Hands off self watering system

[Eldo]

Thinking of growing in the loft October through to December in a 1 or 1.2m temt with a 600w hps. If this works I'll put a 400+ LED in there but in order for it to work

 

I need some sort of watering system that will take care of itself with me only checking in on and doing stuff once per week.

 

What are my options......would rather keep things somewhat organic if possible but not a deal breaker

 

Cheers

[Giggles]

Have you looked at the Blumat system, get a decent-sized reservoir and top it up once a week.

Put a tray with the same capacity as the reservoir under the pots and if anything fails you have the water contained.

[sweettooth]

autpot system. no run off issues, no drainage issues, gravity fed so quiet. you'll still need to observe daily, I left mine a week once and found all sorts of critters and puddles. don't be slack

[Eldo]

@Giggles I wonder if I could combine these with top dressing soil pots.... keeping it somewhat organic

 

@sweettooth would that require hydro nutes and how long will they last in reservoir before going bad

 

Thanks

[Giggles]

3 hours ago, Eldo said:

I wonder if I could combine these with top dressing soil pots.... keeping it somewhat organic

@Eldo

I am very new to this home growing, so my advice is limited, the blumats run off a reservoir and release water through drippers when the clay carrots becomes dryer.

I use them in a no-till bed, so far they have been a success, I had 1 hiccup when I knocked a carrot and the bed became wetter than was required.

Top dressings may need to be watered in unless you add worms and a mulch layer.

 

I'm sure someone with more expert knowledge will advise you more.

 

 

[Goodbloke]

Do you have existing kit, growing method stuff I mean, not lights etc that you intend to use, or will this lift install be from scratch? 

[Giggles]

Just read the your first post again, if your just setting up a new set up, get a 50-60 ltr fabric pot or box, use eco thrive or build your own soil mix add the worms and watering system your sorted

Have a look at lildaves, mindsoups set ups.

[sweettooth]

4 hours ago, Eldo said:

 

@sweettooth would that require hydro nutes and how long will they last in reservoir before going bad

 

Thanks

nope. although i would recommend coco as a medium. as long as you have a small pump in your res to keep the nutes mixed, a 200L res should last well over a week and would be OK with organic nutes.  FYI I don't use autpots anymore but that would be first choice, nice and cheap, easy to setup and can be left a while as plants only take what they need. I've been more automated with drippers for last year or 2 but in-between setups as I'm redesigning from ground up

[GSZZ]

17 hours ago, Eldo said:

would rather keep things somewhat organic if possible but not a deal breaker

 

Your only option is a living soil bed, running water through blumats, if you want to stay organic. But even then you're going to struggle visiting it only once per week. If you haven't got the time to put into it you run the risk of it being an expensive illegal waste of time.

 

36 minutes ago, sweettooth said:

would be OK with organic nutes. 

 

No they're not?? They even fetched out the 9mm system to make it more suitable for running "organic" nutrients, but even that is not appropriate, considering the exit holes into the valve/tray on the 9mm system is exactly the same size as the exit hole on the 6mm system... same issue, except now the 9mm line holds more solution in it  

 

plus plants being sat in water all of the time is not the one, they work best with those "plant it watering timers" that acts like a timed solenoid.

[Dank Dad]

Living soil 11ltr pot on a dripper/wilma/auto pot system with additives when needed... one cycle and discard unless you know what a boron deficiency looks like . 

[Clubs]

A thriving living soil will be achieved with 50L+, the bigger the better. An 11L pot dries too fast for a stable microherd. If using Blumat and you need to adď amendments, it can be placed directly under the drippers. You should be able to leave it alone for days at a time but let's be honest, there are other environmental checks to carry out in the tent. 

[Dank Dad]

8 minutes ago, Clubs said:

A thriving living soil will be achieved with 50L+, the bigger the better. An 11L pot dries too fast for a stable microherd. If using Blumat and you need to adď amendments, it can be placed directly under the drippers. You should be able to leave it alone for days at a time but let's be honest, there are other environmental checks to carry out in the tent. 

 

whilst I agree with what you've said... with one cycle,you shouldn't have to worry about nutrient problems ....

 

but as my previous posts asked...

 

what does a boron deficiency look like?

[Clubs]

Crack on then. ATB