Setting up my drip system this summer

[BagSeed]

I was wondering if this drip system from wal-mart would work. hXXp://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=8587369

It says it will water up to 10 trees and hedges plus 30 plants or 20 shrubs and vines but i plan to buy some extra hose and fittings with it. Has good customer reviews at least, lol. I plan to use a 30+ gallon rubbermaid container as a res and probably como'ing the res with some fake/natural foliage and glue. I will have 5-10 plants per spot, and the temps get 90+ from june-august in the summer pretty constantly. My questions is what gallon per hour fitting should i use on the fittings and also how often would the res have to be refilled? I would also like to hear from people who have used drip systems and any tips. Thanks

 

[Kindbud]

to much work i say plus a 30 gallon container would stick out to much plus you would have to hide the water lines how often do you plan to visit??

 

[BagSeed]

I plan to visit as often as it needs to be refilled and I don't think its too much work cause it will save a lot of work and increase yield a lot too. I can only visit my patches once every two weeks tops.

 

[Kindbud]

oh ok then you need it i like to water them my self lol but that souns like it would work to me

 

[BagSeed]

So does anyone have experience with this or know what gallon per hour ends i need? Also, would it be a good idea to use two rubbermaid containers as res. and connect them with some 1" or larger tubing? That way it will hold more water and i can have about 70+ gallons. I would only have the irrigation feed off of one but then that one feeds off the other one. And how much work is it to actually set up a drip system in the middle of woods in 80+ temps? Plenty of water to drink of course Any help will be greatly appreciated.

 

[Kindbud]

would nt be that hard i think an joining the to containers together would be a good idea 1 inch tubing would be fine i have no idea tho what the gallon per hour ends you need id say probably 1/4 an hour may be a 1/3 oh and how many plants are we talking about? 5-10 a spot like you said id go withe the 1/4 but how is it going to be activated ?? if your going to leave it on id make the size even smaller

 

[kasgrow]

How are you going to pump or regulate your water from the res.? You need to have some water pressure to pump the water. Gravity alone won't be enough for automatic valves, filters, and drip emmitters. The drip is the easy part. A drip emmiter is rated in gallons per hour. If you are going to water for 2 hours a day you want an emmitter that will supply enough water in those two hours.
If you have 10 plants with 2- 1gph emmitters per plant you will use 20 gallons per hour.

 

[BagSeed]

Well im not planning on having a timer, i want a constant slow drip. Im thinkin like 1/10th gph or less. Not sure if i can find those though. Anyone with help on this subject please drop by.

 

[Hick]

Well im not planning on having a timer, i want a constant slow drip. Im thinkin like 1/10th gph or less. Not sure if i can find those though. Anyone with help on this subject please drop by.

...MJ isn't too crazy about having "wet feet" ALL of the time. It much prefers a dry cycle between waterings.

 

[fishcabo]

Assuming you have a water source nearby to fill up your trash can, this is what i would do. Set up your plot down hill of your can. Run a drip line with emmitters to your garden. Get a battery operated timer and splice it inot the line just before your garden. Using the syphon system, get water flowing and water your plants and time what it takes to empty the reservoir.
set it to empty the reservoir 1/3 every four days (skip days adjustment) by adjusting the duration setting. With you giving the plants a good shot every two weeks you should be fine. I would limit this to maybe a dozen plants to start assuming six will be girls. Hope this helps.

 

[The Hemp Goddess]

You are not going to be able to run drip emitters without some kind ofsignificant pressure to force the water through the emitters. These are made to run off pressurized lines, like out of your hose. Since you have no pressurized water system, your only option is to have your reservoirs at a higher elevation than your garden. Water exerts a little bit less than 1/2# of pressure per foot of elevation. IMO, your reservoirs are going to have to be 60-80' higher than your garden to get the drippers to work.

 

[kasgrow]

I just looked up and found this maybe it will help. I have used a bilge pump hooked up to a truck battery before to pump water from a lake to water. You can use a bilge pump and a battery but you will need a timer to run it when you are not around.

.cleanairgardening.com/rain-barrel-power-pump.html

 

[BagSeed]

Are there any affordable battery timers for drip lines? If i could find one of those then i wouldnt have to worry about an emiter and just have straight lines flowing. And i think that with no emiter there would be enough water pressure if my res was a couple feet above the plants. I also looked into using water hose and a water hose timer. That just seemed more expensive cause of the hose but it might be better and a lot less likely to clog that the drips.

 

[kasgrow]

There are irrigation controllers that run on 9v batteries. Most irrigation valves are 24 volt but will open at 12 volts. There are also irrigation controllers that work off of lantern batteries but they are expensive. I am sure you could find 12 volt timer. Then you could just wire it between a car battery and a bilge pump inside the tank. From there you can hook up a hose. You want some way to make sure all of the plants get water, that is where the emmiters come in to balance pressure.

 

[fishcabo]

Please take no offense Hemp Goddess with what i am about to say. I have set up a many sneakies in the woods that ran off siphon with only ten feet of head. Use 2 gal/hour emitters as they don't clog very easy. Use the "flag type". They are rated for 2 gal/hour when given 25 psi as would be the set up for your home garden with a pressure regulator. In the alps, you may only get 5 psi per ten feet of head as HG stated which is true but the emitters will let out a little <1/2 gal/ hour or so if using the 2 gal type and ten feet of head. There are battery operated timers at Home Depot that use 2 "c" batteries that will work just fine for your application. You will do much better trying to grow fewer plants with more water that more plants with less water. If you are in bear country, you must bury the line our they will think it is a sausage or something. Hope this helps. Call 555-gogreen for more advice JK.

 

[The Hemp Goddess]

Please take no offense Hemp Goddess with what i am about to say. I have set up a many sneakies in the woods that ran off siphon with only ten feet of head. Use 2 gal/hour emitters as they don't clog very easy. Use the "flag type". They are rated for 2 gal/hour when given 25 psi as would be the set up for your home garden with a pressure regulator. In the alps, you may only get 5 psi per ten feet of head as HG stated which is true but the emitters will let out a little <1/2 gal/ hour or so if using the 2 gal type and ten feet of head. There are battery operated timers at Home Depot that use 2 "c" batteries that will work just fine for your application. You will do much better trying to grow fewer plants with more water that more plants with less water. If you are in bear country, you must bury the line our they will think it is a sausage or something. Hope this helps. Call 555-gogreen for more advice JK.

LOL--I am not offended. I just have never seen or heard of any kind of drip emitters that will work off 5 pounds of pressure, which is a 10 foot head--don't know what the Alps have to do with it ...

 

[fishcabo]

Alps(like in Swiss Alps)=Mountains=montanas=hills=rugged terrain....sorry for that. Next time you are at an irrigation supply store, pick up a 2 gal per hour emitter and blow through it. It takes no pressure to blow through, however, if you give it 25 psi of water, it will deliver two gallons/hour. Emitters in California don't only deliver h2o when given 25 psi.

 

[BagSeed]

Anyone got tips for a water hose irrigation system? Im thinking each one will cost about $100. Is this about right? It will have a little $20 automatic timer from Wal-Mart and a rubbemaid or 2 as a res. Then the hose Will have splitters and valves. Sound good? And does 2 gallons a week per plant split in 2 waterings sound good? At least enough to keep them living in 90+ temps june-sept? I will water more on visits.