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water drip irrigation

P. Dreadie

P. Dreadie

Hello everyone ,

I'm thinking about trying drip irrigation in my raised beds this year. I've found several sites with good basic info to give me ideas and get started. But thing I haven't seen is how you feed your plants. If you need to use nutrients at some point , do you just hand water with the nutrients ?

Thanks & Peace,
P. Dreadie
 
I've hand watered and/or top dressed with good results. There are also systems for injecting fertilizer into the line. Raindrip makes a "Y filter and fertilizer applicator" that uses plant food pellets. You can also look at a device called a siphon mixer that will let you use any liquid fertilizer. Finally, you can hook the drip lines to a powerful water pump and mix your nutrients in a reservoir. I'd vote for the siphon mixer if your water is good. I've never seen one in action. Be advised that the fertilizer will increase your chances of clogged drippers.
 
post some pics i have bee curious about setting up some sort of automated watering system myself and would like to see how you guys are doing it
 
Noshownate said:
post some pics i have bee curious about setting up some sort of automated watering system myself and would like to see how you guys are doing it
Click to expand...

If you look close at the pictures in your grow bag thread you can see the lines. It is really easy to figure out. I used the "Raindrip Container Drip System" to start.
 
ZanderSpice ,

I noticed that and have thought about what you said about feeding the plants. I'm not there yet but I think hand watering or top dressing might work better for me .

Again thanks and expect me to bud you later .......

Peace,
P. Dreadie
 
Not sure if it's true as I have never tried drip lines with peppers, but I heard they don't work as well because the soil is always wet and peppers don't like wet feet. The article continued to say that the peppers should be allowed to wilt before re-watering to ensure the roots grow long and deep and drip lines don't allow the soil to dry. If you use drip lines maybe consider adding some sand or fast draining additions to the bed to help avoid that problem.
 
If you left the drippers on 24/7 it would be a problem. If you turn off the faucet or use a timer, the soil can dry out the same as if you were hand watering. In some ways it is superior to hand watering because the slow dripping is gentle and slowly moistens. I'd trust a timed drip system more than a neighbor if I couldn't tend the garden for a bit.
 
What I'm hoping/planning on doing with a drip system is spend less time watering. Not having to move a hose around will free me to be doing other things in the garden. I don't plan on using a timer schedule . By that I mean I don't want to water on Mon , Wed , so to speak. But water when the plants need water. With my lawn sprinkler system I turn it on when my lawn needs water , and only then.

The weather , the size of the plants , and other factors should determine when to water. Not the day of the week. Am I thinking right on this ZanderSpice ?

Peace,
P. Dreadie
 
It should work very well for you. Having an irrigation set up is a huge time saver. I love taking care of my garden, but hand watering just takes too long when life gets busy. A timer is great once things get established. In the heat of the summer you will probably figure out that you're watering every 2 or 3 days. That's a great time to add a timer. Then you could go away for a week or two knowing that everything will be fine. I was growing in containers with a fast draining mix so I set the timer for 15 minutes every morning, beds would have been less frequent.

Here's a picture showing some happy plants that I left alone for many weeks at a time.

IMG_7467.jpg
 
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