Can I do this? (Advice Please)

Hello all,

I have a question regarding the use of a drip irrigation system. Is it possible to use such a system for every stage of growth; seedling to flower?

yeah, but you'll have to be adjusting the feed rate constantly, unless you have a lot of equipment. you'd have to have a set number of plants, and put them in pretty much the same places every time, with separate feed rates for each stage of growth, as well as separate reservoirs with different feed for seedlings, vegging, early flower, mid flower, late flower...or....you can change the feed rate pretty much every other feeding to keep up with their growth.

Roger A. Shrubber said:

yeah, but you'll have to be adjusting the feed rate constantly, unless you have a lot of equipment. you'd have to have a set number of plants, and put them in pretty much the same places every time, with separate feed rates for each stage of growth, as well as separate reservoirs with different feed for seedlings, vegging, early flower, mid flower, late flower...or....you can change the feed rate pretty much every other feeding to keep up with their growth.

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Thanks for your response Roger,

As my grow location isn't immediately local to me, I'm aiming at visiting a minimum of twice a week, and wanted to know if this was plausible with an irrigation system in place. Theoretically speaking, I could set the feed/time amount on the dripper and alter when necessary each time I visit right? or would you not advise this as all plants would be getting a set amount of feed regardless of each plant's individual growth? Thanks again, novice here really trying to get my head around it all!

you can do that as long as the plants are at about the same stage of growth. if theres one that needs more or less, it'll show up pretty quickly and you can adjust the emitter for that plant separately

Roger A. Shrubber said:

you can do that as long as the plants are at about the same stage of growth. if theres one that needs more or less, it'll show up pretty quickly and you can adjust the emitter for that plant separately

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Okay, that sounds simple enough. I will do as you've advised above and alter when necessary depending on the individual growth of each plant.

Thanks again Roger!

You could also run a sprinkler manifold. The one I'm running has flow adjustments on each output, it has 8. Also be sure to have a drainage system on point!
What media are you using?

upnsmoke13 said:

You could also run a sprinkler manifold. The one I'm running has flow adjustments on each output, it has 8. Also be sure to have a drainage system on point!
What media are you using?

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Thanks for your response upnsmoke13,

I've been trying to search for an autonomous sprayer but couldn't find one! could you possibly link me? Yeah, I was warned about the drainage, which made me sway towards getting an IWS system but it really isn't cost effective at this moment, so have to stick with something simpler. I'll be using soil in 16litre Rhizo pots.

I have a 18 gal tote with a 396 ecoplus pump ran to the manifold then some silicone lines ran to diy halos, made from the same line. I have a digital timer, programed to 3 one minute waterings a day - starting flowering.

https://www.amazon.com/Orbit-67000-Apollo-8-Manifold/dp/B000H9AI9C/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1514309929&sr=8-3&keywords=Orbit+manifold

https://www.amazon.com/Titan-Controls-Digital-Timer-Outlet/dp/B004LP1FKY/ref=sr_1_cc_1?s=aps&ie=UTF8&qid=1514310260&sr=1-1-catcorr&keywords=Titan+Controls+Apollo

https://www.amazon.com/EcoPlus-Submersible-Aquarium-Fountain-Hydroponics/dp/B0018X2XT4/ref=sr_1_1?s=lawn-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1514310327&sr=1-1&keywords=Ecoplus+396

You would need a setup for each stage of growth, if running perpetual. As simple as I could make it!

yeah, running a perpetual complicates things, if you're running one crop at a time its definitely easier.
for a perpetual, you need a reservoir for each stage of growth. and once you hit flowering, thats actually like 3 stages of growth in a perpetual, have to give veg nutes the first two weeks, pk boost for two weeks, then finishing feed for the rest of the run....

Not to hijack, is the pk boost worth the $? Never tried it?

i don't actually use PK boost, i use 3 different kinds of Jack's, 20-20-20 for veg, blossom booster (10-30-20) for my "pk boost", then Jack's citrus (20-10-20) to finish up.
as far as it being worth the price, i think it is, but you'll get a lot of different answers to that question. i grow in hempy buckets, in perlite/pro-mix, and feed them the blossom booster for 10 days to two weeks, when they stop stretching. i run it around 800-1000 ppm, depending on how hungry the plant seems to be, and cut it off when the first big burst of bud growth starts to slow down.

Blumats Are what you're looking for.
http://www.blumat.com/en/welcome.html

upnsmoke13 said:

You would need a setup for each stage of growth, if running perpetual. As simple as I could make it!

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Thanks again for the advice! That seems incredibly simple to follow.

I won't be running perpetual, all will be taking place in the 240x240x200 I have.

So to clarify;

Resovoir > Pump > Manifold > Tubing > Halo > Plant

Silly question alert. But could you cover 12 Pots from one outlet on the manifold, or spread them across the outlets?

SkepticalFarmer said:

Thanks for your response Roger,

As my grow location isn't immediately local to me, I'm aiming at visiting a minimum of twice a week, and wanted to know if this was plausible with an irrigation system in place. Theoretically speaking, I could set the feed/time amount on the dripper and alter when necessary each time I visit right? or would you not advise this as all plants would be getting a set amount of feed regardless of each plant's individual growth? Thanks again, novice here really trying to get my head around it all!

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Are you wanting to just set up an automated watering systems so the plants can go unattended for days at a time? If you don't have someone going to the grow everyday then it's only a matter of time before disaster strikes.

Sure it'll go good for a while then one of your drip emitters clogs or even worse a pump burns out 10 minutes after you leave from one of your check ins and when you come back 2 days later you're welcomed by the smell of rotten roots.

Sorry not to be a negative Nancy but I've had my pumps go out on me and kill several plants and that was just down in my basement. I checked plants before bed time and the next day when the light went on I noticed my plants were toast and pump was not working.

3-5% of total volume of medium used each feeding. Youll need to feed different plant stages different amount. A grown man is capable of eating more than a newborn.

You need no emitters or other shit that will drip.
Make a ring of PVC pipe that can lie on the floor next to your pots.
Drill the TOP side of the pipe where you want water to come out. You can use grommets or hard screw in tees to connect some thin pipes of equal lengths to the holes. These little pipes go up and into your pots. Now use a simple cycle timer to water for only a few seconds (say) at a time.

To get the best performance out of coco, treat it like hydro, not soil.
Several waterings with oxygenated water and food per day prevents stagnation and anaerobic damage as well as the damage done to the substrate from dry pockets and uneven watering.