# Drip System & Soil



## bejohnst (Nov 4, 2006)

Well tonight I've gone ahead and setup a drip sytem for my ladies in flower. I have 13 plants and honestly is a pain in the *** when it comes to watering them. This is really easy to setup and pretty cheap. Once I ge it fine tuned I plan to just hook it up to a timer and be able to go on vacation for a few days and not have to worry. 

I'll list the parts I need of course things can be made larger or smaller depending on how many plants you intend on using this with. 

1.) Pump -  I found a 526GPH pump on ebay for $23.00 shipped, they're out there, hydro store was like $35 or $40 I think. 

2.) Tubing - I just took an elbow that came with the pump to home depot and found tubing that would work. It ending up being 5/8"OD x 1/2" ID. I found 20 feet of it for $5.00

3.)Dripper - Home depot sells these things called "pressure compensating dripper". The flow rate is 2 GPH. Packs of $10 are $5.50. 



Ok the constructing is really easy. Grab a ruler and measure out 1 foot distances and mark them with a sharpie. You can make this distance longer or shorter depending on your plants spacing. I sugust measuring the distance between your stems and using that number. 

Next get a drill and a 1/4" bit. On each of your markings drill a hole that goes through one side of your tubing. This is where the drippers will connect. Just push the green 1/4" barb through the hole and you'll have a perfect connection. 

Make sure that you are leaving yourself enough slack to get to your reservoir and pump. Also at the terminal end of your tubing you're going to need to stop the water flow somehow. I used this little valve that came with my pump. It slowed the water down a bit but I ended up having to use some stretch n' seal and electrical tape to completly stop it. 

Ok so your prep is all done now time to put the drippers in their place. I chose to attach them at the base of the stem via zip ties and then string when I ran out of them. After they're all connected go ahead and attach your remaining open end to your pump, fill your resivoir and turn it on. Now all you have to do is sit back smoke a bowl and watch the water flow.


Pictures:

1 & 2: these are the drippers. The green end is where the water enters and it exits the black end. 

3: This is the pump in my rubber maid tub with the tubing connected. 

4 & 5: Finished product minus the the syran wrap and tape.


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## imsoborednow (Nov 5, 2006)

Hi Bejohnst.......nice pics.....do I take it that since this is a dripping system that you have it on how long? and at what intervals?  I grow in soil to so I am interested in any automation......if I had it my way I would just open the door every month to pull two and plant two and laters smoke two..


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## bejohnst (Nov 6, 2006)

Well i'm still tweaking it. But it seems to take about 30 minutes to drain my resevoir and thats about 7 gallons getting to the plants or a little over 1/2 a gallon each. I run it about ever other day and my plants seem to be taking to it well. I'm growing in 3 gallon pots so in a 5 gallon you're going to want more water getting to each plant


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