water Wilma watering schedule

[Kentlad]

Does anyone use a Wilma dripper system or a dripper system in general?
 
If so, what is the recommended watering schedule? I've had people say from 30 mins every hour to 5 mins every 4 hours. And now I'm very confused. Any ideas?

 

[Kentlad]

No-one got any suggestions?  Surely someone uses a dripper system.

 

[stc3248]

Not familiar with your "wilma" system...but I run my drip system 7 minutes once a day for my container plants now and will go to 5 minutes every 12 hours soon...but I live in a hot dry desert so you may be able to get by with once a day where you are.

 

[Kentlad]

Thats interesting.
 
I am growing under lights and have been told to water as much as 15 mins every hour, which after seeing the drippers in action, seems a little excessive. Using clay pebbles as a medium, would you say 15 minutes twice a day is enough watering, or perhaps a little more. Problem being is I sleep close to my growbox and the pump is a little loud to sleep near, so the less it's run the better. Thanks for your help fellas.

 

[compmodder26]

All depends on the amount of flow coming out of your drippers.  I have 4 GPH drippers in my system (was needed to work with the fertigation unit I bought).  During the spring and early summer when it's not sweltering and we get semi-regular rainfall, I have it run for 1 minute in the morning every other day.  Once summer gets in full swing and we have regular 90 degree days and the rains are infrequent, I run it 1 minute in the morning and 1 minute in the mid afternoon every day.  Again, I'm using 4GPH drippers so I get a lot more flow out in a single minute than most others do.

 

[Kentlad]

Is there a difference between drippers and flood drippers?
 
I think my drippers flow at around 2 l/ph.

 

[compmodder26]

Unsure, but i would say it only differs in how the water flows out.  So 2 lph is roughly .5 gph.  So if you want to go with my schedule and get about the same amount of water per session then just water for 8 minutes per session.  Of course your environment won't be completely like mine, so you should monitor and adjust as necessary.  Really it all boils down to what works best for you and your plants.  The whole forum can tell you how they water their plants, but that should only be used as a starting point.  Pick a member's routine and try it out to begin with and decide if it works for you.  If not, observe how the plants react and adjust as necessary.