~star~crash~
Active member
you a man after my own heart ! keep on keepin on
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Freedom 35
- Thread starter nameless
- Start date
Hey, I'm pretty reluctant to suggest stuff to people who are light years ahead of me but have you looked into using the "slip-fit" or "push-fit" fittings along with typical vinyl irrigation tubing?
The fittings are a little pricey from the get go but they allow you a lot of re-usability and flexibility in re-configuring your irrigation between grows and even during a grow.
I run a half inch (outer diameter) tubing from my res to the tent and then branch it off into however many sub branches i need based on how many pots. for example, this grow I have twelve pots, to I run the line into a 1 :: 2 splitter, then split each of those lines again into two then split each of those into three.
from that last fitting I just run a 3/8 tube into my pot and water/feed of the timer.
for a bed, you could do the same thing to multiple 1/4 inch endings to get a diffuse soaking. lots of diffferent optipn.
but the big plus is being able to change it up or re-use it. no clogged emitters, halos or drip hoses, no glueing pvc into inflexible unchangeable layouts, etc.
if you want to switch stuff around, you can just unplug it, and layout whatever new line or pattern you want, resnap it and you're good to go. I didn't believe that they would not leak but they don't.
Sorry about the wall of words and I hope I'm not being the newb who doesn't know when not to "help out"
It's juts such a simple flexible approach and I know you've had a few tries with the soakers so, if it something that is worth looking at great, if not, great as well.
keep the pics coming either way!!
ona thank you for a great suggestion. any and all ideas are welcome here. the dumber the better if you ask me, but no that is a good suggestion. one ive considered myself actually. if the sprinkler hose dosent work then im going to try doing drip line with mini sprinkler heads. my goal is to have as even distribution as possible across the bed. i think the sprinkler heads would do a better job than the straight drip line, although i have zero experience with it.
so the blue dreams got put into 1gals last night, cloner was emptied and 10 glue / 15 AJ went into cups. the roots on the blue dream werent as developed as i expected and the soil was too moist, i hurt a couple during transplant. should be ok, i hope. only have 18 blue dreams as i gave away a couple to be moms for others. ive got a few green crack i can use if a blue dream dosent make it. didnt do the hose yet was too tired. tonight...
also i got some new soil moisture meters and they have a ph meter in them, anyone care to guess my soil ph after not looking for 5 years? i mean its obvious...
so the blue dreams got put into 1gals last night, cloner was emptied and 10 glue / 15 AJ went into cups. the roots on the blue dream werent as developed as i expected and the soil was too moist, i hurt a couple during transplant. should be ok, i hope. only have 18 blue dreams as i gave away a couple to be moms for others. ive got a few green crack i can use if a blue dream dosent make it. didnt do the hose yet was too tired. tonight...
also i got some new soil moisture meters and they have a ph meter in them, anyone care to guess my soil ph after not looking for 5 years? i mean its obvious...
lol... i am everywhere! excited to watch you get into those wasup, im sure chef will be tickled.
hose was installed last night. works good but a lot of water was coming out near the end of hose. if i cant regulate i might still be looking. it did dump about 5 gal of water in ten mins or so. will be tracking it over the next week. im tired of spending money. its gonna cost me about a grand to get a 315 tent set up for males... ugh. whatever. has to happen.
good morning!
hose was installed last night. works good but a lot of water was coming out near the end of hose. if i cant regulate i might still be looking. it did dump about 5 gal of water in ten mins or so. will be tracking it over the next week. im tired of spending money. its gonna cost me about a grand to get a 315 tent set up for males... ugh. whatever. has to happen.
good morning!
~star~crash~
Active member
I'm tired of spending $ as well ... I'd much rather take it back
stupid hose dosent drip evenly at all. its hard to snake it around the rows too. the search continues. drip line or sprinklers???? the pre fab drip line seems awful easy and cheaper than sprinklers... i dunno. ugh.
got a great run of bubble hash off the last round, ran the bags yesterday, got about 8.5g of some pretty blonde hash. making all kinds of stuff with it this month. gonna do some pies and cookies for gifts. and a bunch of chocolates for me!
what else... guess thats it for today?
got a great run of bubble hash off the last round, ran the bags yesterday, got about 8.5g of some pretty blonde hash. making all kinds of stuff with it this month. gonna do some pies and cookies for gifts. and a bunch of chocolates for me!
what else... guess thats it for today?
Miraculous Meds
Well-known member
Nice work buddy. I glanced thru the first couple n last couple pages. Are you running cmh de still? If so, id love to here your opinions on it?
LouDog420
Well-known member
I'm with Dan. I've used soaker hoses in gardens outside, and always end up with uneven watering, whether that is right away, or after a bit of hard water build up... Not to mention using with pumps as opposed to standard water pressure from a hose line... I don't think you'll ever get that working perfectly for an entire round as a result...
I'd go 1/2" tubing for the main lines over pvc with 1/4" wherever you want drippers... I prefer to throw a valve to the irrigation lines as well as a valve going back to the res from the pump that acts as anti siphon as well as flow control. Then you can open/close both to control water flow more precisely... No pressure compensating drippers or anything that clogs easy, just find the sweet spot with the valves, and final drippers are using either open ended 1/4" tubing or 1/4" tubing to open stakes just to keep the lines in place...
Loop the 1/2" tubing so pressure is regulated throughout the whole line.
I change drip locations fairly regularly depending on the number of pots and setup. Adding new drip lines is easy, just punch a hole in the 1/2" tubing and add your drip line... Closing up a line isn't too hard, I just connect two 1/4" lines together so it basically just turns into a loop. Then easy to disconnect and make it drip again if ever needed... If you don't have two available to close off, just punch in a new line and make that into your 1/4" loop...
I can snap a pic or three if that will help. Just cleared out a round from my 1k tester tent...
Good vibes bud!
I'd go 1/2" tubing for the main lines over pvc with 1/4" wherever you want drippers... I prefer to throw a valve to the irrigation lines as well as a valve going back to the res from the pump that acts as anti siphon as well as flow control. Then you can open/close both to control water flow more precisely... No pressure compensating drippers or anything that clogs easy, just find the sweet spot with the valves, and final drippers are using either open ended 1/4" tubing or 1/4" tubing to open stakes just to keep the lines in place...
Loop the 1/2" tubing so pressure is regulated throughout the whole line.
I change drip locations fairly regularly depending on the number of pots and setup. Adding new drip lines is easy, just punch a hole in the 1/2" tubing and add your drip line... Closing up a line isn't too hard, I just connect two 1/4" lines together so it basically just turns into a loop. Then easy to disconnect and make it drip again if ever needed... If you don't have two available to close off, just punch in a new line and make that into your 1/4" loop...
I can snap a pic or three if that will help. Just cleared out a round from my 1k tester tent...
Good vibes bud!
thats how i set mine up lol , but i've gone from drip stakes to hydro halos to home made drip rings (the ones in the pic ) to finally just using open ended lines with a hose stake .
Miraculous Meds
Well-known member
Nice clean set up dan. I like the simplicity of the open end lines too. I do use some home made drip rings for one stage of veg that I rotate. Its a little more convenient for that purpose, but I normally wouldn't advocate plant rotation. I also like the drip stakes. There perfect for when you have a slightly more thirsty plant, but it doesn't require a full load from another open end line, just add the stake and adjust the valve. Works for slightly less thirsty plants the same way.
nameless, I was talking with my friend who does professional organic beds with auto watering, how he sets his up. Of course I was stoned and forgot some of it, but I believe he uses octabubblers. 3, 8 sites (24 total lines) spread per 4'x8' tray. All 1/4" lines equal length. He uses a nice filter to keep the octabubbler head clean. Ill ask him what it was called if you want, but his system is tried, proven, and he straight kills it.
ph was dead at 7, hydrofarm meters in that bed. got digital ones to test soon...
yeah guys im really leaning towards drip lines... im thinking sprinklers might be too much trouble...
so irrigators, riddle me this..
the small lines need to be about the same length or no? could i have one large line going down the length of the bed and just run the small lines off that or what? beds are 4 x 7'... somebody draw me a map in brightly colored crayons lol.
yeah guys im really leaning towards drip lines... im thinking sprinklers might be too much trouble...
so irrigators, riddle me this..
the small lines need to be about the same length or no? could i have one large line going down the length of the bed and just run the small lines off that or what? beds are 4 x 7'... somebody draw me a map in brightly colored crayons lol.
you need a loop in the 1/2" line for even pressure , a dead ended line doesn't give even pressure . other than that ... yeah the 1/4" lines are more even pressure if they're the same length .
its all about getting even amounts of water from each line .....
I have been running 1/2G per hour drippers in a 4x8 table. SOG so lets just say there are a lot. As long as the pump is in a micron filter bag you don't get clogs.
The open line/vale thing is a sweet idea Dan. I know some nutes clog drippers more than others.
But definitely loop. I ran a 1" black poly line around the perimeter of tray.
KEEP THE LOOP INSIDE THE TRAY. The drip fittings are not 100% leakproof. Remember they are supposed to be in your yard! So I run the loop around the inside. Drill a hole near the top of tray and use zip ties to secure it. I put 90's in the corners.
So lets say I got (180) 1/2 G/Hour drippers. Need 90gph pump. Thats tiny. I used a 200gph because I have to lift the water some too.
I too never liked soaker hoses. Super unreliable china shit...
The open line/vale thing is a sweet idea Dan. I know some nutes clog drippers more than others.
But definitely loop. I ran a 1" black poly line around the perimeter of tray.
KEEP THE LOOP INSIDE THE TRAY. The drip fittings are not 100% leakproof. Remember they are supposed to be in your yard! So I run the loop around the inside. Drill a hole near the top of tray and use zip ties to secure it. I put 90's in the corners.
So lets say I got (180) 1/2 G/Hour drippers. Need 90gph pump. Thats tiny. I used a 200gph because I have to lift the water some too.
I too never liked soaker hoses. Super unreliable china shit...
LouDog420
Well-known member
Hundred ways to skin a cat, especially with drip when getting into specifics with emitters and all the little tweaks you can add...
But based on last layout I could see (3 x 6 layout of plants in a 4' x 7' bed), here's what I'd do... Always prefer to keep it cheap and simple...
Mini stakes with open flow or just straight supports for open 1/4" feed lines. Valve coming off the pump as well as a valve on the anti siphon going back into the res for better flow control. Multi feed lines per plant for redundancy in case of failure (clog, feed line slips support, extra hungry plant, etc). Also assuming the beds have the ability to drain somehow.
And lines in the bed for sure due to leaks ^^
Good vibes
But based on last layout I could see (3 x 6 layout of plants in a 4' x 7' bed), here's what I'd do... Always prefer to keep it cheap and simple...
Mini stakes with open flow or just straight supports for open 1/4" feed lines. Valve coming off the pump as well as a valve on the anti siphon going back into the res for better flow control. Multi feed lines per plant for redundancy in case of failure (clog, feed line slips support, extra hungry plant, etc). Also assuming the beds have the ability to drain somehow.
And lines in the bed for sure due to leaks ^^
Good vibes
ok this is shaping up to be a real plan!!! THANK YOU so much for the input. and lou that map is perfect!!! what did you use to make it? ive been considering doing the perimeter of the bed vs a smaller rectangle around the center aisle... im kind of leaning toward the perimeter because a) i don't always run 18, most of the time but sometimes 24. b) it would be easy to flip the small lines out of the bed to work in there and then run them back after transplant. 2 per plant is a good idea.
so i was kind of thinking id run the lines to where the plants aren't, like in between them... thoughts?
so i was kind of thinking id run the lines to where the plants aren't, like in between them... thoughts?
As you might remember reaching kills me. So I run my main line on the perimeter(Inside tray lip! Leaks!).
If I need to add or remove a line during cycle it's right there VS reaching into mainline in the center.
It's all preference it makes Zero difference to the plants. The only absolute is the loop for even pressure. And in my world a micron filter bag over the pump(a whopping $9)
If I need to add or remove a line during cycle it's right there VS reaching into mainline in the center.
It's all preference it makes Zero difference to the plants. The only absolute is the loop for even pressure. And in my world a micron filter bag over the pump(a whopping $9)
