Automatic Watering For Garden/Greenhouse (Micro Drip System)...Any Tips?

[flexy]

We have a small greenhouse where we grow peppers, herbs etc.

We live in Spain and it's entirely insane, we have to water plants in the GH almost every three hours otherwise everything gets dry quick.

So I am planning to get a "Micro Drip System" automatic watering for the greenhouse and I am looking at systems like from Gardena or elsewhere.

Say, for example that Micro Drip system by Gardena "for greenhouses" which contains what they call 15 or so drippers (for individual plants) and then misting nozzles.

You connect the system to a hose and there is a pressure limiter, but this system doesn't have an automated watering timer/computer.

What I don't understand..since there is no timer and it's connected to the pressured hose/faucet...wouldn't it mean that the misting nozzles are ALWAYS on? (Which obviously cannot be right since I only want to water/mist seedlings and plants, say, 3x per day and then only a minute or so).

But then since such a set also contains "drippers" which slowly drip water...doesn't it mean the system needs to be connected/under pressure all the time...because you cannot drip water the plants, say, with a watering computer which only opens the hose 3x a day for a minute?

Thinking about it...I would properly need a dual water connector with a normal, always open hose for the drippers...and ONLY put the misting nozzles on a timer, correct?

So or so..if anyone has any tips for building such a system, also DIY, also connecting to large water bottles/rain tons etc. (which I would actuually prefer over a hose)....I'd appreciate it.

(The Gardena Greenhouse drip system I found in particular interesting since its the only one that also includes misting nozzles which would be ideal for seedlings. I have 20 or so tiny pots with peppers where I cannot use normal "drippers" so the nozzles would be ideal)

 

[Kaido]

If you're interested in the DIY route, check out Garduino: (there's a lot of people doing really neat things with gardening using Arduino)

http://makezine.com/projects/make-18/garduino-geek-gardening/

Check out Rainwater Hog for rain collection:

http://www.rainwaterhog.com/

 

[3chordcharlie]

I would suggest Rainbird/Toro/Hunter or whatever brand is used by local irrigation contractors. Hose-tap timers work quite well. Two-zone timers should be relatively easy to find and work well. This is one I've used quite a bit

As a rule I find Gardena stuff is relatively cheaply made and does not play well with others due to custom connectors. Stick to an industry standard if you can, you will be able to add, subtract and repair almost as easily as putting together LEGO.

 

[skyking]

I used battery operated hose tap timers like this one:
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Orbit-Automatic-1-Outlet-Water-Timer-56907/202819556?N=5yc1vZc63g

The only problem I has was due to a battery failure, so now I only go half the season and then change the battery. I had some adjustable big nozzles for a couple of tomato boxes that drank serious water, and played with different sized drip heads to get the baskets right.

 

[flexy]

I did some research...and I am rethinking my plans.

I will likely end up with some DIY system where I use an aquarium pump, a timer and some hoses, misting nozzles and then drippers.

The reason is that, yes, I need a water timer since it's likely that for the misting nozzles they should only be active for 5-10 seconds for each watering...no "water computer" I've seen offers such short times. (All commercial water computers/water timers have a minimum duration of 1min or 2min which would make them unsuitable)

From a certain P.o.V., the Gardena systems are not flexible and of course WAY, WAY too overpriced. Otherwise parts like hoses, a few nozzles, t-sections etc., you can buy this stuff for pennies from some sites.

 

[highland145]

Anyone know if I can attach drip nozzles to my sprinkler system? The risers that spray the shrubs wastes a ton of water because they're spraying the whole area. All of the risers are on their own zones, separate from the grass sprinklers.

 

[tracerbullet]

FWIW the system that finally ended up working for my garden involved a Rain Bird timer, then a pressure limiter, and finally a 1/2" hose with a couple of distributors with the actual drip line tubes connected to them. The timer works great and can be turned on / off up to 3 times per day.

This timer: http://store.rainbird.com/timers/battery-operated/1zehtmr-electronic-garden-hose-watering-timer.html

Distributor I use is an older version of this guy: http://store.rainbird.com/drip-low-...evice-with-filter-7-removable-port-plugs.html

And I am pretty sure this is the tubing: http://store.rainbird.com/drip-low-...-compensating-emitter-tubing-50-ft-black.html

If you need to run to individual pots / plants spaced apart, I highly suggest somethign that can be adjusted: http://store.rainbird.com/drip-low-...ern-360-degree-8-streams-5-in-spike-barb.html It's a bit overkill but you can dial it way back and probably do what you need.

 

[skyking]

Anyone know if I can attach drip nozzles to my sprinkler system? The risers that spray the shrubs wastes a ton of water because they're spraying the whole area. All of the risers are on their own zones, separate from the grass sprinklers.

Should be do-able. Be sure there is a filter up the line as those drip systems get plugged by small bits of sand, etc.

 

[bbhaag]

I use Netafim at my greenhouse. If you want a DIY solution you need to click on products and then system components.
Some of my emitters have been reliably dripping away for over 20 years with unfiltered well water as the source.

 

[Howard]

Is there a lot of ventilation inside your greenhouse? If the RH% is high, evaporation of water should be significantly retarded vs low RH (which would come from the fresh air outside).

 

[Howard]

Some food for thought: you can hook up an audio amp's output to a relay which uses a relatively low control voltage. A solid state relay is much preferable to a electromechanical relay as the power consumption is much, much, lower; however, either way a Class D amp should be used. The relay would then control a solenoid valve which switches the water supply on and off.

So basically it'd be like this:

1) Your PC is set up to play a "sound file" that is a continuous 60 Hz pure sine. It would be scheduled to play whenever you want the "action" to happen.
2) The amp is connected to the PC's sound card, and the overall gain (volume) is set such that the output of the amp is between 5VAC to 24VAC, depending on what the relay requires.
3) The amp's output is connected to the relay's control terminals, so that when the sound file is played, the relay switches its power connections.
4) The relay's power connections are set up to switch power to a solenoid valve which controls city water (like this: http://www.amazon.com/Direct-Acting-Water-Electric-Solenoid/dp/B008MN5V42/).
5) ???
6) Profit!

A fun experiment to try.

Note: amps are usually power-rated into an impedance of 8 ohms. Quick math shows that for a peak voltage of 12VAC, an amp needs to be able to do 18W into 8 ohms, which isn't very onerous. For 24V, it'd be 72W into 8 ohms. And if it wasn't immediately obvious, only one channel (either L or R) needs to be used to control the relay.