone), which is pretty cool.
 
I'm designing another system now to handle my DWC setup...including nute control.
 
Ignite said:
You could get technical and run water level, moisture content, and other sensors into a raspberry pi and let it completely control your grow.  It could even send you updates via twitter or a text message.  It's probably a bit much for what you're looking to do though.  I recently built my growbot around similar concepts and even though I'm still working out some kinks, it works very well.  I don't have to worry about my wife killing my plants and get critical updates when I need them (I can request soil temp, control lights, etc.. from my phone), which is pretty cool.
 
I'm designing another system now to handle my DWC setup...including nute control.
Click to expand...
Wow! Any info on how to do this?
 
There are people doing similar stuff with Adruino boards and its getting cheaper with the copy cat boards coming out of china.
 
Ignite said:
You could get technical and run water level, moisture content, and other sensors into a raspberry pi and let it completely control your grow.  It could even send you updates via twitter or a text message.  It's probably a bit much for what you're looking to do though.  I recently built my growbot around similar concepts and even though I'm still working out some kinks, it works very well.  I don't have to worry about my wife killing my plants and get critical updates when I need them (I can request soil temp, control lights, etc.. from my phone), which is pretty cool.
 
I'm designing another system now to handle my DWC setup...including nute control.
Click to expand...
Sweet baby jesus....
 
I just dont know. Pretty awsome but you think this beats a chunk of ice? 
 
i wanna hear more about this as well!
 
illWill said:
Wow! Any info on how to do this?
Click to expand...
 

I don't have anything officially written up because it was just a side project. I'm a computer engineer by trade so I was trying to blend my love for peppers with my given talent to create something unique. I used all off the shelf equipment so someone else could easily replicate it. It was relatively inexpensive and a fun thing to do. I'm still tweaking the system but it's getting there.

Sarge said:
There are people doing similar stuff with Adruino boards and its getting cheaper with the copy cat boards coming out of china.
Click to expand...
  

Arduino boards are great for rapid prototyping but they lack the power and resources I needed for this project. I actually designed a board for this project that will replace the raspberry pi, but the initial boards won't reach me until after the first of the year.

PrimeTime said:
Sweet baby jesus....
 
I just dont know. Pretty awsome but you think this beats a chunk of ice? 
 
i wanna hear more about this as well!
Click to expand...
It depends on how cold he keeps his house or how quickly that ice decides to melt. It will probably work. What about a simple system like a dog's water bowl uses, you know the ones with a 2 liter jug that you attach. I'd have to think about how to rig it, but if done correctly it would auto add water as the plants drank it due to the drop in water level.
 
All great advice. Thanks!

I've decided on a reservoir of water in a 5 gallon bucket in which I'll place a small submersible pump attached to a digital timer. The out feed of the pump will feed a miniature drip system. Just to play it safe, I'm going to set the entire thing in my daughters plastic pool just in case something goes wrong.

If you're interested in following my crop, I have a grow log on this site that details my set up and activities to date complete with pictures. It's no where near what Ignite has (which is pretty freaking cool), but it's working for me and pretty simple.
 
Nice and simple. The only thing you need to make sure of is nothing can get into the water and jam the pump and that the water level doesn't get low as that can damage a pump!
 
Good luck!
 
Are these established plants or seedlings? I was guessing seedlings which wouldn't want to be sitting in water very long.
 
Good luck and have a great trip!
 
Good advice Sarge, I'll be sure to take the necessary precautions.

Prime Time, they are young plants with roughly four true leaves right now. By the time I leave, they'll be a couple weeks older. Once I get everything set up, I'll have some time to experiment with timer settings to get the ideal flow rate and on/off cycle days. That will give me enough information to validate how much water I need in my reserve tank.

I'm pretty sure I can make this work. If so, it will be a big help since I travel often for work too.
 
This is a duplicate of a post I just made in my glog, but since I asked this question under a seperate topic heading, I wanted to close this circle and show what I ended up doing.
 
 

I finished rigging my automatic drip system tonight. Despite the simple design, it was really a pain in the ass because the tubing comes coiled and doesn't uncoil easily, especially for the short pieces necessary for this system to work. It also didn't help that I had pre-existing cuts on my left index finger and my right thumb which made it difficult to attach all the pieces. Nevertheless, this project is completed and tested...no leaks! 
 
I've also attached the pump to a timer set to run the pump three days a week for ten minutes. I arrived at this setting by estimating how much water would be used each cycle, how long I would be gone and how much water the bucket holds. While not an exact calculation, it should be okay. I may set up a back up water source just in case.
 
As I stated above, the tubing was not very cooperative so the system is not visually "pretty", but who cares. I'm the only one who will see it, beside those who view this picture and I only need it to work for two weeks.
 
E01B6D81-891F-4D15-BD0E-EBE7A25521CF_zpsuvaggp60.jpg


 
 

One of the more difficult things I had to overcome was reducing the pump out feed (5/16") to the diameter of a standard drip irrigation fitting. It took three fittings. Since this system is not under pressure, I don't expect this section to leak, but I did tape it inside the bucket just in case. You gotta love duct tape!
 
7CC0CC9B-C77E-4027-A0F9-165BC194FF97_zpsy9i2sw07.jpg


 
 
[SIZE=medium]This may not be the most [/SIZE][SIZE=medium]elegant[/SIZE][SIZE=medium] system every built, but it should keep my plants alive until January 1. Since I also travel quite a bit for work, this system will also come in handy for those times when I'm out of town. While my wife did a good job of keeping my seedings alive while I was in Mexico, I think this system will be more [/SIZE][SIZE=medium]consistent and reliable. [/SIZE]
 
buy a small flood table , put it on some elcheapo saw horses .. elcheapo sub pum and a timer .. flood and drain fittings .. ez as hell
 
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