Drip Irrigation WITH soil

Single White Pistol

Single White Pistol

Well-Known Member
Has anyone set up a drip system for an indoor soil grow?

I love how Ocean Forrest soil takes my plants through 18/6 and don't want to change that.

However, I'm sick of carrying my plants to the bath tub every time I want to water them.

600 watt HPS
Fox Farm Ocean Forrest
Iguana Juice grow/bloom
Big Bud
Overdrive
Superthrive
Grape Sweet
Molasses

I need to find a ball park watering schedule that won't water log and overfeed my plants. Atleast some experienced guesses as to ppm and timing.
 
Single White Pistol

Single White Pistol

Well-Known Member
Any advice would help at this point. I'll be building it today and testing for the next 3 days but a reference point would be nice. I hate shooting in the dark.
 
G

gobbly

Well-Known Member
I can't answer your question, but I can give you two different experiences I have had that might help you in looking for an answer.

I setup a drip system for my vegetable garden and flower beds 3 years ago and have been quite happy with it. Our water bills went down, I can spend a lot more time on the other aspects of gardening, have less problems with weeds. I replace about $4-5 worth of line and drippers each year, around 30 min of maintenance. I haven't use this indoors or with mj though.

for MJ, I quickly learned that most people were basically drenching their soil every 3-4 days, and letting them get rather dry between waterings (adjusting time for the pot size). This is also advised in a book by Mel Frank on growing mj. I have followed this advice, watering every 3 days in 1g pots with 22" plants, and everything on the water end seems just fine. They are about to move into 5g pots to flower, and I'll probably only water every 4 days then. When I'm watering seedlings I keep them much more moist, and they hit a point after node 3 or 4 when continuing to water smaller amounts every day seems to slow their growth.
 
edsthreads

edsthreads

Well-Known Member
Get a easy2grow Autopot.. the plants will feed themselves with no worries about over-watering, I am sold on them
 
Single White Pistol

Single White Pistol

Well-Known Member
I've been watering every 3 or 4 days for the last 2 years. The problem is that I have to carry my plants back and forth to a bathtub to do it. I would rather water them where they are. If I build something to catch the water, I might as well fo the extra mile and build a drip system. I just don't want to go completely hydro because I like and prefer soil.

All I need to know is: Do I run it on for 15 mintes, off for 15 minutes every hour? Every 3 hours? Every 9 hours? Twice a day? 4 times a day? etc............. What kind of schedule did you run your drip system on?

gobbly said:
I can't answer your question, but I can give you two different experiences I have had that might help you in looking for an answer.

I setup a drip system for my vegetable garden and flower beds 3 years ago and have been quite happy with it. Our water bills went down, I can spend a lot more time on the other aspects of gardening, have less problems with weeds. I replace about $4-5 worth of line and drippers each year, around 30 min of maintenance. I haven't use this indoors or with mj though.

for MJ, I quickly learned that most people were basically drenching their soil every 3-4 days, and letting them get rather dry between waterings (adjusting time for the pot size). This is also advised in a book by Mel Frank on growing mj. I have followed this advice, watering every 3 days in 1g pots with 22" plants, and everything on the water end seems just fine. They are about to move into 5g pots to flower, and I'll probably only water every 4 days then. When I'm watering seedlings I keep them much more moist, and they hit a point after node 3 or 4 when continuing to water smaller amounts every day seems to slow their growth.
Click to expand...
 
Single White Pistol

Single White Pistol

Well-Known Member
edsthreads said:
Get a easy2grow Autopot.. the plants will feed themselves with no worries about over-watering, I am sold on them
Click to expand...
This would cost me like $1000 to set up. If I build it myself, I can do it for $60-$80. I'm talking about growing more than 2 plants.

Thanks for the reply though. Any info helps.
 
N

NuclearNugs

Member
Have you ever considered using a hydro medium like coco. I have seen people run a drip setup in it with great results 15 mins twice a day I beleive. In the FF you probably need even less.
 
edsthreads

edsthreads

Well-Known Member
Single White Pistol said:
This would cost me like $1000 to set up. If I build it myself, I can do it for $60-$80. I'm talking about growing more than 2 plants.

Thanks for the reply though. Any info helps.
Click to expand...
No no, they are about $30 brand new..I don't know where you got $1000 from? you can make your own system with the Valve too.. it's worth looking at esp use with Coco
 
Single White Pistol

Single White Pistol

Well-Known Member
The guy at the hydro shop told me that it's not really that great to recirculate the reservoir through soil since you don't have complete control of what ocean forrest is going to do. You would have to change your res a lot more.
He then realized that all I needed to create was a manifold to move the water. So now, I have a table with plants on it that leaks into a tub. I water by hand.

How did I manage to water them while out of town for 5 days? Well it was actually good timing and faith. I didn't have time to test drippers and asses timing so I transplanted them right before I left. I assumed the transplant shock would give me a day or 2 head start before they start drinking again, and 2 gallon pots take a while to drink for small root systems. When I came back my babies were looking beautiful with water to spare.

Thanks ME and the local HYDRO GUY!
 
D

dachieftan

Member
I have never personally used this but I have read a lot of excellent feedback on icmag there is a whole thread dedicated to these. I don't think you wanna put undissolved molasses in these though. I think it would clog the pores. This takes all the guesswork of timers because it is based on pressure and will water more accurately than you ever could... Here is the link http://www.blumat.info/english/index.html?zimmerbl.html~inhalt
HTH,
Chief
 
Plant Guru

Plant Guru

Member
Another issue about recirculating water is how difficult this can be on the pump. Slow drip has a lot of benefits for plant health and maximum root expansion. It can be complex to setup a system that give equal water and allows easy access to your plants, but check out "slow drip watering halos".[video=youtube;Nm0dRpnAbq0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nm0dRpnAbq0[/video] This system is slightly more expensive than DIY, but way easier and it works. It also has an effective "complete" nutrient that is organic based, very safe and super clean (won't damage or plug any equipment). Watering by hand over time becaomes a mojor pain and waste of time. Plus, becaue hand watering is rapid watering (compared to drip) it over wets parts of the soil and under-wets other parts. Not good for root building.
 
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