Anyone here running an indoor slow drip system?

1337hacker

1337hacker

Active Member
Wanted to install an indoor slow dripper system on my bed... was wondering if anyone has any experience with one. Was hoping to water my beds slowly over a 4 hour period maybe once a week.

Any help would be greatly appreciated ;)
 
I run a drip system in my everyday outside garden so I assume there are plenty of similarities.
The fact that you grow in beds, I think a drip would be awesome..

Needless to say I found this video randomly searching:
I dont know how much advice I would take from this fellow, judging by his extreme disorganization.
About 1min 55sec and on there is some good info about indoor drip.
He makes a could point about starting with a larger manifold and breaking it down into small diameter tubing as well as having a return line to the res to help avoid any back pressure.
Try not to stare directly at the struggling plants strewn throughout the video, lol...

[video=youtube;bcnTBH4SCqk]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcnTBH4SCqk&feature=fvwrel[/video]
 
I ran drip systems made from 3/4'' PVC and rubber top hat grommets but never a slow drip.. My drip system had run off in about 3 minutes of watering. Are you looking for a slow drip?
 
BeaverHuntr said:
I ran drip systems made from 3/4'' PVC and rubber top hat grommets but never a slow drip.. My drip system had run off in about 3 minutes of watering. Are you looking for a slow drip?
Click to expand...

yes a SLOW drip, I Want to water the beds over the course of 4 hours or so.
 
Slow drips require slow drip tips. Those almost always equal uneven watering and eventual clogging.

I grow in large trash cans and coco beds. I make drip rings from 1/4 pvc and connect them to a tee. Then put 3 tiny holes in it. This allows a nice water of 1 min every other day if I wanted or like I do, i water for 3 mins every 2-3 days. I like to let my medium completely dry out.
 
Yah... this is more for slow drip application.. Don't care too much about putting nutes through the lines I already got a high quality soil established.. The most I can see myself putting through it is maybe some fulvic acid.

Really want this for a 3 -4 hour slow water application, I already have a watering wand / sump pump for a quick watering.
 
I worked in northern Israel in large fruit orchards. One of the things which I did was help install the irrigation system. Lucius is right it is all about the emitters. That's how you control the flow rate. We used 3/4" (or something close because they use the metric system) for the lines and then we either lay the line directly along the row of trees or occasionally we would use spaghetti lines. The line we used had holes in it every 30-40 cm or so. When the hole landed close go the tree stem we installed an emitter to the line all the other holes we plugged with special snap on pieces. Israel is where they developed a lot of the modern techniques of drip irrigation. It was necessary for them because water is such a precious resource in the region yet they manage to produce a lot of fruits and vegetables with minimal water. I also worked here in the valley doing landscape irrigation some of the same techniques and tools are used in the desert landscaping that is popular here. Your best bet would be to go to a irrigation supplier like sprinkler world or better yet go to a ewing store. Ewing is a large producer of irrigation equipment and if they don't have what you need in stock they will be able to order it for you. Also their sales people will be able to help you get the right rated emitter for your needs.
 
irieie said:
I worked in northern Israel in large fruit orchards. One of the things which I did was help install the irrigation system. Lucius is right it is all about the emitters. That's how you control the flow rate. We used 3/4" (or something close because they use the metric system) for the lines and then we either lay the line directly along the row of trees or occasionally we would use spaghetti lines. The line we used had holes in it every 30-40 cm or so. When the hole landed close go the tree stem we installed an emitter to the line all the other holes we plugged with special snap on pieces. Israel is where they developed a lot of the modern techniques of drip irrigation. It was necessary for them because water is such a precious resource in the region yet they manage to produce a lot of fruits and vegetables with minimal water. I also worked here in the valley doing landscape irrigation some of the same techniques and tools are used in the desert landscaping that is popular here. Your best bet would be to go to a irrigation supplier like sprinkler world or better yet go to a ewing store. Ewing is a large producer of irrigation equipment and if they don't have what you need in stock they will be able to order it for you. Also their sales people will be able to help you get the right rated emitter for your needs.
Click to expand...
Thanks man... yah I was thinking of running the mainline as a 3/4 inch, with 1/4 inch off shoots for the individual plants (maybe a couple per plant)

That info was exactly what I was looking for, will they sell to the general public?
 
1337hacker said:
Thanks man... yah I was thinking of running the mainline as a 3/4 inch, with 1/4 inch off shoots for the individual plants (maybe a couple per plant)

That info was exactly what I was looking for, will they sell to the general public?
Click to expand...

Yes that's exactly what they do. They primarily sell to landscape companies but it is open to the public.
 
1337hacker said:
Thanks man... yah I was thinking of running the mainline as a 3/4 inch, with 1/4 inch off shoots for the individual plants (maybe a couple per plant)

That info was exactly what I was looking for, will they sell to the general public?
Click to expand...

Yes sprinkler world is cool I bought many a drip system parts there.
 
hacker, how you doing man?

Out of curiosity... why a super-slow drip in addition to watering with a wand? I don't understand what you're trying to do.
 
Dignan Redux said:
hacker, how you doing man?

Out of curiosity... why a super-slow drip in addition to watering with a wand? I don't understand what you're trying to do.
Click to expand...

I made the mistake of letting the bed dry out on one side I hadn't planted, it was a real bitch rewetting it... solution : slow drip
 
No experience with it, and just an idea, but instead of a slow, low pressure, constant flow drip over 3-4 hours, you could use higher flow emitters and higher psi off a garden hose / spigot with a digital timer like the Claber Aqua Video 6 , which allows up to 6 cycles a day, then cram those 6 cycles into 3-4 hours. Like 2 minutes every 40 mins for 4 hours, 1 day a week, or it may also be possible to set the time on the timer so your waterings takes place between "10pm" on "Monday" and "2am" on "Tuesday" and be able to get 12 cycles in 4 hours. Say 1 minute every 20 minutes, over what would be 2 days according to the timer. Or just use a couple utilitech digital timers that allow 20 events a week, which can be all in 1 day and at 1 minute intervals, to power 2-4 sub pumps connected to drip manifolds. That way you could have separate reservoirs and pumps for separate beds if you have different strains that require different nutes or watering rates. High flow, high psi emitters on timers may give the same kind of slow drip soaking effect without the unevenness and clogging of constant, low flow, low psi I guess is what my point is.
 
Thanks for all the input guys.. I will probably go with the wand a little longer and try to stay on top of my watering cycle a little better. If not I will try some of the suggestions here. Any idea what kind of flow rate you need on a pond pump if I were to go the slow rate? My guess is pretty small.
 
Same thing happen to me hahaha. I let my soil dry out when I was out of town. I got a soaker hose from lowes working on getting the shit rehydrated right now. Hate when soil gets hydrophobia lol.
 
Yeah I guess that's what I was getting at hacker; just stay on top of it better.

I run a drip system (coco in containers though) and I try to replicate the action of my previous handwatering methods, i.e. I try to get a nice flush because it helps with salts accumulation, which less of a concern in organic soil (I assume you're 100% organic). I just run to Ts and flood the pots over a 3-minute period, once per day. Not sure why I'm telling you that. LOL

I have run beds and soaker hoses before. IMO do NOT use the standard soaker hose, the black perforated/porous stuff. It's crap. The best soakers I have found is a 4mm line that is black with a blue stripe along the length of it. ACE Hardware always had it. It has a non-clogging dripper built into it about every 6". Works fantastic. But it drips too fast for the kind of slow soak you're looking for (which I don't think is necessary bro).

Just guessing, this soaker hose you'd probably want to come on (assuming it's being fed by a spigot or standard 500-ish GPH pump) probably 5 minutes every 48-72 hours, something like that.

My personal opinion here is that you're better off with the wand and handwatering. But you may be like me, looking for a way to be able to leave town for a week.

Good luck amigo.
 
1337hacker said:
Thanks for all the input guys.. I will probably go with the wand a little longer and try to stay on top of my watering cycle a little better. If not I will try some of the suggestions here. Any idea what kind of flow rate you need on a pond pump if I were to go the slow rate? My guess is pretty small.
Click to expand...

Tell me if I'm wrong, but looks like...

A = The vertical height (in feet) from the top of the water level to the top of the water push. (e.g. Waterfall)
B = Total distance of tubing (in feet) the water needs to be pushed through.
C = Number of 90 degree bends and reducers.
D = Number of miscellaneous adapters such as ball valves and bulkheads.

A + (B / 10) + (C / 2) + (D / 4) = Approximate Head Pressure


DannerMagDriveChart.jpg


So if you had 10' dynamic head pressure, you could go with a Mag Drive 3 and get 10gph, which is still kind of a lot so you'd probably want it on a cycle timer like http://www.ebay.com/itm/Repeat-Cycl...954?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item43a6cb9252 50secs on every 200secs would feed each bed 5 gallons in 4 hours, or 50secs on 50 secs off would feed each bed 10 gallons in 4 hours. I think for true slow drip with emitters you'd have to go with an elevated res or garden hose to get the psi, or a monstrous pump because of how much the emmiters would increase your head pressure... or maybe you could combine an elevated res with a pump and an anti-siphon valve? Have you thought about using blumats?
 
KT420 said:
Tell me if I'm wrong, but looks like...

A = The vertical height (in feet) from the top of the water level to the top of the water push. (e.g. Waterfall)
B = Total distance of tubing (in feet) the water needs to be pushed through.
C = Number of 90 degree bends and reducers.
D = Number of miscellaneous adapters such as ball valves and bulkheads.

A + (B / 10) + (C / 2) + (D / 4) = Approximate Head Pressure


DannerMagDriveChart.jpg


So if you had 10' dynamic head pressure, you could go with a Mag Drive 3 and get 10gph, which is still kind of a lot so you'd probably want it on a cycle timer like http://www.ebay.com/itm/Repeat-Cycl...954?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item43a6cb9252 50secs on every 200secs would feed each bed 5 gallons in 4 hours, or 50secs on 50 secs off would feed each bed 10 gallons in 4 hours. I think for true slow drip with emitters you'd have to go with an elevated res or garden hose to get the psi, or a monstrous pump because of how much the emmiters would increase your head pressure... or maybe you could combine an elevated res with a pump and an anti-siphon valve? Have you thought about using blumats?
Click to expand...
that was the single most bad ass reply I have ever had to a post on this forum. +rep to you sir. If you guys couldn't tell I'm a nerd for #'s.
 
you can also dial your pump in perfectly by using a variac,the proper way to dim down power versus speedsters. Using speedsters messes up your gear and creates a rather annoying hum in the device. A variac will bring down the power to the device without affecting the cycles on output. "So if you had a 130 volt AC input at 60 Hz, you could plug in this auto transformer and change the AC from 130 volts to perhaps 90 volts ( depending on your requirements ). The 60Hz cycle would not be affected." If you were combine Kt420 post with a Variac you will be able to dial it in perfectly. Depending on your pump you'll more than likely be fine going with a 5 amp. There are larger if needed.

they sell them on ebay.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/5-AMP-110V-...664?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item337ed21e70
 
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