Watering problem fixed, no money spent. :D

I just thought I'd post the ending to my desperate situation. It was free and it looks like it. Just posting pics for entertainment purposes. I hope you all get a good laugh. I did.
I put my plants in a circle in my shower, and put a gallon jug in the center. I took strips of aluminum, folded them into troughs, and hooked them over the lip of the jug, so that they were suspended over each plants' container. Then I put a circular piece of aluminum foil over the lid and the troughs to hold them all in place.

I found some hose in a dumpster, cleaned it out a few days before, and duck-taped it to my sink. After testing it thoroughly for potential leaks under varying amounts of water pressure I found that a slow drip for a two week period would be no problem. The hose was led over the wall of my shower, and the tip was rested lightly on the circular piece of aluminum foil holding the troughs in place.

At first the water flowed only to the troughs to the right. I took strips of toilet paper and rested one end on the center of the circular piece of aluminum foil and down the length of each trough. The toilet paper acted as a wick and led the water down each trough equally. Providing each plant with a steady drip of water.

Then I suspended a wire basket I found in the garage over my plants, using duct-tape to tie it to my shower's knob, and then the doorway of the shower itself. I also placed duct-tape on both sides of the walls of my shower, connecting them to the unoccupied sides of the basket, for stabilization. Finally plugging the timer and lightbulb into the outlet near my bathroom cabinet, and ensuring that it worked, I paced the lightbulb into the basket. Relieving the wire of the strain simply being hung over the wall as the hose had been. As well as avoiding a potential safety hazard and providing my darling vegetation with better light placement.

Afterward I raced to get dressed and packed, ready begin my journey to my families house.

All I can do is hope that I've covered all the bases.

A couple more pics.
The last pic was my original plan, I was going to make the hose go into an entirely different room! XD The thought to simply move my sweethearts didn't occur to me till I called a indoor garden business looking for automatic watering systems. He suggested I simply put my plants in the tub and let the shower drip on them!
I considered doing just that, but my shower doesn't 'drip', it's either completely off or showering. Slight modifications and a little improvising made it into a working idea, Thanks Robert!

my friend i thought some things i used to do were ghetto, you beat me.

RUSS!!!! GOOD to see that you are back.. What happened my friend?

Passions.. I love your innovation... you are fantastic! I hope your set up pulls through

lovelovelove

Passions,

I tried to figure some way of watering my plants while i'm visiting the family, and I have to say I'm humbled by how simple your idea is! Its one of those "Why the hell didnt I just do that?" moments lol

Btw it is ghetto as hell. To clean it up, simple run splitters to that main hose, and have a smaller hose going to each plant, like a drip system.

Thanks for the inspiration.

LOUNGE

I hate to be the negative nancy, but I feel like the water will find the shortest way down, and follow that path only. I think you're going to have trouble getting it to split the water evenly.

Thats true SenorSanteria,

I wonder if the water first went into a resivor, like a bucket, if that would help? or if the reduction in hose diameter is enough to overcome this challenge?
Ideas anyone?

LOUNGE

Lounge said:

Thats true SenorSanteria,

I wonder if the water first went into a resivor, like a bucket, if that would help? or if the reduction in hose diameter is enough to overcome this challenge?
Ideas anyone?

LOUNGE

Click to expand...

Well, I think the best way to overcome the lazyness of the water (always the path of least resistance) is to work with it. If you use a bucket try hammering the bottom before hand, an indent for each hose, so that the water will gather in those indents till the last drops. Hmm, but thinking about it...
Even if you had a very narrow tube, to keep the water from rushing out, it would drip frantically till there wasn't enough pressure (water weighing down) in the bucket to force to water through the hose. So it might stop dripping completely when it was only halfway or a quarter full if the tubes are too narrow. But if they're to big the water will rush out all at once...

That's quite a conundrum.

this is awesome...i have said before....the DIY on this site is so much fun....simple answers to complex challenges. I too hope that it works for you. And as I also said somewhere else on this site....ghetto or not if it works...who cares!

man, I gotta give it to you, you must be a long lost brother of McGyver's!

Great job and solution to your problem.

Lounge said:

Passions,

I tried to figure some way of watering my plants while i'm visiting the family, and I have to say I'm humbled by how simple your idea is! Its one of those "Why the hell didnt I just do that?" moments lol

Btw it is ghetto as hell. To clean it up, simple run splitters to that main hose, and have a smaller hose going to each plant, like a drip system.

Thanks for the inspiration.

LOUNGE

Click to expand...

Alright, I've been thinking about this all day, and I think I have an idea.
You were half way there with your original sketch, but the irrevocical laziness of water says it'll all (or the majority of it) go down the middle tube opening.

But if there is only two openings, and both ends are equally spaced apart, even better if you have it in a inverted 'V' shape (maybe achieved with a bent wire hanger?), then the water will be equally divided between the two. Repeat this once more with the next set down and you have four tubes that are all giving equal amounts of water. Then you simply combine the middle two (with tape or a rubber band) and place them over the third plant just as you would if they were a third tube.

Waddoya think?

Just thought I'd update.

It worked, the plants were alive and well the entire two weeks. Unfortunately my parents needed to use my room as a guest room, so they took the plants, and won't tell me where they are. I'm assuming they were destroyed. (Didn't even harvest them, what a waste! Or at least that's what they told me, so they don't have to share.)
Oh well, the irrigation/drip system worked perfectly, they let me know that. And now that my babies are gone, I'll start over with something legal.

If nothing else, this whole adventure has shown me that I love gardening, and the special peace I receive from growing. I hope that what ever happened to my plants, that they died with the amount of care that I had for them while they lived.

EarthlyPassions said:

Just thought I'd update.

It worked, the plants were alive and well the entire two weeks. Unfortunately my parents needed to use my room as a guest room, so they took the plants, and won't tell me where they are. I'm assuming they were destroyed. (Didn't even harvest them, what a waste! Or at least that's what they told me, so they don't have to share.)
Oh well, the irrigation/drip system worked perfectly, they let me know that. And now that my babies are gone, I'll start over with something legal.

If nothing else, this whole adventure has shown me that I love gardening, and the special peace I receive from growing. I hope that what ever happened to my plants, that they died with the amount of care that I had for them while they lived.

Click to expand...

That's a damn shame...

You should get into growing salvia! Easy, legal, and fun!

Ha! I'm too scared to do any real drugs. Especially psychedelics, whoo, my imagination is strong enough as it is.

...
Is it really still legal?

Also, turns out they were harvested before they died. Did some searching and found the stash.
My parents are drunkards mostly, and like to go out and party, the next time they step out I'll be sure to help myself.