Topic: Greenhouse Watering

[wetandcold]

We are taking a 10 day holiday down to sunny Cornwall in August this year and I need to set up some kind of irrigation for my greenhouse while I am away. Last time we asked our well-meaning neighbors to do it and it was a disaster - they 'didn't see' any of my pepper plants and both tomato beds were like swamps...

I have a nearby tap and plan to get a timer to co on every day to water the plants via a hose but I don't know whether to try and get some kind of drip system or a soaker hose (or something else...). It will be needed to water tomatoes / cucumbers / melons in the ground plus, ideally, a few pots of chillies.

Does anyone have any thoughts on the best way of accomplishing this? (BTW - there's no need to suggest that we just stay at home instead... :))

[Tee Gee]

I have never tried what you describe but I think it is a good idea.

Why not google some suppliers of this equipment and see if they give any programming information.

If not! then contact them and ask their opinion/s

[saddad]

Find a more reliable waterer.......  :-X

[wetandcold]

Saddad, the problem is that around here it is a bit of a desert as far as fellow-gardeners go. It seems that every day one of our neighbors in the village is ripping out an established garden and replacing it with monoblock.

Finding a reliable waterer would be a lot more hassle than just getting an automatic system...

[laurieuk]

Having tried various automatic watering systems I would still try and find a human one. You really need all the same plants , all in the same stage of growth for an auto system to work. They keep plants too wet or to dry I never found one any use what so ever.

[goodlife]

Have a look...
www.gardensystems.co.uk...01473 400103...they have been very helpful for me in past.. ;)

[goodlife]

Oh..and aim to keep you plants going on during your holidays...not watered as such..as it is so easy to drown them ::)..and if the weather is rainy anyway and plants don't require quite as much anyway...
..and if you decide to go this route..get your irrigation up and running good few weeks before hand so you have plenty of time adjust all your different feeding points for different flows rates... ;)
I'm planning myself something similar... ;)

[wetandcold]

Thanks Goodlife - that's some good info. Like you suggest I was thinking of running it for a month before I actually go away just to get the timings / quantity of water right.

I know 'in theory' it probably might not be as good as watering by hand but for me that isn't an option. The greenhouse is in my garden and, as I've said before, nobody we know around here is going to want to come in twice a day for two weeks to carefully water each plant with just the right amount of water. At least with some irrigation I will come back to plants that are still alive, even if they are slightly over / under watered.

[chriscross1966]

Two obvious ways of making sure stuff gets the right amount would be to use either variable drippers or lengths of microbore leaky hose.... then the length of leaky on each plants station determines the amound it gets.... I'll be using both this year, the leaky outdoors and the assorted small, medium, large adn variable drippers in the polytunnel.... I'll be away for several days at a time over the summer, but I've used the system before and it worked fine...

chrisc

[tim]

One problem with drip feeds is that they can get gummed up with hard water scale.

[superspud]

I agree with laurieuk. I literaly just put in a hozelock ac1 with all the pipes and drippers, the 180 deg sprayers etc etc and misters, what a waste of money, the pipes all leak and pop off, the toms get a bit of water, the misters drown the seedlings and b**ger all works properly, I eventually stopped the pipes popping of with some clamps, got valves put in to regulate the flow to the misters and its still snafu, oh well, I have willing kids who ask if they can drown everything.... not only are they as efficieant as the system but their cheaper.

[chriscross1966]

One problem with drip feeds is that they can get gummed up with hard water scale.

Yeah, every month on a weekend when I'm around (and frequently if we get a cloudy day forecast) get the drippers off and into a pot of vinegar to clear the scale...

BTW, from experience, the Gardena stuff is good if serviced properly, the Hozelock stuff is rubbish most of the time (though their hose connection stuff and water timing kit is good) and the cheapies vary so much that you have to experiment with it pretty much dripper by dripper to work out which ones are OK.... luckily our local Wyevale flogged off a load of Gardena stuff cheap when they stopped doing it... I was picking up big packs of dripper heads for a quid....

It's important to have pressure-reduction things if you use microbore though, it won't take mains pressure in a lot of places...

chrisc

[superspud]

I figured it out quite quickly that if i wanted any kind of decent set up I was going to have to go with regular copper pipe and joints, then use the Hozelok computer with the pressure regulator connected and various types of either commercial ends or home built pipes with small drillings in them to get anything serious set up. Who knows, when I am rich I might give it a go being as I am quite handy at the old D.I.Y and have most plumbing tools I need to do it.

[kt.]

What about slow release water crystals?  Have read about them before but never used them myself.  These ones apparently last up to 21 days:

http://www.bunnings.com.au/sustainability_save-water_water-storage-crystals.aspx

[Morris]

I've never tried these either, but the tropf blumat ceramic probes are supposed to regulate watering according to soil moisture content:

http://www.twowests.co.uk/TwoWestsSite/product/TBM.htm

[chriscross1966]

Neither of the two products usggested will handle a tomato in full swing though.... they're great for certain things but toms are monsters if they're in a GH..... I used to reckon a gallon a day per plant by the time they hit the ceiling and I weas topping them out.... They were in pots though.....

chrisc

[chuff]

I lined the base of my greenhouse with pond liner, then lined that with water wick matting and covered that with pea gravel. stand all my plants on top of the gravel then fill with water to the top of the pond liner. I don't have to worry about my greenhouse at all when I'm away ;D