Watering

[3rd floor felon]

just wanted to know what other compost growers feel about watering with the can. not how often, how much etc i think i got that under control, seedlings this time round excluded

i got to admit for the first couple of grows i loved spending time with my plants and watering was a great time for studying them up close. that said the trip to the bathroom was a bit easier before as like now there's not enough room to water them in the growroom with my leaky can.

so are there any other options for me? have been thinking about drip rings etc and have read about capilary matting but unsure.

thinking also of making a tank with a hose running from it with two roses coming of it so i could water 2 at a time

anyway any thoughts greatly apreciated though i think ive done me usual of not making any sense at all

Felon

[Dohped]

bit out of season felon m8, but wilko's do a garden irrigation system for 7.99, this is basically a tube about airline diameter, and a load of little drippers attached, which you rig up to your outside tap and just run round the garden.

this would be perfect for your needs, you could have a dripper in each pot and then a funnel attached at the end of the pipe, just pour in the juice at one end and let the drippers feed your plants for you.

dripper parts are available so you could rig up your own system from scratch.

if you wanted you could have a res with a timer & a pump, and automate it completely, without havng to buy an expensive "made for weed" dripper system.

[3rd floor felon]

thanks for that dohped. yeah ive seen that stuff i think b and q sell the bits as well but i bet not as cheap as wilkos :bush:

going to look into this i think. there is a wilkos near me though gardening bit is just a section of the shop. when i wnet there before they didn't have any square pots bigger than 4" so i wanted to check it out again anyway.

how do drippers compare to watering with a rose? i'd guess that as the water delivery is slower the whole pot would get wet or does it tend to leave dry areas?

Felon

[SirBob]

dosent capillary matting present problems with overwatering? or does the top of the soil get dry?

dont like to jack threads, but waste making a new 1

[3rd floor felon]

not at all bob

now im thinking that its not about wetting the compost but the roots being able to feed. thus with matting they drink what they need hence no over watering

Felon

[oldtimer1]

Have you read the links here?

If you want to water rootballs with a bulk system drippers are not ideal if you flush and organic nutrients through them because the drippers block up. Flood pins are much better especially on a gravity system.

[3rd floor felon]

yes i have and well recomended they are too but ive never heard of flood pins so i'll see what i can find out about them. was going to do a poll about watering systems growers use but i gather others, for the most part, water with a can.

Felon

[oldtimer1]

Ok in that case I 'm not sure you took onboard the wet dry principle and stale gas flushing.

When designing an auto watering system its important to understand that.

Drippers and any watering system unless on definite on/off timed cycle that allows a dry time, especially slow drip systems tend to make the compost rootball, anaerobic, contaminated with toxic gas and subject to root rot fungus. You get exactly the same problem but even worse with constantly wet capillary matting being used to water.

The best auto system will dispense over a 5 to 10 minute period, exactly the right amount of water/nutrient solution needed per pot to eventually totally saturate the compost being used. This will give run through as its impossible to thoroughly saturate compost from dry rapidly. But the fast run through is important as it drives out stale gasses from the compost crumb structure drawing in fresh air behind it. The run through will be drawn back into the rootballs slowly over the next hour or two by capillary action until the compost reaches saturation point.

Where a capillary matting bed is of use, in combination with a watering system, if a tube/dripper or flood pin get blocked or part blocked, because the right amount of water is dispensed to saturate all the pots. A pot that is part or totally dry after watering will draw the water it needs to saturation from the capillary bed. This is not ideal but short term it will keep the plant alive. If not spotted the rootball will eventually go anaerobic, also will probably become infected with pythium and a source of further infection to nearby plants.

To be quite honest cheap inline slow dripper kits are not suitable for the long term watering of cannabis and sooner or later will lead to tears, I have seen it time after time with disease, low crop weight and dead plants. If you are going to do it get it right and you can get great results. The best systems I have seen producing the best results. Use a gravity header tank to dispense the right amount of water in combination with an air stone.

Hope this helps.

[3rd floor felon]

Hope this helps

indeed it does thanks very much for that

been distracted as usual so still haven't found out about these flood pins, wondering if these would allow for a quicker and not prone to blockage issues.

actually this is more like what im looking for. something that i would turn on and could even watch. the benefit being not having to move the plants and me bending like a contortionist to water them. thanks again for your advice on these issues. if i can't get this right i will happily enough continue to water them with the can with the assurance that i can control the wet/dry aspect of pushing and pulling stale and fresh air to the root zone.

Felon

[3rd floor felon]

noddybud the best way is to use flood pins not slow drippers. ie you make up your nutrient mix in the tank, open the valve and feed the whole lot in one go every 2 or 3 days. As soon as all the nutrient mix is through a small flush through of just water will clear the spaghetti tubes

was found in this thread along with a pic of a flood pin posted by your good self

Felon