Hey all, So I am wanting to setup a drip system for a 96x48x78 tent growing with ~8 pots of cannabis in soil. I am WAY too tired of hand watering. Any recommendations on a specific drip system to use? I am also wondering how watering my plants here in my flowering tent will work since i'll likely have 2 or 3 different crops going in different stages of growth, so I can't just use the same fertilizers for all? I use RO water and have to add in CalMag. I have a 27gallon bucket reservoir. I have to transport water using a 5 gallon jug every day from my second story of my home. I don't have access to an outlet so I use an extension cord with surge protector for this entire tent. I am interested in possibly using my dehumidifier's water to run into my reservoir. Thoughts on this, with using RO water combined with dehumidifier water?
A drip system probably isn't a good idea. It's been my experience that these plants are like children and all grow in their own way at their own rate, and since they really hate their roots sitting in moist soil constantly, a drip system would just create those conditions and be counter productive. To keep one of these plants healthy and happy, you need soil that is super light and arid, so much that unless you water slowly, the water just dumps through and out the bottom. Each plant needs to be tended individually to get the best results and you never water till each is nearly dead dry to get best results. TWW
Getting the right moisture levels in the soil would be very hard and the flow will have to be constantly adjusted as the plants grow. Have you considered hydro? Making an automated system is very easily done and you can simply fill the reservoir with a hose pipe once a week. It cuts down on the maintenance without the plants suffering from soil moisture problems
@Brocktree - we have a few of our members using Tropf Blumat drip systems with excellent results. You might want to talk to @Sc00byD00bie who gets great results with it. "since they really hate their roots sitting in moist soil constantly," - Hogwash. j
With the Tropf Blumat setups there are moisture sensors which keep the soil at a specific moisture level - pretty slick really. No adjusting of actual drips. j
two things you can look into are tropf blumats which are ceramic sensors you place in the soil and they regulate the irrigation for you, keeping a pretty constant level of hydration in the soil. you will need an elevated reservoir for them to work though. i set up a double reservoir so i just fill up the bottom barrel that sits on the floor and a timer pumps water a couple times a day to the smaller res on top of the tent. access water flows back to the bottom via an overflow drain i drilled a couple inches from the top. the other system is SWICK, where you grow in fabric pots which are placed on a tray full of wicking media. you water the tray and capillary action takes care of the rest. super easy to setup and use, only downside is if you like to water from the top sometimes you have to let the tray dry out and then let the soil dry some so as not to over water. i find that soil in this setup will be hydrated to the maximum amount before overwatering becomes a problem, so you need to be careful adding liquids from the top. you can read more about it here: https://forum.grasscity.com/posts/17507677/ cant help you on the dehumidifier water, maybe someone else will chime in. why do you use RO?