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container Container Drip system?

sosl0w

sosl0w

Hey everyone,

So I'm going to have about 10-15 plants growing in fabric 5gallon pots this year in addition to my hydroponics setup and was wondering if anyone has any good suggestions on a drip system i could use to water them? I'm looking for something I can have on a timer to come on at specific times of the day. I've looked a little bit into making my own but wanted to get some idea's in terms of what i should and shouldn't do. I know the fabric pots dry out quickly so I will most def need a drip system.

Any good websites or suggestions would be awesome!
 
it depends... do you want to fertigate? or just water them?.... if its the latter thats easy. jus go to drip depot or one of the other drip irrigation stores and buy a small kit. u just need one of those timers you put on a hose bib basically and some button drippers... stakes pressure reducer etc. its all quite easy.

if you want to fertigate.. it gets significantly more complicated.
 
i wish you the best with that injector you linked. i tried a different model and i could barely get an increase in conductivity at the emitters. if it were me, id just wire a cheep solenoid metering pump to the timer controlling the water and dose at a set rate from concentrate. im always seeing old pulsatrons on ebay for like 25 bucks.

heres the one i tried...
http://www.dripirrigation.com/drip_irrigation_categories/80/drip_irrigation_families/288
ez flow
 
compmodder26 said:
I too will be putting in a drip system for my containers in about a month or two. I will be purchasing from http://www.dripirrigation.com. They have complete kits and you can also buy timers for the systems too. They also offer fertigation addons as well. I plan on using this particular fertigation unit: http://www.dripirrig...tion_parts/1046.
Click to expand...

Nice find. I ordered a kit from them to install T-tape. I had planned on using a syphon injector for fertigation but it turns out siphon injectors will not work with the low PSI drip tape set up. I was going to just add fertilizer directly to a gravity feed system but these might work even better.
 
queequeg152 said:
i wish you the best with that injector you linked. i tried a different model and i could barely get an increase in conductivity at the emitters. if it were me, id just wire a cheep solenoid metering pump to the timer controlling the water and dose at a set rate from concentrate. im always seeing old pulsatrons on ebay for like 25 bucks.

heres the one i tried...
http://www.dripirrig...on_families/288
ez flow
Click to expand...

Yeah we'll see how it does. I'm trying to go as cheap as possible. For the kit, timer, injector, and an extra 50 feet of 1/4" drip line, it will cost me ~70 bucks. If my math is correct, even for the 1 pint injector that I'm getting, I shouldn't have to refill it for 42 days.

10 1GPH emmitters
Water every other day for 10 minutes
10 minutes of watering for 1 emitter = 0.16667 gallons x 10 emitters = 1.6667 gallons per watering cycle
1 pint injector gets 35 gallons of flow before being empty
35 / 1.6667 = ~21 waterings so watering every other day would get me ~42 days of use.

theghostpepperstore said:
Nice find. I ordered a kit from them to install T-tape. I had planned on using a syphon injector for fertigation but it turns out siphon injectors will not work with the low PSI drip tape set up. I was going to just add fertilizer directly to a gravity feed system but these might work even better.
Click to expand...

Yeah I liked how it said it was designed for drip systems. However, my main motivator is the relatively cheap cost compared to the other injectors.
 
so do you add liquid concentrate to that thing? im curious as to how accurate it doses. if its pretty good you could actually dose 2 part concentrates into the same lines. you would just need some sort of a mixing chamber before the drippers.
you could even dose acids/bases i guess, if your water is not optimal.

also, according to the things instructions you need 1/2gpm minimum. are you aware that 10-1gph emitters are only .1666 gpm? you might want to get some higher volume drippers and cut the watering time down. if they say the MIN is .5gpm? id double it personally. maby you could get some sort of vortex sprayers, or bubblers and run them for only a minute or so.
 
queequeg152 said:
so do you add liquid concentrate to that thing? im curious as to how accurate it doses. if its pretty good you could actually dose 2 part concentrates into the same lines. you would just need some sort of a mixing chamber before the drippers.
you could even dose acids/bases i guess, if your water is not optimal.

also, according to the things instructions you need 1/2gpm minimum. are you aware that 10-1gph emitters are only .1666 gpm? you might want to get some higher volume drippers and cut the watering time down. if they say the MIN is .5gpm? id double it personally. maby you could get some sort of vortex sprayers, or bubblers and run them for only a minute or so.
Click to expand...

Well crap, that didn't even dawn on me. To answer your top question, yes I would add a diluted concentrate. I'm using Dyna Gro and they give instructions for making a solution for an irrigation injector. They say to mix 10 - 18 oz of concentrate to a gallon of water to make an injectable solution. I would most likely do less than 10 oz just to be on the safe side. I would rather under-fertilize than over-fertilize.

Well, I guess it's back to the old drawing board. I've emailed The Drip Store to see what they would recommend for a setup to water 10 pots with that injector. We'll see what they say.
 
I haven't heard back yet, but I found some 4 GPH drip emitters. That would push the gallons per minute to 0.66668, which would put me in the range I need for that injector. I would just cut the watering time down to around 3 minutes to compensate.
 
what kind of resolution can you get whith that timer?

also have you looked at the bubblers/sprayers? most of them put out like 10gph+. problem is you need a different pressure regulator for like 20-30psi. the ones button drippers typically use are the 10psi regulators. you mighe even consider an adjustable pressure regulator, then you could really tune in the flow rates and spray patterns.

take a look at this link, i really think a sprayer/vortex/bubbler emitter is the way to go here. you just need to be able to turn them on and off quickly.

http://www.dripirrig...tion_parts/1014

edit: all this talk of fertigation makes me really want to get started on my DIY conductivity and PH controller... just have to finish redoing the god damn soffit,fascia and siding, then i can waste time on these other pursuits.

i use bluemats in my setup btw, i have a 30 gallon trashcan mounted like 26" up and a 1/2 poly like that runs to and inbetween the containers. the bluemats are fed from the poly tube. great thing about a gravity feed is you just mix the nutrients/acid into the trashcan and go. the bluemats work like little tensiometers and monitor the soil dryness and open a pinch valve accordingly.
 
queequeg152 said:
what kind of resolution can you get whith that timer?

also have you looked at the bubblers/sprayers? most of them put out like 10gph+. problem is you need a different pressure regulator for like 20-30psi. the ones button drippers typically use are the 10psi regulators. you mighe even consider an adjustable pressure regulator, then you could really tune in the flow rates and spray patterns.

take a look at this link, i really think a sprayer/vortex/bubbler emitter is the way to go here. you just need to be able to turn them on and off quickly.

http://www.dripirrig...tion_parts/1014

edit: all this talk of fertigation makes me really want to get started on my DIY conductivity and PH controller... just have to finish redoing the god damn soffit,fascia and siding, then i can waste time on these other pursuits.

i use bluemats in my setup btw, i have a 30 gallon trashcan mounted like 26" up and a 1/2 poly like that runs to and inbetween the containers. the bluemats are fed from the poly tube. great thing about a gravity feed is you just mix the nutrients/acid into the trashcan and go. the bluemats work like little tensiometers and monitor the soil dryness and open a pinch valve accordingly.
Click to expand...

I believe the timer can do one minute intervals. Those bubblers do look like a good idea as I could adjust them so they cover the entire area of the pot instead of a single spot. I can add a 30 PSI pressure regulator to the kit without issue (which the Drip Store recommends).
 
So I ended up ordering from www.dripworks.com. They have kits you can order for different purposes, i got the container kit add on. They also have the option to add in fertilizer injection as well that i plan on ordering later down the line after i get everything setup and running. I liked the way the fertilizer setup worked as its a separate container that you can mix whatever you want in and it then injects that into the system. So to start off cost me around $115 i think. Then when i add the fert setup it will be another $80ish i think. Not to bad but still a little pricey.
 
sosl0w said:
So I ended up ordering from www.dripworks.com. They have kits you can order for different purposes, i got the container kit add on. They also have the option to add in fertilizer injection as well that i plan on ordering later down the line after i get everything setup and running. I liked the way the fertilizer setup worked as its a separate container that you can mix whatever you want in and it then injects that into the system. So to start off cost me around $115 i think. Then when i add the fert setup it will be another $80ish i think. Not to bad but still a little pricey.
Click to expand...

Good luck with your setup. I do agree that is a bit pricey though. The drip system I'm looking at will water 10 containers with a fertilizer injector and an automatic timer all for less than $95 shipped. But if you're okay with the price then that's all that matters. Either way, your plants will be happy.
 
I may get a little long winded on this response, and may even ramble a bit so you can just skip it if you want...

Up until two years ago, once I planted out, I was tied to the house...couldn't leave for more than 12 hours in the summer time...something had to give...

after a bunch of research work, I decided to go with an inline injector ( http://www.ezfloinjection.com/pdfs/2030HBspec.pdf ), make a by pass circuit for main water flow/pressure, use 4 section timers, and run a hose to each drip section.....use 1 gph threaded pressure compensated drippers, and 1/2" PVC pipe, and limit my runs to 40 drippers/run...I have 9 sections available to me...

I like using the PVC for its sturdiness and it's great for me because all my plants are in straight lines and it's easy to make corners...every run is custom fitted for the specific area it fertigates...

would I change some things?....yup...one thing...I would get a 1000 series instead of 2000 series because the 1000 series can be under constant pressure, the 2000 is not supposed to be subjected to constant pressure...

If anyone has questions for me about my system, please let me know...I don't want to hijack this thread so PM me...
 
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