DIY drip irrigation?

D

Drunon

New Member
I've been planning a decent sized SOG grow for a while now, with Hempy 2L bottles VERY similar to Xare, and 420fied. But since the number of plants is much higher than usual and Hempy doesn't really allow over-watering, I was hoping to use some sort of drip irrigation. Does anyone have any good links to a DIY drip irrigation system? I google searched but didn't find exactly what I was looking for. I need something that will allow me to change the amount of water per 2L as the plants start to drink more. I think 420fied said his drank around 8oz a day at the start and then up to 12oz's at the end? maybe more.

Thanks in advance for any help.

Drun
 
Drunon,
Give me some more information on your setup and requirements. I am a bit of a DIY fanatic and have a system already built, but it may not meet your needs.

Are you feeding with mixed nutes or water?
R/O water or filtered tap water if not feeding nutes? (if your using OC+ for example)
Do you have a water line close buy?
What is your budget to build the system? (there are ready made systems for less than $100)

The system I built is to keep my moms feed while gone for a week at a time (they are in hempies). It may fit your needs, let me know the answers to the questions and I can give you some ideas.
 
Wow. I'm really overwhelmed by your interest. Basically I will have a cab. that is small square footage (hence the SOG)... like 2'*3'... I was thinking just running small lines over each 2L bottles and allowing drip into each. I really only have the knowledge I've gathered here on SOG or Drop Irrigation. So I was planning on using a gravity fed reservoir on top of my cab with several lines split (ideally 4 rows). I was thinking Fox Farms nutes. mixed in my reservoir.

I planned to really jam-pack my area with lollipoped plants.. 40 plants in the 2*6 area in 2L's. (check 420fied's SOG grow) My interest is because I REALLY don't want to water 40 plants every day or even every 3 days really, this was all about efficiency. $$$ isn't really an issue I just figured DIY would save a little, plus I am kind of a handy-man. If commercial systems really aren't too pricey I might look into them.

Thanks for the help.

Drun
 
Also I figure, if the drip irrigation over-waters, I could implement some kind of pump that takes the run-off back to the reservoir, not wasting any nutes/water. Filling the reservoir would be alot easier than watering/feeding each plant.

Drun

P.S. loved your last 360 vs. 180 LED grow. +rep
 
Dripworks shows that the smallest emitter they have is 1/4 GPH. What would the effect be on my plants be if they received that much drip? I know hempy will just let the excess out the holes but do either of you think it would have any negative effect to have that much drip/runoff?

Drun
 
I would not recommend putting mixed nutes into a gravity fed system if you are using drip heads, for a couple reasons. I had put some mild nutes in my top-up res and within a few days it had started to grow stuff. If you do use nutes, make sure you keep it aerated or use H2O2. The other issue with nutes is that they WILL clog your drip heads. If you have the system pressurized it would mitigate that a little.

I have an irrigation timer that I picked up at the HD for $20. It allows you to set the time, length and frequency of watering. Every two days at 7:30 AM for 10 minutes for example. You could use one of those to control the flow of water/nutes. Just do a test run to see how many minuted you need to run ot for to get the desired amount of water.

I might consider using soaker hose instead of dripper heads. I would create a ring with the soaker hose and connect that to the feed line with a T-barb connector. The soaker hose would reduce the effects of channeling that you get with a single drip head. Also the soaker hose would be better with a gravity feed system, the drip heads require a little bit of pressure to get their full effect.

For the res I use Vittles Vaults, they are food grade, square shaped and relatively inexpensive for their size. I have an 11 gal one I use for my top-up res and a 27 gal one I use for a camp shower (it does double duty as my watering system when I'm away).

I have an on-demand water pump atttached to a line that goes into the res. The pump is self-priming so you don't have to drill holes in the res, just drop a hose into it. When the timer turns on, the pump kicks in and runs until the valve on the timer closes. The one issue I've had is pulsing because of the way the lines work. I would consider using an accumulator to even out the pressure. You can find the pump and accumulators online. (I'll send you a PM with the link, since the site isn't a sponsor).

I will take a few pics of my items so you can see what I have and how they are hooked up.

I think if you go with a gravity feed system you can put it all together for about $70 (depending on the size res you need), If you go with pump system, add another $120 to that price.

A third option is to use the irrigation timer on a faucet and then run the water through a filter to remove solids and chlorine, just need to be close to a hose-bib.
 
In my wayback days I used a standard hose/sprinkler timer hooked to a res and did gravity feed to a large SOG. Use pvc pipe (1/2") to make a grid, and had short lengths of 1/4" tubing to a "drip stake". The stake was yellow and had 4 pins on the top. You could select 3 different flow rates and "off" simply by moving the tubing to a different pin. The stakes were about 5 inches long and triangular. Don't know where I got em or who made em. Sorry. Just keep the res outlet off the bottom and most sediment drops out, never had a problem plugging up. You have to keep in mind that pressure changes as the res drops, so flow rate is not always even (full to empty). Used it more to automate waterings vs take care of being away on vacation. Just top up, mix supplements, let it do the watering.
 
Would this work at all?
I am leaving for a few days and need to come up with a watering system while im gone.
Will this picture i came up with work. Say I fill the bucket up with my water mixed with light nutes and set to come on once per day for about 30 seconds. This should be enough water for the day. I think my pump is a 264 gph so ill have to see how forceful the wwater comes out and also so I can gauge how long the pump is on while it waters the plants. Sorry, normally id have a really nice drawings to share, but I dont have my arch program on this computer.
untitled117.JPG
 
30 seconds may not be enough. First figure out how much water you want to give each plant. Then assemble your system and run it to see how long it takes to hit that mark. Just run the lines into empty jugs or buckets. The pump you have is rated at 264 gph--under ideal circumstances. You are adding some flow restriction by using the drip lines, so the pump will not put out that much.

Also you can put adjustable drip emitters (or fixed-rate) on the lines to get the system to flow the same rate for all of the plants.

So to summarize: Build it, test it, revise it, re-test it then use it.
 
Thanks for the input. Ill have to rig up something soon though. Its a real pain to water 12 plants right now with a water bottle haha. They drink more than 1 gal each time I water. There are jugs all over the place ahah. I would love to set up a semi permanent timer watering system so I dont got to go in there and water each plant individually. But my idea would work is what you are saying, i just need some R&D time with testing. This is what im working with. I also have the light about 3" from plants which is not what is shown.
IMAG002313.jpg
 
I grow in coco and use top-fed drip irrigation, DTW. When I set up my drip irrigation system, I ran into a problem. I wanted to feed the plants in flower every other day, but none of the timers I found at HD let me do that. Their 7-Day Timers gave me the choice of Monday, Wednesday, Friday feedings or Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday feedings. With either option, my plants would be left unfed for two days straight and that wouldn't work for me. Then, I found a timer that allowed me to vary the number of days between feedings at Home. With a Skip Day Timer, you can set up any drip irrigation system so that it can be left unattended for a week or more. The thing works like a charm. I hope you found this helpful!
 

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